Everything on Berar Sultanate

Regional Divisions

8 items

• The Quietest Throne: Berar under the Imad Shahis — essay · Berar Sultanate · 7 sources
  Of the five states that rose from the wreck of the Bahmani sultanate, Berar was the smallest, the northernmost, and the first to die. Founded by a Brahmin boy captured from Vijayanagara and raised a Muslim, the Imad Shahi dynasty ruled from Ellichpur for barely three generations before Ahmadnagar swallowed it in 1574 — and left almost no records of its own behind.
• Annexed by Ahmadnagar 1574: The End of Imad Shahi Berar — essay · Annexed by Ahmadnagar 1574 · 26 sources
  Berar was the first of the five Deccan sultanates to die, and it died from the inside. A boy king, Burhan Imad Shah, was imprisoned in his own hill fort by his own chief minister; the minister ruled in his name with the acquiescence of neighbouring courts; and in 1572 the sultan of Ahmadnagar invaded to punish a usurpation his own kingdom had helped tolerate. Two years of pursuit and siege later the dynasty was extinct, its towns parcelled out to Nizam Shahi officers, its province a garrison frontier facing north. That is why this small annexation matters out of proportion to its size: an appeal for help sent from the losing usurper to Akbar in 1573 opened the Mughal claim on the Deccan that would eventually consume Ahmadnagar itself. Berar was ceded to the Mughals on paper in 1596 and had to be taken by siege all over again.

• The Imad Shahis of Berar — Dynasty · 1490 – 1574 · Berar Sultanate
  The first of the Bahmani successor states to withdraw obedience, and the first to be swallowed — annexed by Ahmadnagar in 1574, a century before the Mughals took the rest.
• Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk — Person · r. 1484 – 1504 · Berar Sultanate
  Founder of the Imad Shahi dynasty of Berar; a Kanarese war-captive raised through the household of Khan Jahan, governor of Berar, to the title Imad-ul-Mulk and command of the province's forces, he declared independence from Bidar in A.D. 1484 and was succeeded on his death by his eldest son, Ala-ud-Din.
• Ala-ud-Din Imad Shah — Person · r. 1504 – 1529 · Berar Sultanate
  Succeeded his father Fathullah as king of Berar and took his residence at Gawilgarh; fought Burhan Nizam Shah I of Ahmadnagar over the forts of Mahur and Ramgir, allied unsuccessfully with Khandesh and then Gujarat against Ahmadnagar, and on his death was succeeded by his eldest son, Darya.
• Darya Imad Shah — Person · r. 1529 – 1562 · Berar Sultanate
  Succeeded his father Ala-ud-Din; married his daughter Beeby Dowlut to Husain Nizam Shah I of Ahmadnagar, reigned in reported tranquility with the other Deccan kingdoms, and was succeeded on his death by his infant son, Burhan.
• Burhan Imad Shah — Person · r. 1562 – 1568 · Berar Sultanate
  Succeeded his father Darya as a child; his minister Tufal Khan Deccani, made regent, usurped the government before Burhan came of age, confined him in irons at Narnala, and both later died together in captivity after Ahmadnagar's conquest of the fort.
• Tufal Khan — Person · r. 1568 – 1574 (usurper) · Berar Sultanate
  Regent and minister to the child king Burhan Imad Shah, whom he usurped and imprisoned, taking the royal title himself; defeated by Murtaza Nizam Shah I of Ahmadnagar at Narnala, he was captured with Burhan and died with him in confinement, ending the Imad Shahi line.