The Bahmanis copied the administrative structure of the Delhi Sultanate, and the king was hierarchically followed by wakil, wazir, bakshi and qazi. During Mahmud I’s reign, the kingdom was divided into four provinces (atraf), Gulbarga, Daulatabad, Bidar and Berar, each under the charge of a tarafdar. In view of Gulbarga’s importance, the governor there was called mir-naib, a position higher than the tarafdar.

The commander of the Bahmani army was amir-ul-umara. The army consisted of foot soldiers, cavalry and elephant brigade. The rulers had numer­ous bodyguards (khassakhel), Mahmud I had four thousand. The personal armoury of the king was under silahdars, and in emergency barbardans were asked to mobilise the troops.

The Italian traveller, Niccolo Conti, said that the Bahmani army had siege pieces along with ballistic and bombarding ma­chines. Mahmud Gawan during his chief ministership reorganised the army which helped the Bahmanis win many battles.