EJDTimmy2065: brief updated formatting for clarity

2026-03-22T07:01:08Z

brief updated formatting for clarity

>Aeschylus: Reverted edits by 103.59.202.36 (talk) (HG) (3.4.10)

2021-08-10T03:41:02Z

Reverted edits by 103.59.202.36 (talk) (HG) (3.4.10)

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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mahmud Gawan
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| nationality = Iranian (Persian)
| other_names = Khwaja Mahmud Gilani
| occupation ='' Wakil-us-Sultanat'' (Prime Minister in Bahamani Sultanate)
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}}
'''Mahmud Gawan''' (1411, [[Iran]] - 1481) was a [[Prime Minister]] in the [[Bahamani Sultanate]] of [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]]. ''Khwaja Mahmud Gilani'', from the village of ''Gawan'' in [[Persia]], was well-versed in [[Fiqh|Islamic theology]], [[Persian language]] and [[Mathematics]] and was a poet and a prose writer of repute. Later, he became a minister in the court of [[Muhammad Shah III Lashkari|Muhammad III]] (1463-1482). A storehouse of wisdom, Mahmud enjoyed the trust and confidence of rulers, locals as well as that of foreign kingdoms, who had great respect for Mahmud.

He was a competent and successful general, a capable administrator and patron of art and poetry.

== 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. He 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]] [[Shaikh]] there. He subsequently gained an audience with the [[Bahmani Sultan]] Ahmad Shah II.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Eaton|first=Richard M.|title=A Social History of the Deccan, 1300-1761 : Eight Indian Lives|date=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-71627-7|pages=59-62|oclc=226973152}}</ref> The Bahmani Sultanate had consistently favoured high-born [[Persianate]] men of talent,<ref name=":1" /> and hence Gawan was well-received and made a noble of the Bahmani court, beginning his political career in the Deccan.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Eaton|first=Richard M.|title=A Social History of the Deccan, 1300-1761 : Eight Indian Lives|date=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-71627-7|pages=65|oclc=226973152}}</ref>

==Career==
He was very capable and efficient. He was a gifted administrator and a skilled general.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=A Textbook of History Grade 7|publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> Greatly impressed with his military genius, Sultan Humayun Shah had taken him in his service. After Humayun's death, he became the guardian of his minor prince [[Nizam-Ud-Din Ahmad III|Nizam Shah]]. He had the reigns of Government in his hands. When the young Sultan died in 1463 and his brother [[Muhammad Shah III Lashkari|Muhammad III]] aged 9 succeeded him, Mahmud Gawan served as the prime minister. He effectively put an end to the havoc wrought on the pilgrims of Mecca and on merchants by the fleets of Rana Shankarrao [[Surve]] and Rana Neelkanthrao [[Surve]] of Khelna (Vishalgarh) and [[Sangameshwar]] which were part of [[Shringarpur]] jagir of [[Surve]] [[Maratha]] clan respectively. In 1474, a terrible famine known as "famine of Bijapur" devastated the Deccan. Large number of people fled to Gujarat and Malwa. For 2 years the rains failed and when they came in the third year, scarcely any farmers remained in the country to cultivate the lands. He instated a land revenue system and drastically reduced the power of the nobles.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHnHHwAACAAJ&dq=|title=History of Medieval India: 800-1700|first=Satish|last=Chandra|publisher= Orient BlackSwan|year=2007|isbn=978-8125032267|access-date=2020-09-21}}</ref>

===Campaigns against Vijayanagar===
Mahmud Gawan served the state most faithfully and enlarged the kingdom to an extent never achieved before. He conquered Kanchi or Kanjeevaram during the course of campaign against Vijayanagar. He fought successful wars against rulers of Konkan, Sangameshwara, Orissa and Vijayanagar. He captured Goa and Dabhol, the best part of Vijayanagar empire.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Complete view of Mahumad Gawan.JPG|thumb|[[Mahmud Gawan Madrasa]] was built by Mahmud Gawan, the [[Vizier]] of the Bahmani Sultanate as the center of learning in the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]].]]

===Education===
He built the great university in [[Bidar]] which is known as [[Mahmud Gawan Madrasa]]. Almost at the centre of Bidar's old Town stand the graceful buildings, which bear testimony to the genius and eclecticism of Mohammad Gawan. A linguist and a mathematician, he, together with carefully chosen scientists, philosophers and religious seers, created a distinguished religious school. His extensive library boasted of 3,000 manuscripts.<ref name=bl>{{cite news|title=Deccan dreams|url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-life/deccan-dreams/article2205099.ece|access-date=16 March 2015|agency=Business Line|date=23 September 2005}}</ref>

This madarasa had a 242 ft length, 222 ft width and 56 ft height three-storied building with a monumental minaret, a mosque, labs, lecture halls and students' cells overlooks an immense courtyard with arches on every side giving it a graceful facade. Many of the blue tiles on the mosque's outer walls have been pilfered. The minaret is elegant with Samarkhand-like domes here and there.

==Death==
There were two factions of nobles: The Deccanis (Of local origin) and Afaqis. (Of Foreign origin). Mahmud was an Afaqi, so he faced many challenges.<ref name=":0" /> Unfortunately, plots were hatched to topple him by the Deccanis, the nobles forged a treasonous document purportedly from him. In a drunken state, the Sultan ordered him executed in April 1481. "With him departed all the cohesion and power of the Bahmani Sultan."<ref name="sen2">{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra |title=A Textbook of Medieval Indian History |publisher=Primus Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-9-38060-734-4 |pages=106–108}}</ref>

Later the Sultan regretted his hasty decision and buried his Prime Minister with honors. The treasonable documents presented by the critics of Mahmud Gawan were the letters written to the king of Vijayanagar, which were claimed to have been written by Mahmud. Though Mahmud asserted that the letter was forged, his statement was not given value as the Sultan [[Muhammad Shah III Lashkari|Muhammad Shah III]] was himself wary of his growing power and influence. Thus, despite his old age, he was executed. One year after the death of Mahmud, Sultan also died at the age of 29. It was said that the 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NbUB_ACAR5QC&pg=PA269&dq=|title=HISTORY OF ISLAM (2 Vols. Set)|author=Prof. M. Hasan|publisher=Adam Publishers|page=269|year= 2002|isbn=8174350195|access-date=2020-09-21}}</ref>

==Legacy==
A Russian traveler, [[Athanasius Nikitin]], who visited Bidar, has recorded that Mohammad Gawan's mansion was guarded by a hundred armed men and ten torchbearers.<ref name=bl />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{EI3|last=Flatt|first=Emma|title=Maḥmūd Gāvān|year=2015|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/mahmud-gavan-COM_27437?s.num=18&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-3&s.q=Gilan}}
*[http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/greater_bombay/history.html#3 Greater Bombay District Gazetteer (Muhammedan Period)]

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Bidar]]
[[Category:People from Gilan Province]]
[[Category:Iranian emigrants to India]]
[[Category:15th-century Iranian people]]
[[Category:1411 births]]
[[Category:1481 deaths]]

Mahmud Gawan - Revision history

EJDTimmy2065: brief updated formatting for clarity

>Aeschylus: Reverted edits by 103.59.202.36 (talk) (HG) (3.4.10)