Quli Qutb Shah
first ruler of the Qutb Shahi sultanate
Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, more often though less correctly referred to in English as Quli Qutb Shah (1485 – 2 September 1543), was the founder of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, which ruled the Sultanate of Golconda in southern India from 1518 to 1687. Of Turkoman origin and born in Persia, he originally served the Bahmani sultan, and was awarded the title Qutb-ul-Mulk (Pillar of the Realm) as military chief; he eventually took control of Golconda.
Background
Originally named Sultan Quli, he was a Shi'i Turkoman from the city of Hamadan in Persia. He was the son of Uways Quli Beg, of the Qara Qoyunlu dynasty, and Maryam Khanum, a daughter of the Hamadan noble Malik Saleh. Through his father, he was descended from the Turkoman ruler Qara Yusuf twice over; his grandparents, Pir Quli Beg and Khadija Begum, were grandchildren of Qara Yusuf's sons Qara Iskander and Jahan Shah respectively.
He migrated to Delhi with some of his relatives and friends, including his uncle Allah Quli Beg, at the beginning of the 16th century. Later, he travelled south to Deccan and served the Bahmani sultan. Due to his successful leadership in military conflicts, he received the title "Qutb-ul-Mulk".
Establishing the Qutb Shahi Sultanate
After the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate into the five Deccan sultanates, he declared independence and took the title of Qutb Shah, and established the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda. Even though there is ample evidence that he never proclaimed his kingship.
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This entry incorporates text from “Quli Qutb Shah” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.