Of all the independent Muslim Kingdoms that arose on the ruins of the Delhi Sultanate, the most powerful was the Bahmani Kingdom of the Deccan, which was established in 1347 after a revolt against Sultan Mohammed Bin Tughlaq. The first ruler, Nasiruddin Shah, ageing and ease-loving as he was, soon made way for one better fitted to govern, Hasan Gangu, who traced his ancestry back to the ancient King Bahman of Iran. Hasan established his capital at Gulbarga and set about extending the boundaries of his kingdom, on his death in 1359, he was succeeded by Ahmed Shah Bahman, who established the new city of Bidar, to which he shifted his capital.

During the 180 years of its existence, the Bahman Sultanate saw its most successful and prosperous period between 1463 and 1481, when Mahmud Gawan was minister. Given the power to act for the King, he not only extended the empire, but also gave it great stability, through the wisdom of his policies. Making due acknowledgement of his abilities, the Encyclopaedia Britannica calls him "the most notable personality of the period, a leading administrator" (9/372).

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Though the entire reins of the administration fell into the hands of Mahmud Gawan thanks to the lazy, comfort loving temperament of the reigning monarch, Mohammad Shah III, he never misused his powers indeed, he lived his life with the utmost simplicity and devotion to duty, eating out of earthen vessels, sleeping on a mat, working with great industry and never wasting a moment of his time. That his objectives were worthy may be judged from his having donated over three thousand books from his personal library to a school which he had set up in Bidar. (The ruins of this school are still in existence.) But the nobles of the court, ignoring his uprightness and the progress he had brought to the country, could think of nothing but the position of prestige and authority which he held. Consumed with envy, they resolved to oust him. By devious methods, they obtained possession of his official seal and used it on a forged letter, purported from Gawan to Rajah Rainer Singh, the then ruler of Vijaynagar, which they then showed to Mohammad Shah III, to prove to him that his minister was about to enter into a conspiracy to overthrow him. Convinced that Gawan was a traitor, the King had him put to death on the 5th of April 1481. He later realized what a grave mistake he had made, and, grief-stricken and filled with remorse, he himself died less than a year later on the 22nd of March 1482.

The main culprit in this plot was Malick Nayeb who, a mere five years after the death of his victim, was himself brutally murdered by his opponents. After the death of Gawan, the Bahman Sultanate could not recover its stability, and it came to an end in 1564 with the death of its last king. After numerous rebellions, this one sultanate was split up into five separate kingdoms.