THE BAHMANI KINGDOM

In the medieval history of India, The Bahmani Kingdom was a well-known kingdom, established by the Turkish officer of Devagiri, Hasan Gangu Bahmani. The landscape of the Bahmani Kingdom was expanded from the Arabian Sea in the West to the Bay of Bengal in the East. The large plateau region in India, Deccan Plateau was under this kingship. River Krishna was a part of this kingdom, which enriched the kingdom with agriculture and natural resources. 

The Bahmani Kingdom

In the administration of the Delhi Sultanate, the Deccan Plateau region played a vital role to establish a provincial administration. In the southern part of India, to monitor and administrate the villages of the Deccan region, Mohammad bin Tughlaq evolved a head administrative, Sada Amir. But the conflicts started between the Delhi Sultanate and Deccan Sultanate from 1347, which provoked them to build an independent administrative state in Deccan. This independent kingdom was established in Karnataka with its capital at Gulbarga. 

The Bahmani Kingdom consisted of four distinctive administrative units, which are called “Taraf or provinces”. The places of these four administrative departments were established at “Daultabad, Bidar, Berar, and Gulbarga”. Governing these administrative provinces, the king of this kingdom appointed a “tarafdar” whose responsibility was to do subedar. Collecting the taxes from all the regional villages, and executing the rules of the king was the main role of a subedar. They used to convert a few lands into “Khalisa” which had been used to explore the expenses of the king and maintenance of the kingdom.  

During this kingship, the nobles, who were appointed by the kings for official works, were getting wages as a fixed salary in cash, or the king was given a piece of land. The granted land which had been given by the king was called “jagir”. The Bahmani Kings appointed a large number of military forces to protect their kingdom. The military forces of the Bahmani Kingdom were known as “amirs”, these militaries were divided into two groups, the Deccanese, and “Afaqs or Pardesis”. The Deccaniese lived in that region for a long period, and were immigrant Muslims, on the other hand, the Pardesis migrated from Central Asia, Iran and Iraq on the battlefield, the Bahmanis used gunpowder to achieve victory. 

In terms of literature and education, the Bahmani Kingdom was enriched with a variety of languages, such as Persy, Arabic, and Urdu. The famous poet of this kingdom was Mohammad Gawan, “Riyaz-ul-Insha, Manazir-ul-Insha” was written by him. During this kingdom, a new dialect had been evolved “Dakhini Urdu”, a famous Sufi monk of Gulbarga had written hymns in this dialect. In order to build architecture style, the Bahmani Kings followed the “Indo-Islamic style”; the regional resources had been used at that time. The famous architecture during this arena were “Tall minarets, Strong arches, Huge domes, Spacious Hazaras and Crescent moon at the top of the building”.

The Foundation of Bahmani Kingdom

In 1347 AD, Alauddin Hasan Gangu Bahman Shah was founded in the Bahmani Kingdom, the original name of the founder was Zafar Khan. With a great decline of the Tughlaq Empire due to the fluctuating mind of Mohammad-bin Tughlaq, several kings or officials were against the king and approached to establish their kingdom. At that time Alauddin Hasan Gangu Bahman revolted against the Sultan with the help of military forces in Daultabad. He got the victory against Mohammad-bin Tughlaq and declared himself as the Bahmani Sultanate.

Contribution of the first Sultan of Bahmani Kingdom

The First Sultanate of the Bahmani Kingdom, Alauddin Bahman Shah was renowned in the Islamic Medieval History of India. He had built an Islamic History by capturing a large number of girls and women to convert them into the Islam religion. Whenever he won the battle, he had enslaved the people of the defeated region and forcefully converted them into Islamic religion. During his dynasty, the country was enriched with several literature and architectural tombs. He undertook the architectural work to construct such large buildings, such as “Jama Masjid, the Bala Hisar. In addition, in the capital of his dynasty, he founded the monuments, including forts, mosques, palaces, “rangin mahal, Gagan mahal, chini mahal, Nagin mahal”. 

On the other hand, with the expansion of the Bahmani Sultanate, the sultans enhanced the “Islamic education, chanting of Quran” in the Deccan region. In addition, they contributed to providing food and shelter to the poor people with scholarships. According to the historical events, it had been reflected that the Bahmani Sultanate contributed more to Deccan civilization rather than to harm the nation. “The Charminar, the Gulbarga Fort, The Gol Gumbaz” were established during the Bahmani Kingdoms.

Conclusion

After reigning for a long time, the Bahmani Kingdom declined due to the constant war among the Bahmani and Vijaynagara Rulers. After the death of Muhammad Shah-III, the successors of this kingdom were weak and inefficient to rule this dynasty. In addition, the foreign nobles and regional rival rulers were heavy on the Bahmani Kings, as a result, it declined in the year of 1518 AD.