Mahmud Gawan

Upon his accession to the throne, Mahmud was made chief minister (Walik-us-Sultanat) with the title Prince of Merchants (Malik-ut-Tujjar) by Humayun Shah.

[3] Following the triumvirate's breakup, in which his power had been throttled by its other members, he would exercise a great deal of authority over the Bahmani kingdom in his supreme rule.

[7] Over the next decade and more Mahmud travelled through Southwest Asia and as far west as Anatolia and Egypt,[8] becoming a successful merchant, in horses as well as other goods,[8][1] and taking opportunities for study in Cairo and Damascus.

[16] In Humayun Shah's accession speech, he states he appointed Mahmud as he fit the role of "one who should be clothed with the outward attributes of truth and good faith and who should inwardly be free from vices and vanity".

When he was fourteen years of age, the triumvirate regency came to a forced end when Jahan Turk was ordered murdered by the queen mother herself.

Jahan Turk had been a disturbing force in the Sultanate by giving the new nobility positions in place of the old aristocracy, thus favouring the former and alienating the latter, and had been disliked for his rumoured embezzling of funds from the royal treasury and abuse of power.

[21] Through his influence and insistence on having his way, Jahan Turk sent Mahmud to administer the frontier provinces of the kingdom,[22][21] and as he was, according to historian Haroon Khan Sherwani, "the moderating element in the Triumvirate",[23] the stability of the state quickly collapsed.

Jahan Turk was able to greatly increase his power with the absence of Mahmud, becoming the de facto ruler, and the queen mother, who took issue with this, had him killed then in 1466.

[22][21] The queen mother retired from political affairs with the dissolution of the triumvirate, furthering Mahmud Gawan's lack of diplomatic and intellectual competition.

[1][24] He was given the formal title of “Lord of the habitors of the Globe, Secretary of the Royal Mansion, Deputy of the Realm", which he was addressed as in court documents.

[29] Mahmud Gawan took part in and led many campaigns and enlarged the state to an extent never achieved before, with the Sultanate stretching from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal under his rule.

This was accomplished through the annexation of the Konkan, the easternmost portion of Andhra, the city of Goa, and the establishment of a protectoral relationship with the Khandesh Sultanate.

The Gajapati Emperor, Kapilendra Deva, saw fit to invade the Bahmani kingdom and reached as far as ten miles from the capital, Bidar.

[40] Its concluding treaty saw Kherla become a full territory of Malwa, while the Bahmanis retained all former lands, and reversed the diplomatic atmosphere of the two states to permanent friendship despite the past invasions.

[44][18][45][46] Virupaksha of Vijayanagara a month later tried to send forces to reclaim his losses in the Konkan, and attempted to lay siege to Goa,[47] but was deterred by an army led by Mahmud alongside Muhammad III.

[43] The raja of Belgaum, in exchange for keeping his life, agreed to let his city be annexed to Mahmud,[48] while retaining his position as overseer of the fort.

[57] It was a three-storied building, each floor identical in structure, with two minarets, a mosque, library, labs, lecture halls and dormitories, which overlooked a courtyard with arches on either side.

[58] Historian Richard M. Eaton describes it as an "extraordinary place", with "arches and colorful glazed tiles recalling Timurid Central Asia, and its minaret and domes reminiscent of Mamluk Egypt".

[74] Sultan Muhammad Shah III did not believe Mahmud's assertion that the letter was forged,[74] and in part a result of his drunken state, ordered him executed on 5 April 1481.

[81][82] Malik Hasan Bahri, a Deccani who was one of the chief architects of the plan to have Mahmud executed,[69] succeeded him as prime minister after his death.