The Bahmani sultanate: how the Deccan went its own way
The 14th-century rebellion that gave Telangana its first Persianate polity.
When Delhi's Tughlaq dynasty couldn't hold the south, the Bahmani sultanate stepped in — and changed Telangana's architectural and culinary register forever.
The Bahmani sultanate broke from the Delhi Sultanate in 1347 under Hasan Gangu. From their capital first at Daulatabad, then Gulbarga, then Bidar, they ruled most of present-day northern Karnataka and Telangana for nearly two centuries.
Bidar Fort and the madrasa of Mahmud Gawan (1472) at Bidar remain among the finest Bahmani monuments. The dynasty introduced bidri-ware, the dum-style of cooking that prefigures Hyderabadi biryani, and Persian as the elite language.
By 1518 the sultanate had splintered into the five Deccan sultanates — including the Qutb Shahis of Golconda, who would go on to found Hyderabad in 1591.
