• Even if the Muslims have had a nominal control over India, regional kingdoms had survived all along.

• This was better seen during the 14th C. when 2 powerful Indian Dynasties fought for political Indian unification.

• These resulted in an alternated power change of hands, between Muslims and Indians.

• It must be remembered that, even when the Muslims held the reins, Indian governors were representing them in many occasions.

• The first of the Muslim regional Kingdoms.

• It found his origin in the rebellion of the Muslim commanders that occupied the fortress of Daulatabad, in the Deccan, by 1345.

• After their victory, Bahman Shah was erected sultan.

• The dinasty he founded lasted 150 years and dominated the region that runs along the Krshna River directing north.

• By those days, the central Caliphate had moved to Cairo and they agreed a mutual recognition.

• This recognition translated itself in an intense commercial relation in goods and hand-work.

• By those days, the separation between Sunnites and Shiites already existed and marked the root of the rivalries of the Bahmanis.

• The sultanate had 2 capitol cities: Gulbara (1347 – 1423) and Bidar (1423 – 1538), they were splendorous due to the greatness of their architecture, better reflected in their palaces, mosques and mausoleums (Nikitin).

It was, according to the same traveler and historian from Russia, the most important city in whole India.

The Russian narrates how India was overcrowded (since times of Herodotus the judgment over theland had been the same): “The land is crowded with people, but those who live on the field are very poor, while the nobles live in extreme opulence and luxury”.

• Bahmani was divided in 4 administrative zones, which later turned out to be a hazard for the unity of the Sultanate, because after a while these regions wanted to become independent.

• These meant its later decadence. Just as in earlier sultanates (and Empires) its expansion became its reason for extinction.

• From the disintegration of the Bahmani Kingdom 5 new states came out: Berar (1490 – 1568), Ahmadnagar (1490 – 1609), Bijapur (1490 – 1686) and Golkunda (1512 – 1687). This lets us know that the disintegration process was slow and painful.

• The dates of disappearance of the new states are related to the emergence of the Mogul Empire.

• This 5 states became during their short existence centers of the Islamic-Indian culture, since sculpture, literature, painting, music and science were deeply supported and therefore generated. They were not only producers of art, but as well creators of new forms of it, mixing elements from the Turks, the Indians, the Arabs and the Persians.

Their paintings are quite different to the northern schools.

In literature they used the languages of the south.

• In 1338, Bengal became independent from the Sultanate of Dehli and remained so until the Mogul Empire got to conquer it in 1576.

• Just as other Sultanates it became a special center of cultural syncretism.

• This can be seen espcially in architecture, where the materials were different but the designs similar, although not equal.

• Pilars were shorter and thicker. Carvings in stones were replaced by those in terracotta.

• There were translations of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the Bengali language.