Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/101

89 Bahinan Shah, but the question is settled by the evidence of a temporary inscription and of legends on coins. It is more important than it might seem at first sight to be, for on the title of the first king depends the correct interpretation of the epithet Bahmani, applied to the dynasty which he founded. This is commonly connected with the caste name Brahman, and various stories are told of assistance received by Zafar Khan in early life from a Brahman, but the epithet was in fact derived from Zafar Khan's own name or title of Bahman which was borne as the assertion of a claim to ancient Persian descent.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq, on hearing of the serious turn which the rebellion in the Deccan had taken, would have returned, but affairs in Gujarat would not permit him to do so. He died in the course of his efforts to stifle the revolt in that province, and the affairs of the empire were in such confusion that Bahman Shah had ample leisure to establish his sovereignty in the south, and the Deccan was not wholly reunited to the empire of Dehli for more than three hundred years. Bahman Shah ignored the historic city of Deogir or Daulatabad, which had, not long before, been the official capital of India, and turning southwards selected Gulbarga as his capital. It is not easy to discover why he should have selected so unattractive a spot unless we suppose that it was because it had been his jagir. Daulatabad was associated with the brief and inglorious reign of Ismail Fath, and was probably considered to be too near the northern frontier of the Deccan to be a suitable capital for the newly-separated kingdom. Gulbarga had the advantage, in the eyes of a faithful Muslim, of being in convenient but not dangerous proximity to the great Hindu kingdom of the Peninsula. One historian tells us that Bahman Shah reg=?rded Gulbarga as a fortunate spot, and his choice was probably regulated by superstition, for he was a firm believer in astrology. The next step, after the selection of a capital, was to make it a worthy residence for a king, and the great mosque was now built. The greater part of the fort, too, was probably built in this reign.

Gulbarga was the city whence, during the next eight reigns, large armies of the faithful marched, with varying success, against the Hindu Rayas of Vijayanagar, and the city held its place during the reigns of at least six of Bahman Shah's successors. The first to evince a dislike to the hot and dusty town was the eighth Sultan, Firuz Shah, known as