Summary

The Qutb Shahi dynasty (or Golconda Sultanate) was a dynasty in southern India that arose from the breakup of the Bahmani Sultanate. Its members were collectively called Qutub Shahis and were the ruling family of the kingdom of Golconda, in and near the modern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.The Golconda sultanate was constantly in conflict with the Adil Shahis of Bijapur and the Nizam Shahis.In 1636, Shah Jahan forced the Qutb Shahis to recognize Mughal sovereignty, which lasted until 1687 when the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conquered the sultanate.

The founder of the dynasty, Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, migrated to Delhi from Iran with his uncle, Allah-Quli, some of his relatives and friends in the early 16th century. Later, he migrated south to Deccan and served the Bahmani Sultan, Mohammad Shah. He conquered Golconda, after the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate into the five sultanates of Deccan. Soon after, he declared his independence from the Bahmani Sultanate, took the title of Qutub Shah and established the Qutb Shahi dynasty. He was later assassinated in 1543 by his son, Jamsheed, who assumed the sultanate. Jamsheed's youngest son reigned for a year, at which time the nobility brought back and installed Ibrahim Quli as sultan. During the reign of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, relations between Hindus and Muslims strengthened, even to the extent that Hindus resumed their religious festivals such as Diwali and Holi.Some Hindus rose to prominence in the Qutb Shahi state, the most important example being the ministers Madanna and Akkanna.

Golconda and, with the construction of the Char Minar, later Hyderabad, served as capitals of the sultanate, and both cities were embellished by the Qutb Shahi sultans. The dynasty ruled Golconda for 171 years, until the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conquered the Deccan in 1687.

The Qutb Shahi Sultanate was like the other Sultanates of the Deccan, a highly centralized state. The sultan had absolute executive, judicial and military powers. When the situation demanded it, the post of regent was created to carry out administration on behalf of the king.

The Peshwa (Prime Minister) was the highest official of the sultanate. He was assisted by several ministers, including the Mir Jumla (finance minister), the Kotwal (police commissioner) and the Khazanadar (treasurer).

The Qutb Shahi dynasty has been considered as a "composite" of Hindu-Muslim religious-social culture.

Sources

1. Qutb Shahi dynasty
2. Dinastía Qutb Shahi
3. ^ For a map of their territory see: Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (1978). A Historical atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 147, map XIV.4 (l). ISBN 0226742210.
4. ^ Brian Spooner and William L. Hanaway, Literacy in the Persianate World: Writing and the Social Order, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 317.
5. ^ Alam, Muzaffar (1998). "The pursuit of Persian: Language in Mughal Politics". Modern Asian Studies. 32 (2): 317–349. doi:10.1017/s0026749x98002947. S2CID 146630389. Ibrahim Qutb Shah encouraged the growth of Telugu and his successor Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah patronized and himself wrote poetry in Telugu and in Dakhni. Abdullah Qutb Shah instituted a special office to prepare the royal edicts in Telugu (dabiri-ye faramin-i Hindavi). While administrative and revenue papers at local levels in the Qutb Shahi Sultanate were prepared largely in Telugu, the royal edicts were often bilingual.'06 The last Qutb Shahi Sultan, Abul Hasan Tana Shah, sometimes issued his orders only in Telugu, with a Persian summary given on the back of the farmans.
6. Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. p. 118. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
7. C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, (Columbia University Press, 1996), 328.
8. «500 years of Deccan history fading away due to neglect».
9. Vgl. Speziale: Soufisme, religion et médicine en Islam indien. 2010, S. 87.
10. Bamber Gascoigne: Die Großmoguln. Glanz und Größe mohammedanischer Fürsten in Indien. Sonderausgabe. Prisma Verlag, Gütersloh 1987, ISBN 3-570-09930-X, S. 104.
11. Vgl. Eaton: Ḳuṭb Shāhī. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Band 5. New Edition. 1986, Sp. 549b–550b, hier Sp. 549b; Speziale: Soufisme, religion et médicine en Islam indien. 2010, S. 84.
12. ^ Christoph Marcinkowski, Shi'ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts, 169-170;"The Qutb-Shahi kingdom could be considered 'highly Persianate' with a large number of Persian-speaking merchants, scholars, and artisans present at the royal capital."
13. ^ Annemarie Schimmel, Classical Urdu Literature from the Beginning to Iqbāl, (Otto Harrasowitz, 1975), 143.