Kalimullah Shah was the last sultan of the Bahmani dynasty in any meaningful sense — by 1524 the kingdom had already fractured into the five Deccan Sultanates, and his authority barely extended beyond Bidar. He was kept as a figurehead by the Barid Shahi minister Amir Barid, issuing coins under a sovereignty that existed largely on copper rather than in fact. This piece is among the final emissions of a dynasty that had dominated the Deccan for nearly two centuries before collapsing from within.
Kalimullah Shah was the last sultan of the Bahmani dynasty in any meaningful sense — by 1524 the kingdom had already fractured into the five Deccan Sultanates, and his authority barely extended beyond Bidar. He was kept as a figurehead by the Barid Shahi minister Amir Barid, issuing coins under a sovereignty that existed largely on copper rather than in fact. This piece is among the final emissions of a dynasty that had dominated the Deccan for nearly two centuries before collapsing from within.