Mahmud Gawan Madrasa, Bidar, Karnataka India

Mahmud Gawan was an Iranian merchant who arrived in the Bahamani Sultanate at around 1453 CE. Due to his honesty, simplicity and knowledge he impressed the Bahamani Kings. He ultimately rose to the post of prime minister and was much respected among the local population. One of the reasons for the collapse of the Bahamani Sultanate was that Mahmud Gawan had been murdered by one of King’s men.

The builder of this grandiose madrasa was the prime-minister of the Bahmani empire in the late 15th century. He became powerful through military campaigns, administrative reform, and a policy of balancing rival factions in the Bahmani court. The madrasa however, built to reaffirm Shiism as the state religion, is clearly modeled on contemporary central Asian buildings. Its principal east facade, now partly ruined, faces the city's main street leading to the citadel. An imposing minaret is in three stages separated by cantilevered balconies and surmounted by a dome. The minaret and façade walls were once covered with blue and white tiles, with traces of yellow and green. 

Mahmud Gawan had seen the greatest architectural marvels in the form of Madrasas all around the world in places like Khorasan and Samarqand. A Madrasa is an educational institution for Islamic studies. So he set out to construct something similar. Mahmud Gawan was very rich due to the international trade he carried out during his time at the court and used that to fund the construction of this Madrasa at Bidar.

The madrasa was built under the direction of Khwaja Mahmud Gawan, the Persian prime minister of Muhammad Shah III Lashkari (r. 1463-1482) of the Bahmanid dynasty. An erudite scholar himself, he established the madrasa with a reputation that attracted the most eminent theologians, philosophers and scientists. The library of the madrasa boasted over three thousand manuscripts.

In subsequent centuries, the madrasa suffered as Bidar witnessed a series of political struggles. In 1656, it was appropriated by Aurangzeb for use as a military barrack. Rooms near the southeast minaret were used for gun-powder storage. An explosion resulted in damage to one-fourth of the edifice of the tower and the entrance.

Stripped of many of its decorative elements, the madrasa is now a shadow of its original self. The form and intricately detailed glazed tile work is clearly influenced by the architecture of Persian madrasas. It seems that Mahmud Gawan, who originally hailed from Gilan on the Caspian Sea, was able to bring engineers and craftsmen from his own country to work on the construction of this building.

The madrasa occupies a rectangular structure covering 68 by 60 meters and encloses a central quadrangle. The main entrance, which is no longer extant, was to the east and led to the quadrangle with a dodecagonal cistern at its middle. The madrasa is elevated on a high base with two stepped terraces. The front or east façade was framed by two lofty minarets about 100 feet high that were dressed in green-azure majolica decorating the shaft in zigzag motifs. The southeast corner tower, along with half of the east and south wing attached to it collapsed after being struck once by lighting and in the gun powder explosion. The façade still displays patches of vibrant Persian glazed tile work that once covered the entire wall surfaces. A golden band of Quranic inscription on a green and blue background on the frieze was likely the work of a Persian craftsman.

Large reading halls with semi-octagonal chambers attached to the exterior side, rise up at the center of the north, west and south wing to reach the full height of three storeys and have open arched façades facing the courtyard, forming a typical iwan structure. These iwans are further marked by domes. The rooms of the teachers and students are found on the three storeys flanking these grand reading halls.