Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I

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Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah (Persian: ملک احمد نظام شاه) was the founder of the Nizam Shahi dynasty and the Ahmadnagar Sultanate.

Ahmad was the son of the Nizam ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri, a Hindu Brahmin from Beejanuggar (or Bijanagar) originally named Timapa who converted to Islam.^[1]: 189 Ahmad's father was made Malik Na'ib on the death of Mahmud Gavan and was appointed prime minister by Mahmood Shah Bahmani II. Soon after, he appointed Ahmad governor of Beed and other districts in the vicinity of Dowlutabad.^[1]: 190 He chose to take up residence in Junnar. His initial attempts to take up this responsibility were rejected by the local officers, but, despite his youth and the weakness of the Sultanate, he captured the hillfort at Soonere and the city after a long siege. Using the resources from the city, he campaigned through 1485, capturing Chavand, Lohgad, Tung, Kooray, Tikona, Kondhana, Purandar, Bhorop, Jivdhan, Kuhrdroog, Murud-Janjira, Mahuli and Pali. He was fighting in the Konkan coastal regions when he heard of the death of his father. Withdrawing to Junnar in 1486, Ahmad assumed the titles of Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri from his father, the last signifying a falcon as Hasan had been falconer to the Sultan.^{[2][failed verification]}