THE WORLD ATLAS

Realm · approximate borders · 1335–1378

Madurai Sultanate (Ma'bar)

Proclaimed in 1335 when Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, Delhi's governor of Ma'bar, threw off Muhammad bin Tughluq's authority; Ibn Battuta visited in 1344. The extent (Vaigai and lower Kaveri down to the Tamirabarani, Ghats crest on the west) follows the old Pandya country and the sultanate's wars with the Hoysala Ballala III, who died besieging its fort near Tiruchirappalli in 1343.

The southern limit (Tirunelveli, where Pandya princes survived) and the hold on the Thanjavur delta are uncertain. Dates: Wikipedia 'Madurai Sultanate'; Schwartzberg plate V.2 (Ma'bar 1334–1378). Rump sultanate after Vijayanagara's prince Kumara Kampana took Srirangam and the Kaveri country (the Ranganatha image was reinstalled at Srirangam in 1371). Madurai fell and the last sultan was killed in 1378 (Wikipedia 'Madurai Sultanate'). The exact line of the shrinking frontier is not recorded.

See Madurai Sultanate (Ma'bar) on the map in 1335

On the map
1335–1378
Capital
Madurai

Rulers named in the sources

South Asia's regional kingdoms, 1000–1550

Between the Ghaznavid raids and the Mughal conquest, South Asia was shared by dozens of regional states: the Madurai Sultanate in the Tamil country, the sultanates of Gujarat, Malwa and Khandesh, the Reddi and Velama kingdoms of Andhra, the Gajapatis of Odisha, the Rajput kingdoms of Mewar and Marwar, the Ahom, Chutia, Kamata and Tripura kingdoms of the north-east, the successors of the Chera Perumals on the Malabar coast, and the Sinhala kingdoms of Gampola, Kotte and Kandy. Few medieval sources describe frontiers.

Sources