Rise to power and reign According to the court historian
Ferishta, Malik Hasan was originally a
Brahmin from Pathri, a town in the
Maharashtra. He initially bore the name of Tima Bhat, and his father was named Bhairo. However according to MG Ranade and Akola district gazetter his father was the kulkarni of pathri in marathwada. Varying accounts of his true origin explain why his family was in the region; one claims that they were escaping persecution perpetrated by Muslims, while another purports they were fleeing their native land from famine. In 1422–23, during one of
Ahmad Shah I Wali of the
Bahmani Sultanate's campaigns against Vijayanagara, he was taken captive by the sultan's forces and converted to Islam, being given his name Malik Hasan Bahri. Conscripted as a military slave of the sultanate, he was simultaneously given additional education to complement his prior schooling, where he was, at the behest of Sultan
Alau'd-din Ahmad Shah, sent to an institution with then-prince
Humayun Shah, and taught Persian. Humayun Shah's reported inability to properly pronounce Malik Hasan's surname led to his adoption of the surname "Bahri". During the reign of
Muhammad Shah III starting in 1463, he was made a servant of the sultan and later an
amir with a rank giving him charge of 2,000 horses. In 1471, Malik Hasan led conquests in
Orissa as a commander of the Bahmani army; he had been sent by the sultan to sway the succession conflict in the
Gajapati Empire between
Hamvira Deva and
Purushottama Deva in the sultanate's favour, seeking to support the former. While in the country, he defeated Mangal Rai, an usurper, restored Hamvira Deva to the throne of Orissa and seized control of and annexed the key forts of
Kondaveedu and
Rajahmundry. Through the spoils of his conquests, he was made the
tarafdar (provincial governor) of
Telangana. His notoriety was greatly increased for his role in this and other campaigns, with him receiving the title of . In 1475, prime minister
Mahmud Gawan, recognizing Malik Hasan's son
Ahmad's future potential, was able to split the two by sending the younger to Malik Hasan's
jagir,
Mahur. Malik Hasan ruled as the provincial governor of Telangana until the taraf's division with the
invasion of the Gajapatis in 1478, and was subsequently made governor of the eastern of the two new provinces, Rajahmundry. The lessened significance of his new position angered him, and was a source of his hatred for Mahmud Gawan, who was of the opposing faction. In 1480, Ahmad returned to his father's company as his subordinate at Rajamundry. Malik Hasan, as the leader of the opposing
Deccani faction, successfully plotted to have Mahmud Gawan murdered in 1481. Following Mahmud's execution, Malik Hasan adopted the role of prime minister, and the title of
Peshwa was bestowed upon him. Bahmani sultan died a year later in 1482, and Malik Hasan was made the sole regent and prime minister of the Deccani-favouring
Mahmood Shah, then only twelve years old. Upon his acceptance of his new role, he became known as Malik
Naib. Due to the absence of many prominent Bahmani nobles at Mahmood Shah's coronation, including
Yusuf Adil Shah and
Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk, Malik Hasan asked for these gestures to be repeated with these nobles present at
Bidar, the Bahmani capital. Upon his arrival, Yusuf proceeded to the sultan guarded with 200 soldiers, seen as improper but to him necessary for his protection. Malik Hasan likewise was accompanied by 500 armed men, and in the joint procession Yusuf controversially took priority over the prime minister, but no further conflict came of this. The next day Malik invited Yusuf to Bidar to assist in the administration of the sultanate. Soon after his arrival, however, he fled due to the ongoing massacre of Turks living in the city, where in this twenty-day period of strife he had been sought to be killed. Upon his departure a triumvirate regency council was installed, with Nizam-ul-Mulk ruling as prime minister. Malik Hasan's success in seizing this role led Yusuf to take control of the taraf of Bijapur, where he would later establish
a sultanate on the province's territory. Throughout his ministership, Malik Hasan exerted
de facto control over the state and its affairs, with Mahmood Shah serving as a puppet under him. He ruled efficiently and without strife. During his reign, his jagir in
Maharashtra was significantly expanded to encompass the territory that would become the
Ahmadnagar Sultanate, by appending to his domains
Beed and territories adjoining
Junnar and
Daulatabad. The administration of these estates was then handed over to Ahmad, who chose to relocate there.
Death and aftermath Malik Hasan was intensely disliked by many nobles of the sultanate, both of his own faction for his role in Mahmud Gawan's death and the foreigners for his policy against them. In 1486, four years into his ministership, a conspiracy akin to the one he had sown against Mahmud was developed against him: following the death of the provincial governor of
Warangal, a Bahmani noble temporarily seized control of both Bahmani provinces comprising
Telangana; Malik Hasan successfully made the noble relinquish control of his captured territory, but while away from Bidar, a conspiracy against him was formed, upon which the sultan was convinced to issue a decree to have Malik Hasan put to death. Days later, he was murdered by one of his own nobles at Bidar. Following his death, conflict among the nobles of the sultanate persisted. From his jagir of Junnar, Malik Hasan's son Ahmad Bahri took his father's title of in 1486 and forcibly increased his autonomy and territorial control by subduing nearby forts nominally under Bahmani control but held by
Marathas. He subsequently repelled attempts by the central authority to thwart his increase in power, achieving
de facto independence from the Bahmani Sultanate, marking him the first sultan to do so. By 1490, he had established the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. Developments in Bidar occurred as well after Malik Hasan's death, where he was succeeded by the foreigner
Qasim Barid I as prime minister, who further estranged Ahmad and the Deccanis. ==References==