Mahmud Gawan

Persian statesman and poet (1411–1481)

Ali
Abdullah
Alaf Khan

Mahmud Gawan (1411–1481) was a Persian statesman who served as Chief Minister or Vakil-e-Sultanat from 1458-1461 and as Prime minister or Vazir from 1466 until his death in 1481 under Bahmani Sultanate which was first independent muslim kingdom in deccan region of India. Mahmud Gawan, from the village of Gawan in Persia, was well-versed in Islamic theology, Persian, and the sciences and was a poet and a prose writer of repute.

After emigrating from a small kingdom in Persia in 1453, Mahmud was appointed a high-ranking noble by Alau'd-din Ahmad Shah and given an officer position. Upon his accession to the throne, Mahmud was made Chief Minister by Humayun Shah, which he ruled as until the breakup of the five-year triumvirate regency of Sultans Nizam Shah and Muhammad Shah III Lashkari in 1466.^[2] Following the triumvirate's breakup, in which his power was throttled by its other members, he would exercise a great deal of authority over the Bahmani kingdom in his supreme rule. During his reign, Mahmud enjoyed the trust and confidence of rulers, locals as well as that of foreign kingdoms, who had great respect for Mahmud. He would be executed in April of 1481 by the Sultan over a forged treasonous document amongst a factional conflict between the local and foreign nobility.

He led many campaigns against and defended against the Sultanate's neighbors, including the Vijayanagara Empire, the Gajapati Empire, and the Malwa Sultanate, which resulted in the Bahmani Sultanate reaching its greatest territorial extent under his reign.^[3] Mahmud is notable for his construction of the Mahmud Gawan Madrasa, a large centre of religious learning (madrasa) built in Bidar in 1472 which emulated another college in Persia.

Origins

Mahmud Gawan hailed from Gilan in Persia, born into a family of imperial ministers. Gawan eventually left his homeland due to discontentment with its political environment. He toured various regions of Asia, finding success as a merchant and also developing an affinity for learning. Mahmud had three sons, Abdullah, Ali, and Alaf Khan, and a brother who went to Mecca, all of whom were largely uninvolved in Mahmud's life in the Deccan.^[4] Mahmud arrived in the Indian subcontinent in the year 1453 (aged 42), at the port of Dabhol, motivated by financial opportunities offered by the rich courts of South Asia. Additionally, South Asia was a lucrative market for goods that he intended to sell. Though he intended to travel to Delhi, he first visited Bidar in order to pay homage to a prominent Sufi Dervish there. He subsequently gained an audience with the Bahmani Sultan Ahmad Shah II.^[5] The Bahmani Sultanate had consistently favoured high-born Persianate men of talent,^[5] and hence Gawan was well-received and made a noble of the Bahmani court, beginning his political career in the Deccan.^[1]

Career

After introducing himself to the Bahmani court of Ahmad Shah II, he was given an officer position, and later in 1457, given charge of an elite formation of cavalry after he had suppressed a minor rebellion.^[1] Greatly impressed with his military aptitude, Sultan Humayun Shah had taken him in his service and appointed him as Wakil-us-Sultanat, or Chief Minister following Ahmad Shah II's death. In Humayun Shah's accession speech, he claims he appointed Mahmud due to him fitting the role of "one who should be clothed with the outward attributes of truth and good faith and who should inwardly be free from vices and vanity". In addition to his main role, Mahmud Gawan was given control of military affairs and was presented with the titles of "tarafdar of Bijapur"^[6] and "Prince of Merchants" (Malik-ut-Tujjar)^[7]^[1] After Humayun's death, he became one of the guardians of the underage Sultan Nizam Shah during his regency. This triumvirate regency council would consist of Mahmud, Jahan Turk, and the queen mother of Nizam Shah.^[8] It worked well in depoliticizing the foreigner-Deccani conflict and deterring foreign invasions through its "unity of action" policy, which saw the three regents constantly unified on the best course of action and conduct. This policy would last until the death of Nizam Shah in 1463, which laid the course for the coming internal strife which would eventually see Mahmud's execution.^[9]

