A New Era of Andhra Pradesh

The glorious region of the Kakatiyas came to an end in the 14^th century and for the first time Telugus came under a Muslim regime that brought with it a totally different set of customs, language and religion. The Delhi Sultanate defeated the Kakatiyas in 1310. It was during 1347 AD that Allauddin Hasan, claiming lineage to Bahman Shah of Persia, revolted against the Delhi sultanate and declared himself ruler of the southern part of the territory, comprising mainly the Deccan and Telangana area.

The Bahmanis were a regular source of irritation to the neighbouring Gajapathi and Vijayanagar rulers. Another epochal era was during the region of Krishna Deva Raya of the Vijayanagar Empire, who joined forces with the Gajapathi rulers of the east cost and consolidated his empire. But after his death in 1529, decay set in on the kingdom with palace feuds.

It was somewhere around this time that the Qutb Shahi dynasty came into being when Sultan Quli, the Bahmani governor of Telangana, became independent and extended the new kingdom of Golconda right upto Machlipatnam on the east coast. Given the title of Qutb-ul-Mulk by the Bahmanis, Qutb Shah, a descendant of a royal family of Hamadan in Persia, took over the reins and ruled till 1548.