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The political history of the medieval Deccan is not a flat sequence of five dynasties. The Bahmani Sultanate was the common predecessor. As its authority fragmented, provincial rulers established five successor sultanates: the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar, Adil Shahis of Bijapur, Imad Shahis of Berar, Barid Shahis of Bidar and Qutb Shahis of Golconda.[1]
Those five states competed, allied and absorbed one another before Mughal expansion ended the last independent sultanates. The later Asaf Jahi state, founded in 1724, belongs to a different political phase but carried Deccan court culture into modern Hyderabad. This section follows that relationship explicitly rather than treating every ruling house as though it occupied the same historical layer.[2]
The Bahmani Predecessor
The independent Deccan kingdom from which the five successor sultanates emerged
The Five Deccan Sultanates
Successor states of the late Bahmani realm
Nizam Shahi Sultanate
A western Deccan court known for Persianate learning and painting, Chand Bibi's regency, and Malik Ambar's long resistance to Mughal expansion.
Read More 1490–1686 · BijapurAdil Shahi Sultanate
The Bijapur dynasty whose court became a major center of Dakhni literature, music, painting and monumental architecture.
Read More 1491–1574 · BerarImad Shahi Sultanate
The northern successor state based at Elichpur, shorter-lived than its neighbors but essential to the five-sultanate map of the post-Bahmani Deccan.
Read More Late 15th c.–1619 · BidarBarid Shahi Sultanate
The Bidar court that succeeded the last Bahmani rulers and remained closely associated with the city's distinctive architecture and Bidri metalwork.
Read More 1518–1687 · Golconda → HyderabadQutb Shahi Dynasty
Founders of Hyderabad, patrons of Dakhni literature and rulers of the wealthy Golconda kingdom and its global diamond trade.
Read MoreLater Hyderabad
A new state formed after the Mughal conquest of the Deccan sultanates
Chronology
The political sequence at a glance
- 1347Bahmani Sultanate founded
- 1490sAhmadnagar, Bijapur, Berar and Bidar become independent successor states
- 1518Qutb Shahi independence at Golconda
- 1565Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda join the coalition against Vijayanagara
- 1574Ahmadnagar absorbs Berar
- 1619Bijapur absorbs Bidar
- 1636Nizam Shahi Ahmadnagar ends
- 1686–1687Mughals conquer Bijapur and Golconda
- 1724Asaf Jahi state founded
- 1948Hyderabad integrated into the Indian Union
One predecessor. Five successor sultanates. A later Hyderabad state.