Three years after the accession of Muhammad III, when he was fourteen years of age, the triumvirate regency came to a forced end with the murder of one of its members, Jahan Turk, ordered by the queen mother herself. Jahan Turk had been a disturbing force in the Sultanate by giving the new nobility positions in place of the old aristocracy, and had been disliked for his rumoured embezzling of funds from the royal treasury. His insistence on having his way had forced Mahmud to flee to the frontier provinces of the kingdom, and as Mahmud was "the moderating element in the Triumvirate", the order of the court quickly decomposed, and as Jahan Turk was the imposer of this chaos, the queen mother had him killed.^[10]

The queen mother had retired from political affairs with the dissolution of the triumvirate, furthering Mahmud Gawan's lack of diplomatic and intellectual competition. A ceremony was held, where he was entrusted with the general supervision of all provinces (tarafs) of the Sultanate and given the title of Prime minister by the queen mother in 1466, soon after the triumvirate's dissolution.^[1] He was given the formal title of “Lord of the habitors of the Globe, Secretary of the Royal Mansion, Deputy of the Realm", which he was addressed as in court documents.^[11] Following Mahmud's many ambitious campaigns and territorial acquisitions, in 1473, he himself also expanded the number of tarafs, ruled by a tarafdar, from four to eight, due to the accrued administrative burden and expansion of the Sultanate, in part caused by his own pursuits. He also instituted reforms of fixing the payment and obligations of the nobles and limiting the provincial governor's control to the assignment of only one fort.^[3]^[12]

Mahmud Gawan's foreign policy caused a drastic shift in the diplomatic atmosphere of South India; he temporarily allied his state with Vijayanagara, who had been rivals of the Bahmanis since the Sultanate's inception, and established a friendship with Mahmud Khalji of Malwa, with mutual envoys sent despite three past invasions of the kingdom by Khalji.

Campaigns

Mahmud Gawan partook in many campaigns and enlarged the state to an extent never achieved before, with the state stretching from the Arabian to Bengal seas^[13] through the annexation of the Konkan, the easternmost portion of Andhra, Goa, and the forming of a protectoral relationship with the Khandesh Sultanate.^[14] The capture of the Konkan would virtually cease the attacks on Muslim pilgrims and would grant the Bahmanis dominance over trade in the eastern Arabian Sea.^[15]

Shortly after the death of Humayun Shah and the accession of the boy monarch Nizam Shah, the rulers of Orissa, the Gajapatis, saw the Bahmani Sultanate as weak, which was typical in the presence of a regency. The Gajapati Emperor, Kapilendra Deva, saw fit to invade the Bahmani kingdom and reached as far as ten miles from the capital, Bidar. Mahmud, in addition with Jahan Turk, who was a member of the triumvirate regency, the queen mother, and Nizam Shah himself, led an army against the Gajapatis and drew them back from Bidar.^[16]

A year later, in 1462, the ruler of Malwa, Mahmud Khalji, in cooperation with the ruler of Khandesh and some other states, again invaded the Bahmani Sultanate. In the confrontation between the joint regency and the opposing side, an initial advantage turned into an unexpected defeat, and the party was forced to retreat.^[17] The court was temporarily moved to Firozabad, and Mahmud ordered the queen to delegate Bidar Fort to a different noble. Khalji began laying siege to the capital,^[18] and advanced to the citadel after seventeen days,^[19] but was deterred not long after by a joint army of Mahmud's and the king of Gujarat, Mahmud Begada, whom Mahmud and the queen had invited for assistance. Mahmud Begada, going by way of Malwa through his insistence not to enter the Deccan, along with Mahmud Gawan, successfully forced Khalji of Malwa to retire to his home via Gondwana.^[20]

This occurrence was near-repeated the following year. Mahmud Khalji again raided far into the Sultanate, as far as Fathabad, but was repelled following a second instance of assistance from Mahmud Begada and a confrontation accompanied by Mahmud Gawan.^[21]

