It was founded by Dilawar Khan, who following Timur's invasion and the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate, in 1401, made Malwa an independent realm.

[7][8][9] After the Khiljis were deposed, it was ruled by Shujaat Khan, an Afghan governor of Malwa under Sher Shah Suri.

Shujaat Khan's son, Baz Bahadur declared independence in 1555, and ruled until the end of the Malwa Sultanate.

[12] The Ghurid dynasty, founded by Dilawar Khan Ghuri, was replaced by Mahmud Shah I, who proclaimed himself king on 16 May 1436.

[11] During 1531 – 1537 the kingdom was annexed under the control of Bahadur Shah, though the Mughal emperor Humayun captured it for a short period during 1535–36.

In 1537, Qadir Shah, an ex-officer of the previous Khalji dynasty rulers, regained control over a part of the erstwhile kingdom.

[15] It became the Malwa Subah (top-level province) of the Mughal empire, with seat at Ujjain and Abdullah Khan became its first governor.

The other notable illustrated manuscripts of this period are of the Miftah-ul-Fuzala, a dictionary of rare words, the Bustan (1502) painted by Haji Mahmud and the Aja'ib-us-San'ati (1508).