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.

THE HISTORY OF CRIMEA !!

It is important to understand the history of Crimean peninsula if we want to understand the current context as to what is happening as far as Ukrainian crisis is concerned !

With its strategic position dominating the Black Sea and its unstable ethnic mix, it’s not surprising that the Crimea is often called a tinderbox. It has long been central to Russia’s sense of itself as a great naval power — even during the past two decades when the peninsula has formally belonged to Ukraine, a separate country.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union, arguments over the division of the Black Sea Fleet between Russia and the fledgling Ukrainian state were seen as likely to spark a war.

  The Russians kept their ships at Sevastopol,a port in Crimea. Russian sailors and retired naval families enjoyed the sunshine and kept the base as a down-at-heel Soviet theme park. Ukraine was too poor, too corrupt and too disorganised to change the status quo.

Last month’s unexpected Ukrainian revolution and Vladimir Putin’s swift response crushed the old certainties. What is clear is that Mr Putin’s coup de force will strike a chord among many Russians, who have never reconciled themselves to the loss of a territory so intimately entwined with their history.

It was here that Saint Vladimir was baptised in 988, thus binding the early Russian state to Christianity. During the Crimean War of the 1850s, when Britain and France were keen to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russia’s growing power, the port of Sevastopol was besieged for 11 months until the garrison surrendered. In the Second World War, the port held out against Hitler’s troops and aircraft for 247 days, long enough to impose a critical delay in the Nazi advance on Stalingrad. For that defence, Sevastopol was honoured with the Soviet title of “hero city”

Today the population is almost 60 per cent Russian — the only part of Ukraine with a Russian majority. Twenty-four per cent are Ukrainian and 12 per cent Crimean Tatars, descendants of a once powerful Muslim khanate who were expelled by Stalin for collaboration with the Germans and then allowed to return under Mikhail Gorbachev.

To this day politics is coloured by the battles of the Second World War and the rival Russian and Ukrainian narratives. For many Russians, Ukrainian nationalism is fatally infected by the legacy of Stepan Bandera, who declared an independent Ukraine after the Nazi invasion in 1941 and co-ordinated Ukrainian support for the Wehrmacht against the Red Army. That is why Russian propaganda describes the protesters who forced out President Yanukovych as “fascists” and “Nazis”.

None of this would have any consequence today but for a bizarre act by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev who “gave” the Crimea, previously part of Russia, to Ukraine in 1954 — a meaningless gesture at the time, since both republics were part of the USSR. Khrushchev, who began his working life in the coal fields of Eastern Ukraine, was eventually toppled for his many hare-brained schemes. 

Nikita Khrushchev

But who could have imagined that his thoughtless signature on a piece of paper would give Moscow, 60 years later, the chance to start a new war in the Crimea?

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• 1783: Russia annexed Crimea.
• 1853: The Crimean War began, lasting three years. Russia lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia. Crimea remained part of Russia.
• 1917: Crimea briefly became a sovereign state before becoming a base for the White Army of anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian War.
• 1921: The peninsula, now called the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, became part of the Soviet Union.
• 1942: Nazi Germany took control of Crimea.
• 1944: Joesph Stalin forcibly deported all Muslim Tatars, a group of 300,000 who had lived on the peninsula for centuries, due to members’ alleged cooperation with Germany during World War II. Many returned to Crimea in the 1980s and 1990s.
• 1945: After World War II, the autonomous Soviet republic was dissolved and Crimea became a province of the Soviet Union called the Crimean Oblast.
• 1954: Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev transferred the Crimean Oblast to Ukraine. It’soften reported that it was a gesture of goodwill from Khrushchev, who had Ukrainian roots.
• 1991: The Soviet Union collapsed. Many expected President Boris Yeltsin, the new president of the Russian Federation, to take Crimea for Russia. But he didn’t bring it upduring negotiations with Ukraine.
• 1997: Ukraine and Russia signed a treaty that allowed Russia to keep its fleet in Sevastopol. The agreement’s since been extended, so the fleet is set to remain there until at least 2042.

86TH ACADEMY AWARDS - OSCARS

The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the actors, technical achievements, and films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented awards in 24 categories. Televised in the United States by ABC, the ceremony was produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, and directed by Hamish Hamilton. Television personality Ellen DeGeneres hosted the show for the second time, after hosting the 79th ceremony in 2007.

86TH ACADEMY AWARDS - WINNERS

• Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
• Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
• Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
•  Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
• Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
• Best Original Screenplay: Her, Spike Jonze
• Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave, John Ridley
• Best Original Song: “Let It Go” from Frozen
• Best Score: Gravity
• Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby
• Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
• Best Cinematography: Gravity
• Best Film Editing: Gravity
• Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty
• Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet From Stardom
• Best Documentary Short: The Lady In Number 6
• Best Documentary Short: The Lady In Number 6
• Best Animated Short Film: Mr. Hublot 
• Best Animated Feature Film: Frozen
• Best Visual Effects: Gravity
• Best Live Action Short: Helium
• Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
• Best Costume Design: Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Adruitha Lee & Robin Mathews, Dallas Buyers Club

Films with multiple awards

Awards	Film
7	Gravity
3	12 years a slave
	Dallas buyers club
2	Frozen
	The great gatsby

Individuals with multiple awards

Awards	Name	Award categories
2	Alfonso cuarón	Best director, best film editing (gravity)
	Catherine martin	Best production design, best costume design (the great gatsby)