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Mujahid Shah

Mujahid Shah, the elder son of Muhammad Shah I, was the third Bahmani sultan, from about 1375 to 1378. He went to war with Bukka I of Vijayanagara and laid siege to the hill-fort of Adoni, which Ferishta calls the strongest fortress in the Deccan. Ferishta, Haig and the Bellary gazetteer say the siege lasted nine months and failed when rain refilled the fort's tanks. The Burhan-i Ma'asir says a year, and adds that the garrison had agreed to surrender before the rain came. He was murdered in 1378.

Mujahid Shah was the third king of the Bahmani dynasty of the Deccan.12 He was the elder son of Muhammad Shah I.2 In his short reign he fought Bukka I of Vijayanagara.2 The main event of that war in the Telugu country was his long siege of the hill-fort of Adoni.34

Who he was

The Persian history Burhan-i Ma’asir says that the people of the Deccan called him “Balwant”, that is, “strong-bodied”.1 Wolseley Haig, in the Cambridge History of India (1928), described him as handsome, very strong and headstrong.2 Haig dates his father’s death, and his own accession, to the spring or early summer of 1377.2

The war with Vijayanagara

Soon after he came to the throne, Mujahid demanded from Bukka the country between the Ghatprabha and the Tungabhadra rivers.2 Bukka answered by asking for the elephants that Mujahid’s father had taken in the last war.2 So Mujahid gathered the armies of Daulatabad, Bidar and Berar and crossed the Krishna and the Tungabhadra.5

He came first to Adoni, which Ferishta calls “the strongest fortification in the Deccan”.5 He left Safdar Khan Sistani with the army of Berar to besiege it.62 Then he marched against Bukka himself.6 He followed Bukka for months and reached the outer defences of Vijayanagara, but he could not take the city.278

The siege of Adoni

Mujahid then fell back on Adoni with sixty or seventy thousand captives.37 There he took charge of the siege himself.3 Ferishta says it lasted nine months.3 The garrison was about to give in for lack of water, when heavy rain fell and they held out.3 Grain then ran short in the royal camp, and many soldiers died of disease.39

The minister Saif-ud-din Ghori came from Gulbarga to see the fort.9 He told the king privately that a place with fifteen forts joined together could not be taken quickly.9 So Mujahid made peace with Bukka and turned for home.97 The Bellary gazetteer of 1904 also records the nine months’ siege “in vain”.4

Death

On the way home, Ferishta says, Daud Khan and others killed him in his tent by night.10 Haig calls Daud his uncle.7 Haig dates the murder to the night of 15 April 1378.7 Daud was proclaimed king.7

Coins

O. Codrington, who wrote on the Bahmani coins in 1898, dated Mujahid’s reign AH 776–780 (AH is the Islamic way of counting years).11 He published a gold coin of AH 777, probably struck at Ahsanabad (Gulbarga).1112

Where the sources disagree

  • When his reign began. Codrington dates it from AH 776 (1374–75).11 Haig dates his father’s death to 1377.2
  • How long the siege lasted. Ferishta, Haig and the Bellary gazetteer give nine months.374 The Burhan-i Ma’asir gives a year.1
  • How it ended. In the Burhan-i Ma’asir, the thirsty garrison agreed to surrender, and its governor came out and made a written treaty.1 That night rain fell, and the garrison killed Mujahid’s deputy and fired his head from a gun towards the army.13 In Ferishta, the rain simply let the fort hold out, and the king left on his minister’s advice.39
  • How he died. Ferishta and Haig say he was killed in his tent on the march, and Ferishta names Daud Khan.107 The Burhan-i Ma’asir says he went back to Ahsanabad (Gulbarga) and was found headless on his throne, a deed people blamed on jinns (spirits).13

Footnotes

  1. J. S. King, The History of the Bahmani Dynasty, founded on the Burhan-i Ma’asir (1900), p. 30 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 383 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  3. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 338 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  4. Francis, Bellary (1904), p. 34 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Muhammad Qasim Ferishta, tr. John Briggs, History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Vol. II (1829), p. 330 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 331 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 384 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  8. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary (1904), p. 33 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 339 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. II (1829), p. 340 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. O. Codrington, “On the Coins of the Bahmani Dynasty”, Numismatic Chronicle, 3rd series, XVIII (1898), p. 264 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Codrington, “Coins of the Bahmani Dynasty” (1898), p. 265 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  13. King, History of the Bahmani Dynasty (1900), p. 31 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Photos

Dynasties

Bahmanis

1347–1527 CE

Sultans of the Deccan (1347–1527) who ruled from Gulbarga and, from the 1420s, from Bidar. Their founder won his throne with troops sent by the ruler of Warangal. His successors took Kaulas, Bhongir and Golconda from the Telugu chiefs, sacked Warangal (in 1422, 1424 or 1425, by different accounts) and held western Telangana as the province of Bidar. They fought the Musunuri and Recherla nayakas, the Reddis, Vijayanagara and the Gajapatis of Orissa, and held the coast from Rajahmundry to Kondapalli and Kondavidu in the 1470s. Mahmud Gawan split the province of Telingana between Rajahmundry and Warangal. Its last governor, Sultan Quli, founded the Qutb Shahi kingdom of Golconda.

References

Sources (5)
  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. 330–331, 338–340. [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. 30–31. [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. 383–384. [Public domain]
  4. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1904, pp. 33–34. [Public domain]
  5. O. Codrington, On the Coins of the Bahmani Dynasty (Numismatic Chronicle, 3rd series, Vol. XVIII) (opens in a new tab), Royal Numismatic Society, London, 1898, pp. 264–265. [Public domain]

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