Mahmud Begarha

(?-1513)

   Sultan of Gujarat who reigned dur-ing 1459-1513. He subdued the nobles and reorganized the adminis-tration, creating four regional commands that worked to ensure firm control by the sultan over the local authorities. The hereditary chiefs were forced to accept military service in return for banth, a one-fourth share of their original revenues. Several powerful Hindu chief-tainships were eliminated, the last of them being Champanir (1484), where the use of gunpowder artillery played a decisive role. The en-hanced military clout of the Gujarat sultanate was manifested in its participation in the joint naval expedition of the Mamluks and several Indian states that defeated the Portuguese near Chaul (1508).