Short Essay on Shihab-Ud-Mahmud (A.D. 1482—A.D 1490)

Exactly one year after the murder, occurred the death of Muhammad Shah on 27 March 1482, at the young age of 29 years. He was succeeded by his 12-year old son Shihab-ud- din Mahmud. Nizam-ul-Mulk, who had been appointed Prime Minister after the assassination of Mahmud Ghawan, now became regent. This was, however, not liked by

his powerful rivals, Yusuf Adil, governor of Bijapur and Imad-ul-Mulk, governor of Berar, who rushed to the capita} to offer their Aomage to the new king. Soon Yusuf Adil and Nizam-ul-Mulk fell out and the former was called by the King and reprimanded at the restiveness of his Turkish followers.

The King also gave orders for the general massacre of the Turks in the city. Some 4000 of these innocent persons were killed. Disillusioned Yusul Adil returned to Bidar. The council of regnecy was reconstituted with dowager- queen as the chairman and Malik Naib and Fathullah Im?d-ul-Mulk as members. Malik Naib became all powerful which aroused the jealousy of nobles who were able to convince the Sultan about his evil intentions and conspired against him.

The plot failed but Imad- ul-Mulk knew his life was in danger and left his province Berar. Though outwardly reconciled, the Sultan had not forgiven Nizam-ul-Mulk for his role in the murder of Ghawan. Nizam-ul-Mulk was away on the Telingana campaign when the King ordered that he should be put to death. Thus he freed himself from the control of the Deccanis and aligned himself with the Afaqis.

The discovery of a plot by the Deccanis to kill him led him to order to general massacre of their officers and soldiers. Qasim Barid rose in revolt, defeated the royal forces and forced the Sultan to appoint him the Prime Minister. This was resented by Malik Ahmad, son of Nizam-ul-Mulk who had adopted the title after his father’s murder.

Qasim Barid sent the royal troops under Yusuf Adil against him but they were defeated. He even invited the Raya of Vijayanagar to occupy Raichur and Mudkal but Yusuf Adil not only foiled his plans but also advanced to Bidar and defeated Qasim. He was, however, respectful to the Sultan and sent him costly presents.

While the fortunes of the Bahmanis were thus in turmoil, a brave ambitious officer Bahadur Gilani, Kotwal of Goa, had taken advantage of the opportunity to occupy the whole of the coast line from Goa to Chaul.

His ship even invaded the Gujarati port of Mahim and burnt it. Mahmud Begarha, King of Gujarat, who had a friendship treaty with the Deccan Sultan complained to him about the conduct of the officer.

Mahmud marched against Bahadur along with his ablest officers but it took him 2 years to crush the rebellion. Bahadur was killed in action on 5 November, 1494. The Sultan returned to the capital triumphantly. But he was not destined to live in peace. The internal intrigues and weakness of the central power led to revolts in the various parts of the kingdom.

For a while he was able to subdue the rebels with the help of Yusul Adil, who was a man of great tact and ability. He was loyal and faithful to his sovereign and never raised the standard of revolt even when prompted by his allies. He helped the king in the subjugation of Bahadur Khan and Dastur Dinar. He had his daughter betrothed to the infant Prince Ahmad.

This was greatly resented by Qasim Barid who had taken over as Prime Minister. While these intrigues and counter-intrigues continued, the new ruler of Vijayanagar Saluva Narahsimha sent his famous general Ishwara Nayak who routed the Bahmani forces at Kundukur and advanced unopposed upto the Gujarati dominions. Purushottama of Orissa took a big slice of the coastline as far as Vijayawada.

Krishna Deva Raya, the greatest of the Vijayanagar rulers, who ascended the throne, defeated the Bahmani forces repeatedly and took possession of many important cities such as Kondapalli, Nalgonda and Khammamet.

Meanwhile many of the old stalwarts of the Bahmani kingdom such as Qasim, Nizam-ul-Mulk, Yusuf Adil and Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk passed away and were succeeded to their respective offices by their sons. For all practical purposes, these rulers were independent in their states but they still paid homage to the Sultane and respected his authority.