Berar Sultanate

Imad Shahi dynasty Berar Sultanate वर्हाड
Sultanate of the Deccan
← 1490–1572 →
Gavilgad Fort, built by Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk of Berar (1490 – 1504)
Capital		Ellichpur
History
•	Deccan sultanate established	1490
•	Conquered by Ahmednagar Sultanate	1572
Area		29,340 km2(11,328 sq mi)
Today part of		India
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Berar was one of the Deccan sultanates. It was established in 1490 following the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate.

The origin of the name Berar or Warhad (वऱ्हाड) as it is spelled in Marathi, is not known. Possibly it may be a corruption of Vidarbha, the name of a kingdom in the Deccan which is mentioned in the Mahabharata.

The first authentic records show it to have been part of the Andhra or Satavahana empire. On the fall of the Chalukyas in the 12th century, Berar came under the sway of the Yadavas of Deogiri, and remained in their possession until the Muslim invasions at the end of the 13th 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 became apparent when 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 Fathullah 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.

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