Establishment Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I who was the son of
Nizam-ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri established the kingdom. His Family were the Kulkarnis of Pathri a town in Marathwada. Either as a result of religious persecution or famine, his ancestors came to Vijayanagar Empire. Ahmed's father was made prime minister on the death of
Mahmud Gawan and was made ''Malik Na'ib'' by
Mahmood Shah Bahmani II. Soon after, he appointed Ahmed governor of
Beed and other districts in the vicinity of
Dowlutabad. After the death of his father, Ahmed assumed the titles of Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri from his father, the last signifying a falcon as Hasan had been falconer to the Sultan. Malik Ahmad the
Bahmani governor of
Junnar defended his province against incursions from the Sultan and his forces, successfully defeating a much larger army led by Sheikh Muaddi Arab in a night attack, an army of 18,000 led by Azmut-ul-Dabir and an army led by Bahmani general Jahangir Khan. On 28 May 1490, Ahmad declared independence and established the Nizam Shahi dynasty's rule over a
de facto independent Sultanate. After several attempts, he secured the great fortress of
Daulatabad in 1499.
Reigns of the successors of Malik Ahmad Main article: War of the League of the Indies 's beheading in the
Battle of Talikota in 1565 After the death of Malik Ahmad in 1510, his son
Burhan Nizam Shah I, a boy of seven, was installed on the throne. In the initial days of his reign, the control of the kingdom was in the hands of Mukammal Khan, an Ahmadnagar official and his son. Burhan converted to
Nizari Isma'ili Shi'a Islam under the tutelage of
Shah Tahir, a refugee from Persia and court official who was head of the largest branch of Nizari Shi'ism at that time. Burhan died in Ahmadnagar in 1553. He left six sons, of whom
Hussain Nizam Shah I succeeded him. Beginning in the 1560s, the
de facto ruler of nearby
Vijayanagara Empire,
Rama Raya, made a series of aggressive efforts to maintain hold over
Kalyan and conducted diplomatic dealings with the Sultanates laden with insulting gestures. In response, four of the five Deccan Muslim sultans—namely
Hussain Nizam Shah I and
Ali Adil Shah I of Ahmadnagar and
Bijapur to the west,
Ali Barid Shah I of
Bidar in the center, and
Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali of
Golconda to the east—united in the wake of shrewd marital diplomacy and convened to attack Rama Raya in late January 1565 at
Talikota. Hussain was a leading figurehead of the
Deccan sultanates during the
ensuing battle. Afterwards, Rama Raya was beheaded by Sultan Nizam Hussain himself. After the death of Hussain in 1565, his minor son
Murtaza Nizam Shah I ascended the throne. During his minority, his mother Khanzada Humayun ruled as a regent for several years. Murtaza Shah annexed
Berar in 1574, bringing the sultanate to its territorial zenith. Murtaza launched an unsuccessful campaign into Bijapur in 1580, following the death of sultan
Ali Adil Shah I earlier that year. In 1586, Ahmadnagar faced an invasion by
Akbar of the
Mughal Empire; Mughal forces approached the capital, but were dispelled, choosing to withdraw to the recently annexed
Ellichpur, whereupon the city was sacked and razed. The Mughals were then fully expelled from Ahmadnagar territory, the invasion ultimately ending in Mughal humiliation. Amid falling stability in the Sultanate as a result of mismanaged factional relations, Murtaza was murdered by his son Miran Hussain in 1588, who succeeded him and ascended the throne. His reign could however last only a little more than ten months as he was imprisoned. Ismail, a cousin of Miran Hussain was raised to the throne, but actual power was in the hands of Jamal Khan, the leader of the
Habshi group in the court. He was the leader of the
Mahdawi movement, and aggressively propagated the faith while in power. Ismail Nizam Shah's unpopular reign proved short. Jamal Khan was killed in the battle of Rohankhed in 1591 and soon Ismail was also captured and confined by his father Burhan, who ascended the throne as
Burhan Nizam Shah II. He outlawed Mahdawia and reinstated Shi'ism as the state religion. Following Burhan's death, a civil war broke out which was eventually won by his sister,
Chand Bibi. She ascended the throne as regent for the new infant sultan and her grand-nephew,
Bahadur Nizam Shah, then repelled an invasion by the
Mughal Empire with reinforcements from the
Bijapur and
Golconda Sultanates. After the death of Chand Bibi in July 1600, Ahmadnagar was conquered by the Mughals and the Sultan was imprisoned.
Malik Ambar and the demise of the sultanate with
Malik Ambar Despite Ahmadnagar city being incorporated into the Mughal Empire, much of the former kingdom still remained in the possession of influential officials of the Nizam Shahi dynasty.
Malik Ambar and other Ahmadnagar officials defied the Mughals and declared
Murtaza Nizam Shah II as sultan in 1600 at a new capital in
Paranda. Malik Ambar became prime minister and
vekīl-us-saltanat of Ahmadnagar. Later, the capital was shifted, first to Junnar and
Ausa and then to a new city called Khadki (later
Aurangabad). After the death of Malik Ambar in May 1626, his son
Fath Khan surrendered to the Mughals in the
siege of Daulatabad in 1633 and handed over the young Nizam Shahi ruler Hussain Shah, who was sent as a prisoner to the fort of Gwalior. But soon,
Shahaji, a jagirdar and general of the sultanate at that time, with the assistance of Bijapur, placed an infant scion of the Nizam Shahi dynasty,
Murtaza Nizam Shah III on the throne and he became the regent of the sultanate. In 1636,
Aurangzeb, then Mughal viceroy of Deccan, finally defeated Shahaji and partitioned the sultanate between the Mughal Empire and the
Sultanate of Bijapur.
Revenue system of Malik Ambar The revenue system introduced by Malik Ambar was based on the revenue system introduced in Northern India and some parts of Gujarat and Khandesh
subahs by Raja
Todarmal. Lands were classified as good or bad according to their fertility and he took a number of years to ascertain accurately the average yield of lands. He abolished the revenue farming. At first, revenue was fixed as two-fifths of the actual produce in kind, but later the cultivators were allowed to pay in cash equivalent to approximately one-third of the yield. Although an average rent was fixed for each plot of land, actual collections depended on the conditions of crops and they varied from year to year. == Culture ==