The Deccan's forgotten sultanate capital — Bidar Fort, the Madrasa Mahmud Gawan, and bidriware silverwork still made by hand
Bidar is a city on the Deccan plateau in northern Karnataka, capital of the Bahmani Sultanate and later the independent Bidar Sultanate (1422–1619) — a city of extraordinary Islamic monuments largely unknown to mainstream India tourism. The Bidar Fort (14th century) is a massive structure of three moats and 37 bastions; the Madrasa Mahmud Gawan (1472) is one of the finest Islamic educational buildings in India; and Bidar is the centre of bidriware, a unique craft of inlaid black zinc alloy with silver that has been made here since the 14th century.
Bidar became the capital of the Bahmani Sultanate in 1422 when Ahmad Shah I moved the capital from Gulbarga. After the Bahmani Sultanate fragmented into five successor states in the 1490s, Bidar became the centre of the independent Birid Shahi Sultanate, one of the five Deccan Sultanates. The city was conquered by Aurangzeb in 1657 and subsequently declined. Bidriware — named for the city — developed under the patronage of the Bahmani sultans from Persian craftsmen who came to the Deccan court; it is among the most distinctive traditional crafts of India and is still made by families using me…