Home›Dynasties of the Deccan›Qutb Shahi Dynasty (1518–1687)
Born from the collapse of the Bahmani kingdom, the Qutb Shahis of Golconda became the greatest patrons of Dakhni — the early Deccani form of Urdu — and its literary culture. Across seven sultans and 169 years they made Golconda a byword for fabulous wealth, founded the new city of Hyderabad in 1591, and left behind one of South Asia's most complete royal necropolises.
Sultan Quli declares at Golconda
A Turkic noble from Hamadan raises an independent throne on the granite citadel
Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk, a Turkic noble from Hamadan in Iran, came to the Deccan in Bahmani service and rose to the governorship of the eastern taraf. In 1518, with central authority at Bidar in collapse, he declared independence at Golconda and founded the Qutb Shahi line. He built the great granite citadel of Golconda whose acoustic gates still carry a clap to the topmost rampart.
The founding of Hyderabad
Muhammad Quli lays out a new city around the Charminar and writes the first sovereign divan in a vernacular tongue
The dynasty's defining moment came under Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, who in 1591 laid out the new city of Hyderabad on the south bank of the Musi river, with the Charminar at its centre — built, according to tradition, to mark the end of a plague in his realm. He was the first reigning sovereign in South Asia to leave a literary divan in a vernacular tongue, writing poetry in Dakhni, Telugu and Persian alike.
The Qutb Shahi sovereigns
From Sultan Quli to Abul Hasan Tana Shah and the partnership of Madanna and Akkanna
The Qutb Shahi line spanned seven sultans. Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk founded the dynasty; Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, its fifth ruler, founded Hyderabad and established its Dakhni poetic tradition; the last, Abul Hasan Tana Shah, was the patron of the great Madanna and Akkanna brothers — Brahmin ministers whose administration brought Telugu Hindu and Persianate Muslim worlds into close partnership.
The Golconda diamonds
The treasury through which the Koh-i-Noor, the Hope and the Regent passed into the world
The Qutb Shahi diamond trade made Golconda legendary from Madrid to Edo. The Koh-i-Noor, the Hope, the Regent and the Daria-i-Noor all passed through the Qutb Shahi treasury before scattering across the courts of Europe and Persia. For nearly two centuries the kingdom set the world price of the gemstone.
The fall of Golconda
A year-long siege ended by treachery, and the last sultan imprisoned at Daulatabad
After a year-long siege, Aurangzeb's Mughal armies took Golconda by treachery in 1687 when an officer of the garrison opened a postern gate from within. The last sultan, Abul Hasan Tana Shah, was imprisoned at Daulatabad until his death. With his fall the Qutb Shahi line was extinguished and the Deccan absorbed into Mughal sovereignty.
A city and a literature
Hyderabad and the first sovereign patronage of Dakhni, inherited by the Asaf Jahi Nizams
The Qutb Shahis founded Hyderabad — still the capital of the Dakhni cultural world — and gave Dakhni its first sovereign literary patronage. The Qutb Shahi tombs north of the city, set in their walled garden, remain South Asia's most complete royal necropolis. Their cosmopolitan court culture, in which Brahmins served as ministers and Persians as poets, would be inherited two generations later by the Asaf Jahi Nizams of the same city.
The Qutb Shahi Dynasty in dates
- 1518Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk, a Turkic noble from Hamadan who rose to the governorship of the eastern taraf in Bahmani service, declares independence at Golconda as Bahmani central authority collapses.
- c. 1518 onwardsSultan Quli builds the great granite citadel of Golconda; its acoustic gates, designed to carry a clap to the topmost rampart, become one of the Deccan's legendary feats of engineering.
- c. 1518–1591The Golconda diamond mines make the kingdom legendary from Madrid to Edo; the Koh-i-Noor, the Hope, the Regent, and the Daria-i-Noor all pass through the Qutb Shahi treasury.
- 1591Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the fifth sultan, founds the new city of Hyderabad on the south bank of the Musi river with the Charminar at its centre, built by tradition to mark the end of a plague in his realm.
- c. 1591–1611Muhammad Quli becomes the first reigning sovereign in South Asia to leave a literary divan in a vernacular tongue, composing poetry in Dakhni, Telugu, and Persian alike.
- c. 17th c.The Qutb Shahi tombs north of the city are built as one of South Asia's most complete royal necropolises — a walled garden housing the domed tombs of successive sultans and their families.
- c. 1672–1687Abul Hasan Tana Shah, the seventh and last sultan, appoints the Brahmin brothers Madanna and Akkanna as chief ministers, bringing the Telugu Hindu and Persianate Muslim administrative worlds into close partnership.
- 1687After a year-long siege, Aurangzeb's Mughal armies take Golconda by treachery when an officer of the garrison opens a postern gate from within.
- 1687Abul Hasan Tana Shah is captured and imprisoned at Daulatabad until his death; after seven sultans and 169 years the Qutb Shahi line is extinguished and the Deccan absorbed into Mughal sovereignty.
- LegacyHyderabad — still the capital of the Dakhni cultural world — the first sovereign literary patronage of Dakhni, and the cosmopolitan court culture in which Brahmins served as ministers are inherited two generations later by the Asaf Jahi Nizams.