Kh v āja ʿImād al-Dīn Maḥmūd Gīlānī (813-86/1411-81), commonly known as Maḥmūd Gāvān , was a powerful vizier of the Bahmanī sultanate of South India. Born into a politically important family in Gīlān, Gāvān seems initially to have entered service with the rulers of Gīlān (Sherwani, Gawan , 22-4, citing al-Sakhāwī). Following the death of his father, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Kh v āja Kamāl al-Gīlānī, Maḥmūd and his elder brother Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad were forced into exile by a rival political faction,