Regional Dynasties
Bahmani Kingdom
The Bahmani kingdom was founded by the Amir-i-Sadah (Amirs of hundred) who had successfully · rebelled against Muhammad Tughlaq and set up their independent kingdom at Daultabad, with Ismail Makh as their king. Ismail was soon replaced by Hasan Gangoo, in 1347 AD who founded the Bahmani dynasty.
The accepted belief is that Hasan derived his name from Bahmani Bin Isfandiyar, the King of Persia, of whom he claimed to be a descendant and whose name is inscribed on his coins too. He made Gulbarga his capital. There were a total of fourteen Bahmani Sultans from 1347 to 1482. The reign of Bahmanis was marked by a mindless conflict with Vijayanagar, violent wars of succession and an extravagant style of living by the Sultans.
Very few Sultans died a natural death as many were either killed by their successors or died due to consumption. Muhammad Shah III (1463-82) was an important sultan who made positive contributions mainly because of the services of a very able administrator called Mahmud Gawan. Mahmud Gawan was the vakil as well as the wazir of Muhammad Shah III between 1463-81.
The Bahmani kingdom saw a resurgence under his guidance. His military conquests included Konkan, Goa and the Krishna-Godavari delta. His administrative reforms were all aimed to strengthen the control of the Sultan over the nobility and provincial governors. The discontented nobles, particularly the ‘Deccani’ nobles who resented the rise of `Afaqis’ or new arrivals from West Asia organised a conspiracy against Gawan (who was an Afaqi) and managed to get a death sentence for alleged treachery passed on him by the Sultan in 1481. After Gawan’s execution, the Bahmani kingdom began to decline and disintegrate.
Break Up Of The Bahmani Kingdom
Brahmin Kingdom – Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar (1490-1633)
Founded by Ahmad Bahri, later conquered and annexed by Shah Jahan (1633).
Brahmin Kingdom – Adil Shahis of Bijapur (1490-1686)
Founded by Yusuf Adil Shah. Gol Gumbaz, a tomb with the world’s second-largest dome (St. Paul’s church in Rome being the world largest) was built by one of the Adil Shahi rulers, Muhammad Adil Shah at Bijapur. It was later conquered and annexed by Aurangazeb (1686).
Brahmin Kingdom – Imad Shahis of Berar (1490-1574)
Founded by Fatullah Khan Imad-ul-mulk. Later it was conquered and annexed by the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar.
Brahmin Kingdom – Qutb Shahis of Golconda (1518-1687)
Founded by Quli Qutb Shah (1518-43) who built the famous Golconda fort and made it his capital. Another Qutb Shahi ruler Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah was the greatest of all, and it was he who founded the city of Hyderabad (originally known as Bhagyanagar after the name of the Sultan’s mistress, Bhagyamati) and also built the famous Charminar in it. The kingdom was later annexed by. Aurangazeb (1687).
Brahmin Kingdom – Barid Shahis of Bidar (1528-1619)
Founded by Ali Barid. It was later annexed by the Adil Shahis of Bijapur.
Bengal – Brahmin Kingdom
Bengal broke away during the reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq under the Ilyas Shah dynasty. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah brought the whole of Bengal under his control by 1358 and developed an impressive system of coinage, besides constructing impressive monuments. His son Sikandar Shah consolidated the gains made by his father and Sikandar’s successor Azam Shah made Bengal prosperous by sending an embassy to China and developing the Chittagong port.
Ala-ud-din Hussain Shah (1493-1519) was regarded as the greatest independent Muslim ruler of Bengal. Being an indomitable warrior, he scored victories over all his neighbours including Kamarupa (Kamata) Ahoms and Orissa. His generosity to both Hindus and Muslims was legendary and it was during his reign that Chaitanya preached Vaishnavism in Bengal and Orissa. Several celebrated Bengali writers flourished during his benevolent rule.
