Sind, Bengal, Mewar, Khandesh & Bahmani Kingdom: Provincial Dynasties of North India & Deccan | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Sind, Bengal, Mewar and Khandesh and Bahmani Kingdom 

 Sind

•  In 1010 A.D. Mahmud Ghazni imposed his authority in Sind. With the decline of the power of the Ghzanavids, their hold over Sind weakened and a Rajput tribe known as the Surmas, assumed independent authority in the southern areas. 
• Iltutmish captured Sind and from then the sultans of Delhi considered it as a part of their Sultanate.
• The Surmas were ousted by the Samma tribes, who established their rule over lower Sind. They had adopted Islam, claimed descent from the ancient Iranian emperor Jamshid and, therefore, used the title Jam. 
• Not much is known of the Jam kings who ruled over his region. Jam Nizam-ud-din, commonly known as Nanda, was the greatest Sindhian ruler. He was a scholar and a poet, and patronized Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Asad (1422-1501 A.D.), author of the Akhlaq-i-Jalali. After Nanda Jam Firuz ascended the throne. In 1591 A.D. 
• Akbar sent Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana to invade the country and Sind was merged in the Mughal empire.

Bengal

• Bengal after Tughril’s revolt in 1282 A.D., Balban’s son Bhugra Khan founded a dynasty in the province, which ruled in virtual independence of Delhi. 
• About 1297 A.D. eastern and western Bengal came to be separated into two kingdoms, with Sonargaon and Lakhnauti as their capital. 
• About 1342 A.D., Illyas an officer of Ali Shah, the ruler of Lakhnauti, made himself independent ruler of the entire Bengal, assuming the title of Shamsuddin Illyas Shah. 
• Sikandar Shah of this dynasty raised several stately  buildings in their new capital of Pandua (1358-89 A.D.). 
• This dynasty was, during a short interlude, superseded by a Hindu prince, Raja Ganesh, and his son and grandson who became converts to Islam. 
• Then followed an Abyssinian dynasty which reigned till 1493 A.D., when it was overthrown by 

 Hussain Shah. 

• His long reign (1493-1519 A.D.) is noted for public works and for the promotion of Bengali literature.  Chaitanya, the famous Hindu reformer, enjoyed this ruler’s patronage. 
• He was succeeded by his son Nusrat Shah, a contemporary of sultan Ibrahim Lodi. A Bengali version of the Mahabharata was prepared to the order of Nushrat Shah. 
• Mahmud Shah, a son of Nusrat Shah was overthrown in 1538 A.D. by Sher Khan Suri and sought shelter with Humayun. 
• Humayun captured Gurbut Sher Khan de

 feating him at the battle of Chausa and recovered the independence of Bengal. 

 Khidr Khan, the son of Muhammad Khan, set himself up as an independent ruler and founded the Suri dynasty which continued till 1564 A.D. Then Bengal was seized by Sulaiman Karrani. 

 The third ruler of this dynasty, Da’ud Karrani was defeated by Akbar and Bengal was annexed to Delhi in 1575 A.D.

Kashmir

•  Inspite of the earlier advance of the crescent into Hindustan, Kashmir continued to be under its Hindu ruler until 1339 A.D. 
• In that year the first Muslim dynasty was established by Shah Mir who assumed the title of Shamas-ud-din. He died on 1342 A.D. and was succeeded by his eldest son, Jamshid. 
• Jamshid was dethroned by his brother Alisher, who assumed the title of ‘Ala-ud-din’ (1343 A.D.). 
• He died on 1354, A.D. and was succeeded by his son, Shirashamk, who styled himself as sultan Shihab-ud-din. 
• He banished his two sons and nominated his brother Hindal as his successor. 
• On his death in 1373 A.D., Hindal ascended the throne under the title of Qutb-ud-din and ruled till 1389 A.D. he was succeeded by his son Sikandar. 
• He was the most bigoted ruler of this dynasty and remembered as the But-Shikan (idol-breaker). 
• Timur demanded one lakh gold durursts and thirty thousand horses from him. But luckily for him Timur had to leave in a hurry for Samarqand and the crises passed off. Sikandar died in1413 A.D. 
• The greatest ruler of this family was Zain-ul-Abidin (1417-67 A.D.). He was Akbar’s forerunner in religious toleration and confined himself with strict fidelity to one wife, a rare phenomenon among Muslim rulers of that age. 
• He practised universal toleration, repealed the Jizaya, permitted the building of Hindu temple, and prohibited the slaughter of kine.
• He encouraged literature, painting and music, and caused many translations to be made or works composed in Sanskrit, Arabic and other language. 
• Under his initiative the Mahabharata and Rajatarangini were translated from Sanskrit into 

Persian.
 Mewar

• The ruler who raised Mewar to the status of a power to be reckoned with was Rana Kumbha (1433-68 A.D.).
• The conflict with Gujarat and Malwa occupied Kumbha through out his reign. 
• Marwar was under Mewar occupation, but soon it became independent after a successful struggle waged under the leadership of Rao Jodha.
• Kumbha was a patron of learned men, and was himself a learned man. The ruins of his palace and the victory tower (kirti stambha) which he built at Chittor show that he was an enthusiastic builder as well. Kumbha was murdered by his son Uda.
• Rana Sanga, a grandson of Kumbha, ascended the throne of Mewar in 1508 A.D., and defeated Mahmud II in 1517 A.D. 
• The Lodi ruler, Ibrahim Lodi, invaded Mewar, but suffered a sharp reverse at the hands of Rana Sanga at Ghatoli. 
• The great Rana was defeated by Babur in 1527 A.D. at the battle of Khanua.

