The Muzaffarid dynasty were sultans of Gujarat in western India from 1391 to 1583. The founder of the dynasty was Zafar Khan Muzaffar (later Muzaffar Shah I) who was governor of Gujarat under the Delhi Sultanate. Zafar Khan's father was a Rajput convert to Islam. When the Sultanate was weakened by the sacking of Delhi by Timur in 1398, and Zafar Khan took the opportunity to establish himself as sultan of an independent Gujarat. His son, Ahmed Shah I established the capital at Ahmedabad. The dynasty ruled for almost 200 years, until the conquest of Gujarat by the Mughal Empire. The sultanate reached its peak of expansion under Mahmud Shah I Begara, reaching east into Malwa and west to the Gulf of Kutch.
During the Muzaffarid rule, Ahmedabad grew to become one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world, and the sultans were patrons of a distinctive architecture that blended Islamic elements with Gujarat's indigenous Hindu and Jain architectural traditions. Gujarat's Islamic architecture presages many of the architectural elements later found in Mughal architecture, including ornate mihrabs and minarets, perforated screens (jali) carved in stone, and pavilions topped with cupolas (chattri).
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