Short biography of Ahmad Shah

Short biography of Ahmad Shah

Ahmad Shah ruled from 1422 to 1436. He fought against the ruler of Vijayanagar to take revenge for the invasion of the previous reign. The ruler of Vijayanagar entrenched himself in the fort.

The whole country was laid waste by the Muslim troops. They put to death men, women and children to the number of 20,000 and celebrated a carnival in its memory. An attempt was made on the life of Ahmad Shah but he was saved. Ultimately, Deva Raya was forced to make peace by which he agreed to pay all arrears of tribute and send his son with 30 elephants laden with money, jewels and other articles of great value.

In 1425, the Sultan declared war upon Warangal. The Hindus were defeated and their chief was killed. The independence of Warangal was extinguished. Ahmad Shah also fought against Malwa and the neighbouring states.

He also fought against Konkan. The last expedition was against Telingana. He shifted his capital from Gulbarga to Bidar. He died in 1436.

Ahmad Shah was a tyrant. He was a fanatical Muslim. He forgot the sufferings of the Hindus in his zeal for Islam. The view that “his disposition was adorned with the ornament of clemency and temperance and with the jewel of abstinence and devotion” is not correct. He loved the society of learned men. He gave seven lacs of Deccani Tankas to Shaikh Azari for his writing two verses in praise of the Sultan at Bidar.

According to Prof. Sherwani, “Ahmad was a pious and Godfearing Sultan and is even now regarding a saint by a large majority of the people of the Deccan. In his reign Muhammadabad Bidar became the rendezvous of the learned and the pious from all parts of Iran, Iraq and Arabia.

He was himself a man of some erudition, having imbibed knowledge at the feet of Mir Fazl’llah Inju and was also an adept in music and singing. He was very kind and considerate to his subjects as when he opened his purse strings for the purchase and free distribution of grains at the time of a great drought which occurred in the Deccan.

We have already related how the King had an inclination towards the Sufi principles and perhaps also to the Shah doctrine and he encouraged the influx of learned men, poets, statesmen, soldiers and others from over the seas, which, to a certain extent, led to a greater cleavage between these New-comers and the older colonists.

There was also a direct Hindu influence on arts, architecture and social life of the people partly owing to the policy of intermarriage which was being pursued by the rulers and no doubt by the ruled as well since the last reign.”