Khandesh

• Khandesh was founded by one Malik Raja, who flourished in the time of Ala-ud-din Khalji and Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq. 
• In 1370 A.D. Firuz Tughlaassigned to Malik Raja the districts of Thalner and Kuronde on the borders of the Deccan. As Malik Raja claimed descent from Khalifa ‘Umar Faruq’ the dynasty came to be known as Faruqi. 
• His son Nasir succeeded to the throne. He captured the hill-fortress of Asirgarh, but Ahmad Shah, Sultan of Gujarat, defeated him when he attacked Nandurbar and compelled him to recognize his suzerainty. 
• He died in 1437 A.D. His successors were weak till the fifth ruler Adil Khan II came to the throne. 
• Adil Khan extended his rule by successfully fighting the rulers of Gondwana and Gorha-Mandla and threw off his allegiance to the Sultan of Gujarat but had to suffer humiliation when Mahmud Begarha invaded Khandesh (1498 A.D.).
•  On his death, Da’ud Khan, Ghazi Khan, Adil Khan III and Bahadur Khan followed. The dynasty ended when Akbar annexed Khandesh to the Mughal empire in 1601 A.D.

The Bahmani Kingdom

• The first king of independent Deccan was Abdul fath Nisir-ud-din Ismail Shah. 
• Hasan Gangu, the ablest son of the new sultan, was given the little of Zafar Khan, and it was he who finally negated the strenuous attempts made by Muhammad Tughlato reconquer the Deccan. 
• His successor Muhammad Shah I (1358-1375 A.D.) carried out many administrative reforms. 
• He split the kingdom into four divisions called tarafs, each under the charge of a governor called Tarafdar. 
• His reign was marked by that series of wars, with Telangana and Vijayanagar. 
• The bone of contention between Vijayanagar and Bahmani was the rich Raichur doab. 
• Muhammad succeeded in snatcing Golkonda from the Hindu ruler of Warangal. 
• The next ruler, Mujahid Shah, was murdered by his uncle, within five years of his accession (1377 A.D.), and was followed in less than a year by Muhammad Shah II. 
• He acquired, by his fondness for poetry and philosophy, the name of the second Aristotle, and died in 1397 A.D. 
• Firuz Shah ascended the throne in 1397 A.D. 
• Firuz went to war against Vijayanagar on three occasions and lost the Raichur doab to the Hindus in 1417 A.D. 
• The last years of his reign were marred by a quarrel with Gesu Daraz, the saint of Gulbarga. 
• He abdicated the throne in favour of his brother Ahmed, who is famous in Deccan history as Ahmad Shah Wali.
• Ahmed Shah Wali shifted the Bahmani capital from Gulbarga to Bidar sometimes about 1424 A.D. 
• He wages a successful war against Vijayanagar and pushed back an invasion from Malwa. 
• He engaged a Gujarat army near Bombay, an encounter in which his troops were worsted and this brought into open the latent conflict between the Deccanis and Pardesis in the Bahmani kingdom. 
• An able general and essentially a man of peace, Mahmud Gawan, himself a ‘foreigner’ played a noble role in establishing relations between the warring factions, by a policy of justice, fairness and conciliation. 
• Humayun (1438-1461 A.D.), who succeeded Ala-ud-din Ahmad Shah II, appointed Mahmud Gawan as his Prime Minister. 
• He was executed by Sulttan Shams-ud-din Muhammad (1463-1482 A.D.). 
• After Mahmud Gawan, Hassan Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri, the leader of the Deccani party, was exalted to the title of Malik Naib and he controlled the affairs of the kingdom. 
• He was murdered by the Abysinian governor of Bidar. The defection of Ahmad Nizam-ul-Mulk began the process of disintegration. 
• In June 1490 A.D., Ahmad proclaimed himself as an independent king. 
• Other governors like Fathhullah Imad-ul-Mulk of Berar and Yusaf Adil Khan of Bijapur soon followed suit. 
• It was finally split up into what are known as the five Sultanates of the Deccan the ‘Adil Shahis of Bijapur’, ‘Qutb Shahis of Golconda’, the ‘Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar,’ the ‘Barid Shahis of Bidar’ and the ‘Imad Shahis of Berar.’