THE WORLD ATLAS

Realm · approximate borders · 1401–1561

Malwa Sultanate

After Humayun withdrew, Mallu Khan, a Khalji officer, ruled Malwa as Qadir Shah (1537–1542) until Sher Shah took it. Baz Bahadur, son of the Sur governor Shuja'at Khan, declared himself sultan in 1555 and ruled until Akbar's general Adham Khan defeated him at Sarangpur (1561; Wikipedia 'Malwa Sultanate').

In the Sur years 1542–1555 Malwa was a province of the Sur Empire. Dilawar Khan, Tughluq governor, made Malwa independent in 1401; Hoshang Shah moved the capital to Mandu and took Gagron (1423). Wikipedia 'Malwa Sultanate'; Joppen's 1398 and 1525 maps (Ujjain, Mandu, Chanderi; Narmada valley to the Satpuras). Peak under Mahmud Khalji I, who fought Gujarat, Mewar and the Bahmanis, with the eastern districts (Bhilsa, Raisen, Damoh), as on Joppen's 1525 map. Raids and short occupations reached Ajmer and Ranthambore. After Rana Sanga's victory at Gagron (1519) the north and east (Chanderi under Medini Rai, Raisen and Bhilsa under Silhadi) slipped from the sultan, who kept Mandu, Dhar and Ujjain (Wikipedia 'Malwa Sultanate'). Bahadur Shah of Gujarat annexed Malwa in 1531.

See Malwa Sultanate on the map in 1436

On the map
1401–1561
Capital
Mandu; Sarangpur; Mandu; Dhar, then Mandu (from 1406); Mandu (Shadiabad)

Rulers named in the sources

More South Asian kingdoms, 1200 BCE–1578

The late Vedic kingdoms of the Kurus, Panchalas and Kashi and the first Mahajanapadas before 600 BCE; the first century of the Anuradhapura kingdom; the last decades of the Gujarat, Khandesh and Malwa sultanates and of the Rajput kingdoms of Marwar, Jaisalmer and Bikaner; and the Deora kingdom of Sirohi and the Garhwal kingdom.

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