Bahmani Sultanate

Muslim kingdom of the northern Deccan in India, founded in 1347 by Zafar Shah, a soldier in the service of Muhammad bin Tughlaq of the Delhi Sultanate, who seized Daulatabad (near present-day Aurangabad) in rebellion and ascended the throne as Ala-ud-Din Hasan Bahman Shah. At its height the kingdom spanned south-central India, across areas of present-day Maharashtra, northern Karnataka, Telangana, and northern Andhra Pradesh, with its capital at Ahsanabad (present-day Gulbarga) and later Muhammadabad (present-day Bidar), both in present-day Karnataka. It vied for control of the Deccan with the Vijayanagara kingdom and the Gajapatis of Odisha. The sultanate declined in the late fifteenth century, splintering into the successor states of Bijapur (ruled by the Adil Shahis), Ahmadnagar (ruled by the Nizam Shahis), Golconda (ruled by the Qutb Shahis), Berar (ruled by the Imad Shahis) and Bidar (ruled by the Barid Shahis).