THE BAHMANI KINGDOM AND THE DECCAN SULTANATE

THE BAHMANI KINGDOM (1347-1526)

• The Bahmani kingdom was founded in 1347 by Hasan Gangu who revolted and proclaimed his independence from the Sultanate. 
• He assumed the title of Ala-ud-din Bahmani (also Bahman Shah). 
• Gulbarga was his capital. 
• He divided his kingdom into four tarafs or provinces and placed each one under a tarafdar or governor. 
• He was succeeded by Muhammad Shah I (1358-1373) whose reign was chiefly occupied in waging savage wars against Vijayanagar and Warangal. 

Some of the other notable rulers of the dynasty were: 

1.     Firuz Shah (1397-1422) who twice defeated Vijayanagar but was ultmately defeated at Pangul; 

2.     Ahmad Shah (1422-1433) who conquered Warangal and shifted the capital to Bidar, and who was also known as Wali on account of his association with a sufi, Gesu Daraz; 

3.     Humayun (1451-1461) famous for his minister, Khwaja Mahmud Gawan; 

4.     Muhammad Shah ill (1463-1482) whose reign saw Mahmud Gawan expand the kingdom as never before. 

In his campaign against Vijayanagar in 1481 he even reached and plundered Kanchi. He overran Dahlol and Goa on the western coast. However, Gawan was a Persian by birth and hence disliked by the 'Deccani' chiefs who were native. The Deccani party conspired against him and got him executed in 1481.

Gradually, the Bahmani kingdom declined in power till, in 152~, Amir Barid usurped the throne. Thus the dynasty came to an end.

DECCAN SULTANATES

• The Deccan Sultanates were five Muslim ruled kingdoms located in the Deccan plateau
• They ruled south central India from 1527 to 1686
• The Deccan Sultanates were established following the breakup of the Bahmani Sultanate in 1527.

The five kingdoms of the Deccan Sultanates were

1.     Ahmadnagar (1490-1636)

2.     Bijapur (1490-1686)

3.     Berar (1490-1572)

4.     Golkonda (1518-1687)

5.     Bidar (1528-1619)

• The Deccan Sultanates were generally rivals but united against the Vijayanagara Empire in the Battle of Tallikota in 1565
• An important cultural contribution of the Deccan Sultanates was the development of Dakhani Urdu – drawn from Arabic, Persian, Marathi, Kannada and Telugu
• The period is also famous for the development of Deccani miniature paintings, which flourished in Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golkonda

AHMADNAGAR SULTANATE

• The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was located in northwestern Deccan, between the Gujarat and Bijapur sultanate
• The Sultanate was established by Malik Ahmad in 1490, who founded the Nizam Shahi dynasty
• The capital city of the Sultanate was initially Junnar, which was later shifted to Ahmadnagar
• The earliest examples of miniature paintings are found in the manuscript Tarif-i-Hussain Shahi (c. 1565)
• This period is also known for the encyclopaedia Nrisimha Prasada written by Dalapati
• The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was annexed into the Mughal Empire by Aurangzeb (during the reign of Shah Jahan) in 1636.

BERAR SULTANATE

• The Berar Sultanate was established by Imad-ul Mulk in 1490
• It was annexed by the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in 1572

BIDAR SULTANATE

• The Bidar Sultanate was established by Qasim Barid in 1490
• Bidar was sandwiched between the Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda sultanates
• Bidar was annexed by Ibrahim Adil Shah II of the Bijapur Sultanate in 1619
• An important type of metalwork called Bidri originated in Bidar. These metalworks were carried out on black metal (mainly zinc) with inlaid designs of silver, brass and copper

BIJAPUR SULTANATE

• The Bijapur Sultanate was established by Yusuf Adil Shah in 1490, who founded the Adil Shahi dynasty
• The Bijapur Sultanate was located in northern Karnataka, with its capital at Bijapur
• Under the Adil Shahi dynasty, Bijapur became an important centre of commerce and culture in India
• The Begum Talab was a 234 acre tank constructed by Mohammad Adil Shah in 1651 in memory of Jahan Begum. Underground pipes, encased in masonry supplied water from the tank to the city residents
• Ibrahim Adil Shah II wrote a book of songs in Dakhani urdu called Kitab-i-Navras. This work contains a number of songs set to different ragas.
• Bijapur checked an invasion by the Portuguese in the year 1510, against Goa. However, it was defeated the following year.  
• During the 17th century, the Marathas rebelled against the Bijapur Sultanate, under the leadership of Chhatrapati Shivaji.
• The Bijapur Sultanate was annexed into the Mughal Empire by Aurangzeb in 1686

GOLCONDA SULTANATE

• The Golconda Sultanate was established in 1518 by Qutb-ul-Mulk, who founded the Qutb Shahi dynasty
• The Golconda Sultanate was located in northern Andhra Pradesh
• The capital city was Hyderabad
• The Qutb Shahi dynasty was responsible for the construction of the Jami Masjid (1518), Charminar (1591) and Mecca Masjid (1617)
• Another famous structure from the period is the fort of Golconda
• The Shahi dynasty was instrumental in the development of Dakhani urdu
• Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah wrote the Kulliyat-i-Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah in Dakhani urdu
• Golconda was annexed into the Mughal Empire by Aurangzeb in 1687

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CHAND BIBI 

• Chand Bibi also known as Chand Khatun or Chand Sultana was a woman warrior who positioned herself as a rebellious counterpart in her self willed struggle for freedom. 
• Chand Bibi, daughter of the sultan of Ahmednagar and wife of Adil Shah I of the Bijapur sultanate
• She acted as the Regent of Bijapur (1580-90) as well as the Regent of Ahmednagar (1596-99). 
• She acted as the wall for Ahmednagar and in the history of India as well as humanity. 
• She is best known for defending Ahmednagar against the Mughal forces of Emperor Akbar. 
• However, in subsequent engagements with Akbar’s son, Daniyal, she could not resist the might of the Mughal forces and was forced to negotiate a treaty. 
• It is said that Chand Bibi was killed by her own troops, who believed she had sold out to the enemy.

