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128 peace on equal terms with the Muhammadan Sultans of the Deccan.

Muhammadan States in the Deccan.—The Muhammadan kings of Southern India sprang out of the conquest of Ala-ud-dín (1303-1306). After a period of confused fighting, the Bahmaní kingdom of the Deccan emerged as the representative of Muhammadan rule in Southern India. Zafar Khán, an Afghán general during the reign of Muhammad Tughlak (1325-1351), defeated the Delhi troops, and set up as Musalmán sovereign of the Deccan. Having in early youth been the slave of a Bráhman, who had treated him kindly, and foretold his future greatness, he took the title of Bahmaní, and transmitted it to his successors.

The Bahmaní Dynasty.—The rise of the Bahmaní dynasty is usually assigned to the year 1347, and it lasted for 178 years, until 1525. Its capitals were successively at Gulbargah, Warangal, and Bídar, all in the modern Haidarábád territories; and it loosely corresponded with the Nizám's dominions of the present day. At the height of their power, the Muhammadan Bahmani kings claimed sway over half the Deccan, from the Tungabhadra river in the south to Orissa in the north, and from Masulipatam on the east to Goa on the west. Their direct government was, however, much more confined. They derived support, in their early struggle against the Delhi throne, from the Hindu southern kingdoms of Vijayanagar and Warangal. But during the greater part of its career, the Bahmani dynasty represented the cause of Islám against Hinduism on the south of the Vindhyas. Its alliances and its wars alike led to a mingling of the Musalmán and Hindu populations. For example, the King of Málwá. invaded the Bahmani dominions with a mixed force of 12,000 Muhammadan Afghans and Hindu Rájputs. The Hindu Rájá, of Vijayanagar recruited his armies from Afghan Musalmáns, whom he paid by assignments of land, and for whom he built a mosque. The Bahmaní Muhammadan troops, on the other hand, were frequently led by converted Hindus. The Bahmaní armies were themselves made up of two hostile sects of Musalmáns. One sect consisted of Shiás, chiefly Persians, Túrks, or Tartars from Central Asia; the other,