Mahmud Gawan, a merchant by vocation, arrived in Bidar kingdom ruled by the Bahamani kings in 1453 A.D. He was well versed in Islamic lore, Persian language and mathematics. He was known for his profound scholarship in the Middle East
before coming to India. Due to his perseverance, honesty, simplicity and learning he earned the goodwill of the Bahamani rulers and held important posts under three successive kings. Mahmud III (1462-82 A.D.) as a young boy studied under his tutorship, and became the grand Vazir or Prime Minister when Mahmud became the king and looked after the administration for nearly thirty years.

Gawan was rich due to his international trade but spent his entire earnings on promotion of education. In 1472 A.D. he established a Madrassah in Bidar, then the capital of the Bahmanis. The Madrassah had an imposing three-story building with 100 feet tall minarets in four corners. There were thirty-six rooms for students and six suites for the teaching staff. It also had big lecture halls, a prayer had and a matchless library of three thousand volumes. Gawan himself had a personal library of more than a thousand books. He used to spend all his leisure time in the library.

The Madrassah building had a large courtyard with nearly a thousand cubicles where students and learned men who came from all parts of the country and East could stay. Boarding and lodging were free. There were 118 students on a permanent basis and countless itinerary scholars