BAHMANI SULTANATE

Muslim state (13471518) in the Deccan in India. The sultanate was founded in 1347 by 'Ala'-ud-Din Bahman Shah, who was supported by other military leaders in rebellion against the sultan of Delhi, Muhammad ibn Tughluq. The Bahmani capital was Ahsanabad (Gulbarga) between 1347 and about 1425 and Muhammadabad (Bidar) thereafter. Bahmani attained the peak of its power during the vizierate (146681) of Mahmud Gawan. The Bahmani sultanate's principal foes in its efforts to extend itself securely over the Deccan tableland were the Hindu rulers of Vijayanagar, Telingana, and Orissa and the Muslim rulers of Khandesh, Malwa, and Gujarat. In the north, a modus vivendi with Malwa had been achieved by 1468. In the south, war with Vijayanagar over the fertile Raichur interfluve between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers was endemic until Krishna Deva Raya, king of Vijayanagar, succeeded (151020) in incorporating the area into his dominions. In the east, the Bahmanis frequently warred with the Hindu chiefs of Telingana, who were generally in alliance with the rajas of Orissa. In the west the Bahmanis were unable to control the Western Ghats, although Mahmud Gawan temporarily occupied Sangameshwar and Goa in 147172. The political domination of Muslim groups in a predominantly Hindu area was facilitated by mutual noninterference among the various religious communities. The Bahmani sultans often encouraged a fusion of Deccan cultures. The division of the Bahmani sultanate into four taraf (provinces) encouraged an autonomy that the reforms of Mahmud Gawan failed to combat. Between 1490 and 1518 the Bahmani sultanate dissolved into the five successor powers of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, Berar, and Bidar.