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Malik Hasan Bahri

Bahmani noble, born a Brahman and brought up as a Muslim. As Nizam-ul-Mulk he took Rajahmundry and Kondapalli or Kondavidu for Muhammad Shah III in about 1471, and governed all of Telingana. He resented its division by Mahmud Gawan and led the plot that had the minister executed in 1481. He then ruled the kingdom as Malik Naib until he was killed in 1486 after a campaign at Warangal. His son Ahmad founded the Nizam Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar.

Malik Hasan, known by the title Nizam-ul-Mulk and by the name Bahri, was the Bahmani commander who won the coast of the Telugu country and governed it for ten years. He is remembered chiefly for his part in the death of the minister Mahmud Gawan.123 His career shows how the province of Telingana became the prize in the court quarrels that broke the kingdom apart.123

Origins

Haig says he was born Tima Bhat, son of Bhairav, a Brahman revenue official of Pathri by family right, who had fled to Vijayanagara.4 The boy was taken prisoner in Ahmad Shah I’s invasion of that kingdom and brought up as a Muslim under the name Hasan.4

The Burhan-i Ma’asir tells it in another way.56 It says Humayun Shah promoted several converts whom Sanjar Khan had taken prisoner in the previous reign.56 Among them was “a Brahmin youth to whom the name of Hasan and the surname of Bahri was given”.56 The king gave him the title Sarang Khan.56

The name Bahri is Arabic for “of the sea”.7 Haig thought it was a corruption of Bhairavi, “of Bhairav”, from his father’s name.7 The usual story is that Hasan had kept the king’s falcon, but Haig found it “unconvincing and fanciful”.7

The conquest of the coast

About 1471 a disputed succession in Orissa gave the Bahmanis an opening. Ferishta says that Muhammad Shah III, on Mahmud Gawan’s advice, gave Hasan the title Nizam-ul-Mulk.18 The king sent him with an army to help the claimant, whom Ferishta calls Ambur Ray.18 Hasan defeated the usurper, then went on with the claimant to take Kondapalli and Rajahmundry, and he was made governor of all Telingana.18

Haig calls the claimant Hambar, and the second fort Kondavir, that is, Kondavidu.79 He says Telingana was now “the most extensive of the four provinces”.79

The Burhan-i Ma’asir calls Hasan one of Humayun’s favourites.10 It says that he offered to lead the campaign when news came that the king of Orissa had died.10 In its account he took Rajamundari and the mountain fort of Kondavir, and gave out their lands to his officers.10 See Rajahmundry, Kondapalli, Kondaveedu and, for the Orissan side, Hamvira.

After a famine, the Raja of Orissa came back in force. Ferishta says Nizam-ul-Mulk, “unable to cope with so large a force, shut himself up in” Rajahmundry until the king came to relieve him.11 The Burhan-i Ma’asir says he could not face the enemy and fell back to “Wazirabad”.12

When the war was over, the Burhan-i Ma’asir says, Kondavir and its lands were given to him.13 Ferishta says the king left Rajahmundry, Kondapalli and other places in his charge.14 He allowed Hasan’s son Malik Ahmad to act as his deputy at Rajahmundry, while Hasan himself followed the king south.14 Haig says the son was brought from an estate in Berar for this.2

The division of Telingana and Mahmud Gawan’s death

Mahmud Gawan then split the province. Hasan kept “Rajmundry, Muchly-puttun, Bilconda, Oorea, &c.”, but Warangal and its districts went to Azim Khan.15

Hasan had hoped for the whole province.29 Haig says he “bitterly resented its dismemberment, and resolved to destroy Mahmud Gawan, the author of the scheme”.29 He calls him “crafty, unscrupulous, and ambitious”.29 In his earlier book Haig had already traced the quarrel to the division of Telingana.16

Ferishta says Nizam-ul-Mulk and others, “envious of the favour shown” to the minister, plotted against him at Kondapalli.171819 They had his seal set on a blank paper.171819 Above it Nizam-ul-Mulk wrote a letter inviting the Raja of Orissa to invade.171819 Haig names him among the leaders of the plot.3 The minister was executed on 5 April 1481.3

Malik Naib

With the minister dead, the king had to rely on the men who had destroyed him. Haig says Hasan became lieutenant of the kingdom, “henceforth known as Malik Naib”.20 His son Ahmad received the title Nizam-ul-Mulk with Daulatabad.20

The Burhan-i Ma’asir calls him “that incomparable minister”.21 It blames his fall on the false tales of a group of Abyssinian nobles.21 King noted that its author wrote for the dynasty founded by Hasan’s son.22 Under the boy king Mahmud Shah, Malik Naib held the capital for several years.23

In AH 891 (1486; AH is the Islamic way of counting years) the younger Qivam-ul-Mulk seized Warangal, and Malik Naib marched there with the king.24252627 At Warangal the nobles turned against him.24252627 Ferishta says the king “earnestly wished for his destruction”.24252627

Malik Naib fled by night to Bidar instead of joining his son at Junnar.24252627 There the governor of the citadel, Pasand Khan, strangled him and sent his head to the king, though Malik Naib had raised Pasand Khan from poverty.24252627 The Burhan-i Ma’asir tells the same story.21

His son

Haig says his son Ahmad founded the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar.428 In 1490 Ahmad was the first of the governors to invite the others to declare their independence.428

Footnotes

  1. Muhammad Qasim Ferishta, tr. John Briggs, History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Vol. II (1829), p. 487 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 418 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 420 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 398 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. J. S. King, The History of the Bahmani Dynasty, founded on the Burhan-i Ma’asir (1900), p. 87 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. King, History of the Bahmani Dynasty (1900), p. 88 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 415 and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  8. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 488 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 416 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. King, History of the Bahmani Dynasty (1900), p. 104 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 495 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. King, History of the Bahmani Dynasty (1900), p. 108 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  13. King, History of the Bahmani Dynasty (1900), p. 111 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 498 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  15. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 503 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  16. T. W. Haig, Historic Landmarks of the Deccan (1907), p. 82 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 501 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  18. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 505 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 506 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  20. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 421 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. King, History of the Bahmani Dynasty (1900), p. 119 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  22. King, History of the Bahmani Dynasty (1900), p. 118 and note 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  23. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 423 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  24. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 529 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  25. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 530 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  26. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), pp. 531–532 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  27. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 424 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  28. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 425 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

References

Sources (4)
  1. Muhammad Qasim Ferishta (tr. John Briggs), History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India till the Year A.D. 1612, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London, 1829, pp. 487–488, 494–495, 498, 501–503, 505–506, 529–532. [Public domain]
  2. J. S. King, The History of the Bahmani Dynasty, founded on the Burhan-i Ma'asir (opens in a new tab), Luzac and Co., London, 1900, pp. 87–88, 104, 108, 111, 118–119. [Public domain]
  3. Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans (opens in a new tab), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1928, pp. 398, 415–416, 418, 420–421, 423–424. [Public domain]
  4. T. W. Haig, Historic Landmarks of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), Pioneer Press, Allahabad, 1907, pp. 82. [Public domain]

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