The Berar sultanate was an early modern Indian kingdom in the Deccan, ruled by the Imad Shahi dynasty.[2] It was one of the Deccan sultanates, and was established in 1490 following the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate by Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk.[3] It was annexed by the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in 1574 following an invasion.
Sultanate of Berar वऱ्हाड | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1490–1574 | |||||||||
  Berar sultanate with neighbouring polities, circa 1525.[1] | |||||||||
| Capital | Ellichpur | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Sultan | |||||||||
• 1490 – 1504 | Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk (first) | ||||||||
• 1568 – 1574 | Tufail Khan (last) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 1490 | |||||||||
• Conquered by Ahmednagar Sultanate | 1574 | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| 29,340 km2 (11,330 sq mi) | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | India | ||||||||
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Berar". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. | |||||||||
History
editOn the establishment of the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan in 1347, Berar was constituted one of the five provinces into which their kingdom was divided, being governed by a tarafdar, with a separate army. The perils of this system became apparent when the province was divided (1478 or 1479) into two separate provinces, named after their capitals Gawil and Mahur.[citation needed]
In 1490, Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk, who had been appointed governor of Berar by Mahmud Gawan after assisting him in his campaigns,[4] proclaimed his independence amidst the civil unrest in the Bahmani Sultanate and founded the Imad Shahi dynasty of Berar.[5] He proceeded to annex Mahur to his new kingdom and had its capital at Ellichpur.[citation needed] Imad-ul-Mulk was by birth a Kanarese Hindu, but had been captured as a boy in one of the expeditions against the Vijayanagara Empire and brought up as a Muslim.[5] Gavilgad and Narnala were also fortified by him.[4]
Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk died in 1504 and his successor, Aladdin Imad Shah resisted the aggression of Ahmadnagar with the help from Bahadur Shah, sultan of Gujarat.[6] The next ruler, Darya, ascended the throne in 1530 and tried to align with Bijapur to prevent aggression from Ahmadnagar, but was unsuccessful.[4] Early in his reign, the minor Burhan Imad Shah, who succeeded his father in 1562, was deposed by his minister and regent Tufail Khan, who assumed rule of the Sultanate. This gave a pretext for the intervention of Murtaza Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar, who invaded Berar, imprisoned and put to death Tufail Khan, his son Shams-ul-Mulk, and the former-king Burhan, and proceeded to annex Berar into his own dominions of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in 1574.[7][4]
List of rulers
editThe sultans of Berar belonged to the Imad Shahi dynasty:
- Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk: 1490 – 1504
- Aladdin Imad Shah: 1504 – 1529
- Darya Imad Shah: 1529 – 1562.
- Burhan Imad Shah: 1562 – 1574[8] (de facto 1562 – 1568)
- Tufail Khan (usurper): 1568[9] – 1574[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (1978). A Historical atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 39, 147. ISBN 0226742210.
- ^ John Cadwgan Powell-Price (1955). A History of India. T. Nelson. p. 200.
- ^ Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 117–119. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
- ^ a b c d Mitchell & Zebrowski 1999, p. 11.
- ^ a b Majumdar 1974, p. 463.
- ^ Majumdar 1974, pp. 463–464.
- ^ a b Majumdar 1974, pp. 465–466.
- ^ Mitchell & Zebrowski 1999, p. 275.
- ^ Robert Sewell. Lists of inscriptions, and sketch of the dynasties of southern India (The New Cambridge History of India Vol. I:7), Printed by E. Keys at the Government Press, 1884, , p.166
Sources
edit- Majumdar, R.C. (1974). "The Five Sultanates of the Deccan". The Mughul Empire. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
- Mitchell, George; Zebrowski, Mark (1999). Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates (The New Cambridge History of India Vol. I:7). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56321-6.