Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/238

 192 PROVINCIAL DYNASTIES young sons of Humayun under a regency weakened the royal authority, and though the wise administration of a great minister, Mahmud Gavan, and a decade of vig- orous campaigns of aggression secured a vast extension of territory and an unprecedented degree of prosperity, yet the unjust execution of the minister, and the subse- quent demoralization of king and state, led to the disrup- tion of an empire that had outgrown its cohesion. A recent division into large provincial governments hastened the dissolution. During the reign of Mohammad's youthful son, Mahmud Shah II, the various provinces shook off the parent's yoke. Imad-al-mulk was crowned king in Berar in 1484; Yusuf Adil Shah proclaimed the independence of the newly created government of Bija- pur in 1489; Nizam-al-mulk prepared the way for the separation of Junair. Thus the most important prov- inces in the north, west, and southwest were lost; and in 1512 Telingana, never very firmly held, followed the rest and declared its independence. Mahmud Shah, once a captive, next a refugee, died at Bidar, which had for some time superseded Kulbarga as the dynastic capital, in 1518, and with him the power of the Bah- manids came to an end, though three sons and a grand- son mounted a nominal throne during the next eight years. Their dominions were divided among the Adil Shahs of Bijapur (1489-1686), the Kutb Shahs of Golkonda (1512-1687), the Barid Shahs of Bidar (1492- c. 1609), the Nizam Shahs of Ahmadnagar (1490-1595), and the Imad Shahs of Berar (1484-1572). Of these dynasties