Daulatabad Fort in the context of "Deccanis"

The Deccanis or Deccani people are an Indo-Aryan ethno-religious community of Urdu-speaking Muslims who inhabit or are from the Deccan region of India. The community traces its origins to the shifting of the Delhi Sultanate's capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in 1327 during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq. Further ancestry can also be traced from immigrant Muslims referred to as Afaqis, also known as Pardesis who came from Central Asia, Iraq, and Iran and had settled in the Deccan region during the Bahmani Kingdom (1347). The migration of Muslim Hindavi-speaking people to the Deccan and intermarriage with the local Muslim converts from Hinduism, led to the creation of a new community of Hindustani-speaking Muslims, known as the Deccani, who would come to play an important role in the politics of the Deccan. Their language, Deccani, emerged as a language of linguistic prestige and culture during the Bahmani Sultanate, further evolving in the Deccan sultanates.

Following the demise of the Bahmanis, the Deccan sultanate period marked a golden age for Deccani culture, notably in the arts, language, and architecture. The Deccani people form significant minorities in the Deccan, including the Maharashtran regions of Marathwada and Vidarbha, and the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka (except Tulu Nadu), and northern Tamil Nadu. They form a majority in the old cities of Hyderabad and Aurangabad. After the partition of India and the annexation of Hyderabad, large diaspora communities formed outside the Deccan, especially in Pakistan, where they make up a significant portion of the Urdu speaking minority, the Muhajirs.

The rebellion of Ismail Mukh took place between 1346 and 1347 when Deccani Amirs placed Ismail Mukh, also known as Nasir-ud-din Ismail Shah, an Afghan noble, at the head of a rebellion centered at Daulatabad. The rebellion saw the decline and loss of the Delhi Sultanate's control over the Deccan, which had been a part of the Delhi Sultanate since the Khilji dynasty. Ismail Mukh abdicated in favor of Zafar Khan on 3 August 1347, which saw the establishment of the Bahmani Sultanate, which went on to exist until 1518.

The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a medieval Marathi Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur, ruled by the Nizam Shahi dynasty. It was established by Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I in 1490. He was the son of Malik Hasan Bahri and was originally part of the Kulkarnis of Pathri in Marathwada. After serving as governor of Beed and other districts, Malik Ahmad declared independence from the Bahmani Sultanate and established Ahmadnagar Sultanate. Initially the capital was in the town of Junnar with its fort, later renamed Shivneri. In 1494, the foundation was laid for the new capital Ahmednagar. A land fort called Ahmednagar Qila was the headquarters of the Ahmednagar Sultanate.

After Malik Ahmad's death in 1510, his young son Burhan Nizam Shah I became ruler, converting to Nizari Isma'ili Shi'a Islam. The dynasty played a major role in the Deccan region, including forming an alliance of Muslim sultanates that defeated the Vijayanagara Empire at the Battle of Talikota in 1565, where Sultan Hussain Nizam Shah I personally beheaded Rama Raya, the Vijayanagara regent. Subsequent rulers included Murtaza Nizam Shah I, who expanded the kingdom to its largest size and repelled a Mughal invasion in 1586. Internal strife and assassinations marked later reigns, with regents like Chand Bibi and Malik Ambar defending the sultanate from Mughal attacks until Ahmadnagar was eventually conquered. In 1636 Aurangzeb, then Mughal viceroy of the Deccan, annexed the sultanate to the Mughal Empire. The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was notable for its cultural contributions, including the earliest Deccan school of painting and extensive architectural works such as palaces (Farah Bakhsh Bagh, Hasht Bihisht Bagh), forts (Junnar/Shivneri, Daulatabad), mosques, and tombs. The capital city Ahmadnagar was modeled after major Persianate cities and was considered highly impressive in its time. Malik Ambar is credited with building the Janjira Fort, which played a strategic role in regional defense.

The Sultanate of Golconda (Persian: سلطان‌نشین گلکنده; Urdu: سلطنت گولکنڈه) was an early modern kingdom in southern India, ruled by the Persianate, Shia Islamic Qutb Shahi dynasty of Turkoman origin. After the decline of the Bahmani Sultanate, the Sultanate of Golconda was established in 1518 by Quli Qutb Shah, as one of the five Deccan sultanates.

The kingdom covered parts of the modern-day Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Telangana. The Golconda sultanate was constantly in conflict with the Adil Shahis and Nizam Shahis, which it shared borders with in the seventeenth century to the west and northwest. In 1636, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan forced the Qutb Shahis to recognise Mughal suzerainty and pay periodic tributes. The dynasty came to an end in 1687, during the reign of its seventh sultan Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, when the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb arrested and jailed Abul Hasan for the rest of his life in Daulatabad, incorporating Golconda into the Mughal empire.

Aurangabad (pronunciation), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is the fifth-most populous urban area in Maharashtra, after Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik, with a population of 1,175,116.

The city is a major production center of cotton textile and artistic silk fabrics. Several prominent educational institutions, including Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, are located in the city. The city is also a popular tourism hub, with attractions like the Ajanta and Ellora caves lying on its outskirts, both of which have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1983, the Aurangabad Caves, Devagiri Fort, Grishneshwar Temple, Jama Mosque, Bibi Ka Maqbara, Himayat Bagh, Panchakki and Salim Ali Lake. Historically, there were 52 gates in Aurangabad, some of them still extant, which have earned Aurangabad the nickname the "City of Gates". In 2019, the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) became the first greenfield industrial smart city of India under the country's flagship Smart Cities Mission.