Berar was one of the Deccan sultanates. It was established 1490.
Berar in Ancient History
The origin of the name Berar or Warhad as it is spelled in Marathi, is not known. It is corruption of Warhadi, accopanying Prince Rukmini with her brother Rukmin who visited Amba temple of Amravati before her proposed marriage with Sisupala. Possibly it may be a corruption of Vidarbha, the name of a kingdom in the Deccan of which, in the period of the Mahabharata, of which Berar is a part of it.
The history of Berar belongs generally to that of the Deccan, the country falling in turn under the sway of the various dynasties which successively ruled in southern India, the first authentic records showing it to have been part of the Andhra or Satavahana empire. On the final fall of the Chalukyas in the twelfth century, Berar came under the sway of the Yadavas of Deogiri, and remained in their possession till the Muslim invasions at the end of the thirteenth century. On the establishment of the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan (1348), Berar was constituted one of the five provinces into which their kingdom was divided, being governed by great nobles, with a separate army. The perils of this system becoming apparent, the province was divided (1478 or 1479) into two separate provinces, named after their capitals Gawil and Mahur. The Bahmani dynasty was, however, already tottering to its fall.
During the disintegration of Bahmani sultanate, in 1490 Fath-ullah Imad-ul-Mulk, governor of Gawil, who had formerly held all Berar, proclaimed his independence and founded the Imad Shahi dynasty of Berar sultanate. He proceeded to annex Mahur to his new kingdom and had capital at Ellichpur. Imad-ul-Mulk was by birth a Kanarese Hindu, but had been captured as a boy in one of the expeditions against the Vijayanagara empire and reared as a Muslim. Gavilgad and Narnala were also fortified by him.
He died in 1504 and his successor, Ala-ud-din resisted the aggression of Ahmadnagar with the help from Bahadur Shah, sultan of Gujarat. The next ruler, Darya tried to align with Bijapur to prevent agresssion of Ahamdnagar, but was unsuccessful. In 1574 when Burhan Imad Shah was deposed by his minister Tufal Khan, and assumed the kingship. This gave a pretext for the intervention of Murtaza Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar, who invaded Berar, imprisoned and put to death Tufal Khan, his son Shams-ul-Mulk, and the ex-king Burhan, and annexed Berar to his own dominions of Ahmednagar sultanate.
Sultans of Berar from Imad Shahi Dynasty
# Fath-Allah Imad-ul-Mulk 1490 - 1504
# Aladdin Imad Shah 1504 - 1529
# Darya Imad Shah 1529 - 1562
# Burhan Imad Shah 1562 - 1568[Michell, George & Mark Zebrowski. "Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates" ("The New Cambridge History of India" Vol. I:7), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999, ISBN 0 521 56321 6, p.275] ]
# Tufal Khan Dakhni (usurper) 1568 - 1572Chronology of Events in Berar
* Mahabharat - berar was Part of Vidarbha Kingdom
* 322BC-185BC Under Mauryan_Empire
* 100BC-199 Satavahana dynasty
* 250 Vakataka dynasty starts
* 510 Vakataka rules end
* 510-580 Ahirs or Abhira rule for 67 years. Named forts of Gawilgarh, Asirgarh. [ [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V07_372.gifImperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 7, page 366 - Imperial Gazetteer of India - Digital South Asia Library ] ]
* 5xx-750 Chalukya dynasty
* 750-973 Rashtrakuta dynasty
* 973-1188 Chalukya dynasty again
* 1188- Yadava of Deogiri
* 1292 Invaded by Khilji
* 1318 Annexed by Khilji to Delhi Sultanate
* 1348 Become One of five Province of Bahmani Sultanate
* 1400 Firoz Shah Bahmani Halted at Ellichpur and expediate against Gond of Kherla.
* 1425-1428 Ahmed Shah Wali of Bahmani repaired forts of Gawil and Narnala
* 1478 Bahmani divide Berar into two Province of Gawil and Mahur
* 1490 Imad-ul-Mulk Started Imad Shahi Dynasty of Berar estalished. Ellichpur made Capaital of Berar.
* 1504 Aladdin Imad Shah made Gawilgarh his Capital
* 1529 Darya Imad Shah rules till 1562
* 1562 Burhan Imad Shah overthrown in 1568
* 1568 Tufal Khan Dakhni rules till 1572
* 1572 Murtaza Nizam Shah of Ahmendnagar invaded Berer and annexed to its dominions
* 1596 Chand Bibi ceded Berar to Akbar. Prince Murad settled at Balapur and made Shahapur
* 1598 Murad died. Price Daniyal governs Berar, Kahndesh and Ahmednagar
* 1605 Daniyal died and Malik Ambar governs it.
* 1611 Malik Ambar defied Mughal sovereignty
* 1614 Raja Man Singh, General of Jahangir dies a natural death at Ellichpur.
* 1636-1634 Aurangzeb become vicroy of four deccan subah including Berar
* 1653-1657 Aurangzeb become vicroy of four deccan subah including Berar for Second time.
* 1680 Sambhaji
* 1698 Rajaram
* 1720 Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath got right from Mughal to collect revenue from berar.
* 1724 Asif Jah established Nizam State and invaded Berar.
* 1737 Asif Jah and Maratha fight for Supremacy.
* 1760 ceded to Maratha Peshwa
* 1785 Bhosla Raja of Nagpur goverens
* 1803 Battle of Adgaon. British transferred Berer to Nizam.
* 1822 Maratha loses right to tribute
* 1853 British Company maintained Hyderbad Assigned Districts of Nizam.
* 1860 Nizam treaty modified
* 1903 Berar attached to Central Province to make CP&Berar
* 1947 CP& Berar become province of India
* 1950 Berer included in then Madhya Pradesh
* 1956 Berar and Nagpur become part of Bombay State
* 1960 Berar included in new Maharashtra State
References
External links
* [http://www.hostkingdom.net/india.html#Berar List of Sultans of Berar]
ee also
*Berar Subah
*Berar Province