A third invasion by the Khalji of Malwa was known to be looming in 1468, and in anticipation Mahmud Gawan led forces near Khandesh along with those of the recurring ally of Gujarat.^[22] The main army of Berar under Yusuf Turk besieged Kherla, then subordinate to Malwa. The Bahmanis had taken the citadel when two defenders deceived the general such that they were able to murder him and bring the Khalji's forces down toward the city,^[23] though a diverting of Mahmud's forces had the opposite effect and ended the conflict.^[24] Its concluding treaty saw Kherla become a full territory of Malwa, while the Bahmanis retained all former lands, and reversed the diplomatic atmosphere of the two states to permanent friendship despite the past invasions.^[25]

Mahmud embarked on a successful campaign against the Vijayanagara Empire in 1469, where he conquered the city of Kanjeeveram and the entire Konkan.^[3]^[12] He captured Goa and Dabhol in 1472,^[26] two of the most prosperous ports of the Vijayanagara Empire.^[3] Virupaksha of Vijayanagara tried to send forces to reclaim his losses in the Konkan in 1474, and attempted to lay siege to Goa,^[27] but was deterred by an army led by Mahmud alongside Muhammad III. Mahmud and his forces attacked and laid siege to Belgaum, and successfully took the city. The raja of Belgaum, in exchange for keeping his life, agreed to let his city be annexed to Mahmud.^[28]

Mahmud Gawan Madrasa

Mahmud built a madrasa in Bidar which is known as the Mahmud Gawan Madrasa. The complex stands at the centre of Bidar's old town, and was completed in 1472.^[29] The extensive library carried a collection of 3,000 manuscripts.

This madrasa had a length of 242 feet and a width of 222 feet. It was a three-storied building, each floor identical in structure, with two minarets, a mosque, library, labs, lecture halls and dormitories, which overlooked an expansive courtyard with arches on either side.^[30] Its domes were reminiscent of those of Samarkand during the Timurid Renaissance.^[31]

The madrasa significantly deteriorated in the years following its inception. The building was damaged by a gunpowder explosion^[32] and thunder storm in 1696, which collectively rid it of half of the southern wing and half its front, and it was consistently neglected and left to decay through the elements. This neglect and its ruinous state caused the madrasa to become a public dumping ground for the people's filth and rubbish. The building later underwent a significant cleanup and renovation and is now in a more presentable state.^[33]

Deccani-Afaqi conflict and execution

There existed a divide between the two factions of the Deccanis, who were of local origin, and the Afaqis (alternatively gharibs or Pardesi), who were of foreign origin.^[34] The divisions included sectarian religious divisions where the Afaqis were looked upon as heretics by the Sunnis as the former were Shi'as.^[35] Historian Richard M. Eaton cites a linguistic divide where the Deccanis spoke Dakhni while the Afaqis favored the Persian language.^[36] Mahmud, as he hailed from Persia, was a Pardesi, so he faced many challenges. The conflict was largely depoliticized during the triumvirate's rule,^[37] but its collapse caused relations between the two parties to grow increasingly stigmatized during Mahmud's fifteen-year supreme rule. Plots arose to usurp his regime by the Deccanis, and the nobles forged a treasonous document purportedly from him. This was in part motivated by the absence of Yusuf Adil Shah, leader of the Afaqis faction and then Governor of Daulatabad.^[38] Muhammad Shah III Lashkari, the Sultan, drunkenly ordered him executed on 5 April 1481.^[39] "With him departed all the cohesion and power of the Bahmani Sultan."^[40] The Bahmani Sultanate fell into great disarray following Mahmud's execution.^[39]

The Sultan later regretted his ill-thought-out decision and buried Mahmud Gawan, though still in a small tomb disproportionate to the authority his rank had held.^[41] The treasonable documents presented by the critics of Mahmud Gawan were the letters written to the Gajapati king Purushottamadeva of Orissa, claimed to have been written by Mahmud.^[42] They claimed the populace's dismay of the wretchedness of the Sultan, and invited Purushottamadeva to invade the kingdom.^[43] Though Mahmud asserted that the letter was forged, his statement was not given value as the Sultan Muhammad Shah III was himself wary of Mahmud's growing power and influence. Thus, despite his old age, he was executed. One year after the death of Mahmud, the Sultan also died at the age of 29. It was said that Mahmud haunted the Sultan during the last days of his life as he used to scream on his death bed that Mahmud was slaying him.^[44] Malik Hasan Bahri, a Deccani who was the chief architect of the plan to have Mahmud executed,^[38] succeeded him as Prime minister upon the accession of Mahmood Shah Bahmani II to the throne.^[45]

