Qasim Barid I

Who was Qasim Barid I?

Qasim Barid I was a prime-minister of the Bahmani sultanate and the founder of the Bidar Sultanate, one of the five late medieval Indian kingdoms together known as the Deccan sultanates. Qasim Barid was a Turk, domiciled in Georgia or muslim Georgian. He entered the service of the Bahmani sultan Muhammad Shah III. He later became the prime-minister of the Bahmani sultanate. Some have claimed that Qasim Barid was of Hungarian descent.

Qasim Barid I led one of the first revolts against the Bahmani Sultanate. He was able to get himself made chief of state but had seriously undermined the stability of the kingdom. The Bahmani governors of Junnar, Bijapur and Berar refused to acknowledge the authority of Qasim Barid and in June,1490 Malik Ahmad Nizam-ul-Mulk, the governor of Junnar founded the independent Ahmednagar Sultanate followed by the foundation of the independent Bijapur Sultanate by Yusuf Adil Khan and Berar Sultanate by Fathullh Imad-ul-Mulk in the same year. The founding of the dynasty occurred in 1492.

Qasim Barid died in 1504 and was succeeded by his son Amir Barid I, as the prime minister of the Bahmani Sultanate who also became the de facto ruler like his father.