GOPAL KRISHNA GOKHALE

Gopal Krishna Gokhale is now a forgotten man even though both M.K. Gandhi and M.A. Jinnah were inspired by him in the years before they became mass leaders. Gandhi described Gokhale as his political guru while Jinnah aspired to be the Muslim Gokhale.

However, the importance of Gokhale goes far beyond his influence on these two star disciples, who continue to be worshipped as the fathers of their respective nations. He was the lodestar of a style of liberal politics that needs a fresh airing in contemporary India.

Gokhale died on 19 February 1915, so this year marks his death centenary. He was one of a stellar cast of patriots in Pune, at a time when that city matched Kolkata as a crucible of the new nationalism which emerged from the ruins of 1857.

The Pune liberals had three principal concerns: political freedom, social reform and economic development. Everything they did in public life followed from their quest to advance liberty on these three fronts, and thus prepare the ground for a resurgent India after centuries of foreign rule, social oppression and economic stagnation.

The Pune liberals firmly believed that politics should have intellectual and moral foundations. Gokhale as well as his guru M.G. Ranade were a perfect embodiment of that rare combination of head and heart, as is evident in their careful empirical analysis and policy prescriptions in the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, the house journal of the liberals, on everything from indebted farmers to the spread of education.

Gokhale’s grasp of economics was evident in his famous budget speeches as a member of the Imperial Legislative Council, when he took the colonial government to task because its policies were damaging India; no less a person than John Maynard Keynes praised his mastery of economic logic. He was also a great lover of mathematics; a textbook on arithmetic that he wrote was a standard prescription for school children for many years. The precision of his thinking could perhaps be explained by his love of mathematics, the most precise of intellectual pursuits. And Gokhale was also a very popular professor of history.

Such intellectual depth was matched by a compassionate heart. He attracted young nationalists who wanted to serve the country. Gokhale had no shortage of critics who thought, with some justification, that he trusted the good sense of the colonial government too much. His personal record was also marred by a controversial apology to the British government. Yet, it is a testimony to his personal qualities that criticism did not degenerate into personal enmity. His great political rival Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote a moving obituary when Gokhale died at the young age of 49. V.D. Savarkar is said to have stood up in his favour when a group of revolutionaries in London wanted to assassinate Gokhale. Men who held views that were antithetical to his could still be impressed by Gokhale.

The liberal constitutionalism that Gokhale stood for was swept aside by the rising tide of agitational politics after 1920. Ironically, the two men who were responsible for this great shift were Gokhale’s disciples, Gandhi and Jinnah. Politics based on the inner voice, satyagraha and direct action replaced the reasoned politics of Gokhale, with its rare blend of the intellectual and moral. The quest to draw more people into the national movement compromised some of its core values embodied by Gokhale.

That style of street politics has lingered on in India well after independence. B.R. Ambedkar had warned in 1949 that the continuance of agitational politics in a constitutional republic would eventually harm the Indian nation, as would the unthinking devotion to great leaders as well as persistent social inequality rooted in centuries of caste oppression. His perspicacious warning was unfortunately ignored.

India right now is perhaps on the cusp of political change. A young, urban and prosperous class has emerged after three decades of rapid economic growth. It could provide a base for a new liberal politics. There are important differences between contemporary India and the country that Gokhale served with such dedication. But his core beliefs about the importance of political liberty, social reform and economic progress for all Indians are still relevant to our times. So is his insistence that means are as important as ends in politics, and that politics should have strong intellectual foundations.

Liberal constitutionalism had its high noon when Gokhale personified its lofty hopes. It was swept away by the rising tide of populism after the Gandhian takeover of the Congress in 1920. A hundred years later, the main concerns that Gokhale articulated are still relevant. They can offer fresh direction to a country that is once again at the crossroads.

Factual Data with respect to GK Gokhale

• Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born on May 9, 1866 in Kothapur, Maharashtra. He graduated from Elphinstone College, Bombay in 1884 at the age of 18. 
• He was Assistant Master in the New English School in Pune. 
• One of the founding members of Fergusson College.
• He was also a social reformer. 
• Gokhale worked with Mahadev Govind Ranade(Gokhale called him his guru) in Poona Sarvajanik Sabha of which Gokhale became the Secretary. 
• Gokhale became Secretary of the Deccan Education Society. 
• Political guru of Mahatma Gandhi; one of the pioneers of the Indian national movement; founder of the Servants of India Society. 
• Gokhale pleaded for gradual reforms to ultimately attain Swaraj, or self-government, in India. Gokhale was a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi and Jinnah. 
• In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide

Achievements:

• He delivered a public address on "India under the British Rule", which was highly appreciated.
• Gokhale regularly contributed articles to Bal Gangadhar Tilak's weekly "Mahratta".
• In 1905, Gokhale started a new society called "Servants of India Society".
• Gokhale went to England to voice his concerns relating to the unfair treatment of the Indian people by the British government.
• He founded the "Servants of India Society"-an organization dedicated to the cause of common people.