The disorder caused by Mahmud's death led to the independence of the Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, and Berar Sultanates in 1490, and the Bidar Sultanate in 1492.^[34]^[46] Yusuf Adil Shah, the founder of the Bijapur Sultanate, which would grow to be the largest Deccan Sultanate, was perhaps himself a former Georgian slave of Mahmud Gawan^[47] and would be the leader of the Afaqis during the last years of Mahmud's life.^[27]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Eaton 2008, p. 65.
^ Sherwani 1946, pp. 276–277.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Chandra 2014, pp. 146–148.
^ Sherwani 1942, pp. 25–27.
^ ^a ^b Eaton 2008, pp. 59–62.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 258.
^ Chandra 2014, p. 147.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 276.
^ Sherwani 1946, pp. 293–294.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 292.
^ Sherwani 1946, pp. 294–295.
^ ^a ^b Yazdani 1947, pp. 8–10.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 296.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 322.
^ Haig 1925, p. 415.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 279.
^ Sherwani 1946, pp. 280–283.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 283.
^ Haig 1925, p. 413.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 284.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 286.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 303.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 304.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 305.
^ Sherwani 1946, pp. 305–308.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 316.
^ ^a ^b Haig 1925, p. 416.
^ Haig 1925, p. 417.
^ Yazdani 1947, p. 92.
^ Yazdani 1947, pp. 96–100.
^ Eaton 2008, p. 67.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 299.
^ Yazdani 1947, p. 93.
^ ^a ^b Chandra 2014, p. 148.
^ Wilhelm von Pochhammer (2005). India's Road to Nationhood: A Political History of the Subcontinent. Allied. p. 219. ISBN 9788177647150.
^ Sanjay Subrahmanyam (1996). Merchant Networks in the Early Modern World. Variorum. p. 75. ISBN 9780860785071.
^ Sherwani 1946, p. 294.
^ ^a ^b Haig 1925, pp. 419–420.
^ ^a ^b Haque 1980, p. 39.
^ Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 106–108. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
^ Yazdani 1947, p. 192.
^ Radhey Shyam (1966). The Kingdom of Ahmadnagar. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 25. ISBN 8120826515.
^ Haig 1925, p. 420.
^ Prof. M. Hasan (2002). HISTORY OF ISLAM (2 Vols. Set). Adam Publishers. p. 269. ISBN 8174350195. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
^ Haig 1925, p. 422.
^ Yazdani 1947, p. 11.
^ Subrahmanyam 2012, p. 101.

Sources

Chandra, Satish (2014). History of Medieval India 800–1700 A.D. Orient BlackSwan. ISBN 9788125032267.
Eaton, Richard M. (2008). "Mahmud Gawan (1411–1481)". A Social History of the Deccan, 1300-1761 : Eight Indian Lives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-71627-7. OCLC 226973152.
Haig, Wolseley (1925). Cambridge History Of India Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press.
Haque, Mohammed Anwarul (1980). Muslim Administration in Orissa, 1568-1751 A.D. Punthi Pustak.
Sherwani, Haroon Khan (1946). The Bahmanis of the Deccan – An Objective Study. Krishnavas International Printers, Hyderabad Deccan. OCLC 3971780.
Sherwani, Haroon Khan (1942). Mahmud Gawan: The Great Bahmani Wazir. Kitabistan, Allahabad. OCLC 5812186.
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2012). Courtly Encounters: Translating Courtliness and Violence in Early Modern Eurasia.
Yazdani, Ghulam (1947). Bidar, Its History and Monuments. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9788120810716.