Nusrat Shah (1519-32) – Brahmin Kingdom
son and successor of Ala-ud-din was also an able and powerful ruler. He concluded peace with Babur when the latter was campaigning and adopted a tolerant religious policy and patronised Bengali literature. The Bengal translation of Ramayana was written during his reign. It was during his reign that the Portugues made their appearance in Bengal.
Ghiyas-ud-din Mahmud Shah’s reign (1532-38) Brahmin Kingdom
was marked by the struggle between Humayun and Sher Shah in Bengal and the ultimate fall of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. Sher Shah captured Gaur in 1538 and initiated the period of Afghan rule in Bengal which also came to an end in 1574 with its conquest by Akbar.
Assam – Brahmin Kingdom
The history of the Hindu kingdom of Kamarupa in the 13th century is practically unknown apart from scattered references to Muslim invasions from Bengal. There are references to a kingdom called Kamata which had its centre outside Kamarupa. Whether it was a new kingdom under a new dynasty or the old kingdom of Kamarupa with a new capital is difficult to ascertain. Durlabh Narayan ruled Kamata at the end of the 13th century.
The Kamata kingdom was made powerful by Khans, a tribe that entered the mainstream society in the early 15th century. However, Kamata was revived in 1515 by the Koch tribe under Vishasimha and reached its zenith under Narayan. But unfortunately, there was dissension between the king
Shes as a result of which the kingdom had to be divided (the 1570s) into two parts, namely Cooch Behar and Cooch Hajo. This partition led to perpetual hostility between them with the result that their neighbours, the Ahoms, and the Mughals intervened. In 1639 the western region (Cooch Behar) came under the supremacy of the Mughals and the eastern in the supremacy of the Mughals and the eastern part (Cooch Hajoj under that of the Ahoms.
The Ahoms, belonging to the mongoloid shan stock, entered the Brahmaputra valley, from north Burma and established a kingdom in its eastern region in the early 13th century. The founder of the ruling dynasty was Sukhalpa but it was Sukhagupta who brought the kingdom to its zenith. During the reign of Sudangpha in the early 25th century, the influence of Brahmanical Hinduism began to gain around in Ahom society. The greatest Ahom king was Suhungmung (1497 – 1539) who repelled the successive invasions of the sultans of Bengal, including that of Ala ud din Hussain Shah. His reign is also remarkable not only for the rapid hinduisation of the Ahoms.
Jaunpur – Brahmin Kingdom
The city of Jaunpur (U.P.) was founded by Firuz Shah Tughluq and named after his predecessor, Jauna Khan alias Muhammad bin Tughluq. After Firuz’s death, Jaunpur became one of the earliest provinces to declare independence. Malik Sarwar (1394-99), a eunuch, was appointed its governor by Mahmud Tughluq (the last Tughluq) but following the confusion caused by Timur’s invasion he threw off his allegiance to Delhi. As he had been given the title of Sultanus-Sharq’ (chief of the east) by Mahmud, his dynasty came to be known as the Sharqi dynasty. He extended his authority over Awadh as well as parts of the Doab region.
Malik Sarwar was succeeded by his adopted son Qaranfal with the title of Mubarak Shah (1399-1402). Mubarak was, thus, the first member of the Sharqi dynasty to assume the title of king. Ibrahim Shah (1402-40), the younger brother of Mubarak, was the greatest ruler of the dynasty. His reign was remarkable, from the point of view of progress in cultural fields as well as economic prosperity. He beautified Jaunpur and built many magnificent buildings there. A new school of architecture, known as Jaunpuri or Sharqi school, came into existence.
He patronised several scholars and a number of books were written. Hussain Shah (1450-1505) was the last ruler of the Sharqi dynasty. He entered into a struggle against Bahlul Lodi, who succeeded in capturing Jaunpur in 1483-84. But the Sharqi kingdom was affectively annexed to the Delhi sultanate by Sikandar Lodi, while Hussain kept trying to recover his power from his base in the sultanate of Bengal till his death.