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Dissolution of the Bahmani Sultanate

Type Event Region South Asia Time 1482–1527

In the late 15th century the Bahmani Sultanate's central authority declined, Bidar's court was wracked by infighting, and provincial governors gradua…

Timeline

  1. 1482–1489Bidar · DeccanAfter Mahmud Shah II acceded in 1482, factional strife among Turkish, Persian, and Indian-origin nobles intensified at court. Provincial taraf governors maintained their own armies, the center struggled to effectively levy or replace local rulers, and the empire's fiscal and military mobilization capacity declined markedly.
  2. 1490–1499Deccan provinces (Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, etc.) · DeccanProvincial rulers such as Yusuf Adil Shah (Bijapur), Ahmad Nizam Shah (Ahmadnagar), and Quli Qutb Shah (Golconda) minted coins, appointed officials, and concluded alliances from their own capitals; nominally they still honored the sultan of Bidar, but in practice they formed independent political units. Historians generally regard the 1490s as the starting point of the 'five sultanates' configuration.
  3. 1518–1527Bidar · DeccanThe last Bahmani sultan, Mahmud Shah II, died in 1518, and Bidar had no effective central government. In 1527 Bijapur defeated the remaining forces at Khalji, and the Bahmani polity completely exited the stage of history; the Deccan entered a new era of multiple sultanates warring with one another.

Sources