GK SERIES FOR SSC,IAS,PCS,HAS,HCS AND OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS (HISTORY-16)

GK SERIES FOR SSC,IAS,PCS,HAS,HCS

AND OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS

(HISTORY-16)

BAHMANI KINGDOM

·         Bahmani Kingdom was a parallel kingdom north of Vijayanagar in the same period.

·         It was founded in 1347 by Allaudin Hassan who claimed himself to be descendent of a famous Iranian Royal family and assumed title of ‘Bahman Shah’

·         He also had a Brahmin Guru, Gangu, hence he is also known as ‘Hassan Gangu’

·         He made his capital in Gulbarga in Karnataka.

The important kings who expanded and consolidated the Bahmani Kingdom were:

1. Taj-ud-din Firoz Shah Bahman (1397-1422):

·         He was educated and learned man and knew many languages.

·         He built astronomical observatory in Daulatabad.

·         He married daughter of Dev Raya I and was later defeated by him.

·         He was succeeded by his brother Ahmad Shah.

2. Ahmad Shah (1422-1435):

·         Also known as Wali as he was treated as Sufi Saint.

·         He shifted the capital from Gulbarga to Bidar

·         A famous north Indian saint Gesu Daraz (Long Haired), a saint of Chisti Silsila, visited during this period.

3. Mahmud Gawan

·         He was not king but Wazir-e-Sultanate under Muhhammad Shah III, who was weak and was merely a puppet in hands of Mahmud Gawan.

·         He brought Bahmani kingdom to its Zenith and its boundaries touched Orissa.

·         He divided the kingdom into 8 Atraf (provinces), each headed by a Governor.

·         He built a madrasa at Bidar known as Mahmud Gawan Madrasa which attracted students from India and Central Asia.

·         Delhi, Jaunpur and Bidar became three important head quarters of Islamic religion.

·         In his period there was a clash of Deccani and Afaquis in the court. Local population was known as Deccani and Afaquis were basically outsiders, generally from north (from India, Persia and Central Asia). Gawan, an Afaqui himself, was killed by Deccanis

·         After his death the kingdom was divided into 5 kingdoms, which though were not large, but very strong. They were:

o   Berar (Maharshtra) under Fatehullah Imad Ul Mulk in 1484 (Imad Shahi dynasty).

o   Bijapur(Karnataka) under Yusuf Adil Shah in 1489 (Adil Shahi dynasty).

o   Ahmadnagar(Maharashtra) under Malik Ahmad 1490 (Nizam Shahi dynasty).

o   Golkonda (Andhra Pradesh) under Qutub Shah 1512 (Qutb Shahi dynasty).

o   Bidar (Karnataka) under Qasim Barid 1527 (Barid Shahi dynasty).

·         They fought over trade, economy, commerce as well as agriculture, but in case if any one of five Bahmani kingdoms had to fight with Vijayanagar Empire, they united to fight against it.

·         Adil Shahi, Nizam Shahi and Qutub Shahi were important and stronger than the other two kingdoms.

·         These kingdoms had great contribution in literature especially Urdu literature which had no scope to flourish in north India as Persian was there official language.

·         In South, Urdu was facing Telugu, Kannada and Marathi. Urdu became a lingua franca and was official language of Bahmani Kingdoms.

·         Quli Qutub Shah is regarded as first Urdu poet, his collection of poems is knowns as Diwan-e-Qutub-e-Shahi

·         Wali Deccani was another famous Urdu poet in Bahmani Kingdom

Bahmani Empire and Vijayanagar Empire had almost parallel existence. These two kingdoms fought for almost 200 years over three regions:

·         Raichur Doab (Between Krishna and Tungabhadra)

·         Area between Krishna and Godavari Delta

·         Marathwada Region

Raichur Doab was battle ground and the main bone of contention between these Kingdoms.  In 1565 in battle of Talicotta also known as battle of Banihatti, or Rakkasa Tangdi, Vijaynagar was defeated.

Some facts about Bahmani Kingdoms:

·         Bijapur: Gol Gumbaj was a biggest dome in India built by Mohd. Adil Shah.

·         Golconda: City of Hyderabad and Charminar were built by Golconda empire. Also Quli Qutab Shah built famous Golconda Fort.

·         Ahmadnagar Kingdom: The last decade of 16th century witnessed the rise of Chand Bibi, the daughter of Hussain Nizam Shah I, as the de-facto ruler of Ahmadnagar. She was the only women ruler of the Deccan sultanate in the medieval period.

·         Berar was annexed by Ahmed Nagar Empire in 1572 C.E.

·         In 1618 C.E., Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II invaded Bidar and annexed it to Bijapur kingdom.