Mahmud Gawan

Mahmud Gawan (1411 – 1481) was a prime minister in the Bahmani Sultanate of Deccan. Khwaja Mahmud Gilani, from the village of Gawan in Persia, was well-versed in Islamic theology, Persian language and Mathematics and was a poet and a prose writer of repute. Later, he became a minister in the court of Muhammad III (1463–1482). A storehouse of wisdom, Mahmud enjoyed the trust and confidence of rulers, locals as well as that of foreign kingdoms, who had great respect for Mahmud. He was a competent and successful general, a capable administrator and patron of art and poetry. Mahmud Gawan hailed from Gilan in Persia, born into a family of imperial ministers. Gawan eventually left his homeland due to discontentment with its political environment. He toured various regions of Asia, finding success as a merchant and also developing an affinity for learning. He arrived in the Indian subcontinent in the year 1453 (aged 42), at the port of Dabhol, motivated by financial opportunities offered by the rich courts of South Asia. Additionally, South Asia was a lucrative market for goods that he intended to sell. Though he intended to travel to Delhi, he first visited Bidar in order to pay homage to a prominent Sufi Dervish there. He subsequently gained an audience with the Bahmani Sultan Ahmad Shah II. The Bahmani Sultanate had consistently favoured high-born Persianate men of talent, and hence Gawan was well-received and made a noble of the Bahmani court, beginning his political career in the Deccan. He was very capable and efficient. He was a gifted administrator and a skilled general. Greatly impressed with his military genius, Sultan Humayun Shah had taken him in his service. After Humayun's death, he became the guardian of his minor prince Nizam Shah. He had the reigns of Government in his hands. When the young Sultan died in 1463 and his brother Muhammad III aged 9 succeeded him, Mahmud Gawan served as the prime minister.