| Conventional Long Name: | Sultanate of Bijapur |
| Era: | Early modern |
| Year Start: | 1490 |
| Year End: | 1686 |
| P1: | Bahmani Sultanate |
| S3: | Maratha Confederacy |
| S1: | Mughal Empire |
| S2: | Portuguese India |
| Capital: | Bijapur |
| Official Languages: | Persian |
| Government Type: | Monarchy |
| Leader1: | Yusuf Adil Shah (first) |
| Year Leader1: | 1490–1510 |
| Leader2: | Sikandar Adil Shah (last) |
| Year Leader2: | 1672–1686 |
| Title Leader: | Sultan |
| Today: | India |
The Sultanate of Bijapur was an early modern kingdom in the western Deccan and South India, ruled by the Adil Shahi or Adilshahi dynasty.[1] Bijapur had been a taraf (province) of the Bahmani Sultanate prior to its independence in 1490 and before the former's political decline in the last quarter of the 15th century. It was a member of the Deccan Sultanates, the collective name of the five successor states of the Bahmani Sultanate. At its peak, the Sultanate of Bijapur was one of the most powerful states in South Asia, second to the Mughal Empire, which conquered it on 12 September 1686 under Aurangzeb.[2]
The founder of the Sultanate, Yusuf Adil Shah, was appointed governor of the province of Daulatabad by its Bahmani rulers, and later seized provincial control of Bijapur following the execution of its former tarafdar, Mahmud Gawan, and would shift his sole governorship to be that of Bijapur. In 1490, he would create a de facto independent Bijapur state, before becoming formally independent with the Bahmanis' collapse in 1518.
The Bijapur Sultanate's borders changed considerably throughout its history. Its northern boundary remained relatively stable, straddling contemporary Southern Maharashtra and Northern Karnataka. The Sultanate expanded southward, first with the conquest of the Raichur Doab following the defeat of the Vijayanagara empire at the Battle of Talikota in 1565. Later campaigns in the Karnatak and Carnatic, notably during the reign of Mohammed Adil Shah, extended Bijapur's formal borders and nominal authority as far south as Tanjore. Bijapur, for most of its history, was bounded on the west by the Portuguese state of Goa, on the east by the Sultanate of Golconda, and to the north by the Ahmednagar Sultanate.
The former Bahmani provincial capital of Bijapur remained the capital of the Sultanate throughout its existence. After modest earlier developments, Ibrahim Adil Shah I and Ali Adil Shah I remodelled Bijapur, providing the citadel and city walls, and a congregational mosque. Their successors, Ibrahim Adil Shah II, Mohammed Adil Shah and Ali Adil Shah II, further adorned Bijapur with palaces, mosques, a mausoleum and other structures, considered to be some of the finest examples of Deccani and Indo-Islamic architecture.
Incessant conflicts with the Sultanate's neighbours curtailed the development of the Bijapur state. The Deccan Sultanates allied to achieve victory over Vijayanagara at Talikota in 1565. The state would further expand through its conquest of the neighbouring Bidar Sultanate in 1619. The Sultanate was thereafter relatively stable, although it was damaged by the revolt of Shivaji, who would found an independent Maratha Kingdom which went on to become the Maratha Confederacy. The greatest threat to Bijapur's security was, from the late 16th century, the expansion of the Mughal Empire into the Deccan. Although it was the case that the Mughals destroyed the Adilshahi, it was Shivaji's revolt which weakened the Adilshahi control. Various agreements and treaties imposed Mughal suzerainty on the Adil Shahs, by stages, until Bijapur's formal recognition of Mughal authority in 1636. The demands of their Mughal overlords sapped the Adil Shahs of their wealth until the Mughal conquest of Bijapur in 1686.
The founder of the dynasty, Yusuf Adil Shah, may have been a Georgian slave[3] who was purchased by Mahmud Gawan from Iran. Other historians mentioned him of Persian[4] or Turkmen origin.[5] [6] According to some subsequent traditions, Yusuf was a son of the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, although this is considered unfounded by modern historians.[7] Another theory states he was a Turkman of the Aq-Quyunlu.[8] [9] [10]
Yusuf's bravery and personality raised him rapidly in Sultan Muhammad Shah III's favour, resulting in his appointment as the Governor of Bijapur. He had acquired these lands by seizing them following the murder of Mahmud Gawan, the previous tarafdar of Bijapur, and with it abandoned the office of tarafdar of Daulatabad, which was seized by Malik Hasan Bahri's son. Yusuf and Malik Hasan were the leaders of the opposing factions of Bahmani nobility of the foreigners and Deccanis, and thus were enemies. This strife, as Malik Hasan was the father of the founder of the Ahmednagar Sultanate, was the stem of the centuries-long rivalry between the Ahmednagar and Bijapur Sultanates. In 1490, Yusuf took advantage of the decline of Bahmani power to establish himself as an independent sultan at Bijapur, initially by the invitation of Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I, Malik Hasan's son. In 1504, following the death of Qasim Barid I of Golconda, Yusuf conquered and annexed the Bahmani taraf of Gulbarga; after which became the first time he proclaimed Shia Islam to be the official religion of his territorial holdings. He married Punji, the sister of a Maratha Raja of Indapur.[11]
Yusuf died in 1510, in a confrontation with Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara at Koilkonda, when his son Ismail Adil Shah was still a boy. Ismail's regent at the time, Kamal Khan, staged a coup against him, but was unsuccessful and was killed. Ismail thus became the full ruler of Bijapur and succeeded his father's ambition. A colonial expedition of the Portuguese Empire, led by Afonso de Albuquerque, exerted pressure on the major Adil Shahi port of Goa and conquered it soon after Ismail's accession in 1510; Ismail retook the settlement two months later, however, but the Portuguese again conquered it in November of that year. In 1514 a dispute over Gulbaraga province led the rulers of the Ahmednagar, Golconda, and Bidar Sultanates to invade the provinces of Ismail Adil Shah, but they were deterred and Ismail emerged victorious. In 1520, Krishnadevaraya laid siege to the Bijapuri fort of Raichur. The siege would contine for three months until the emperor's encounter with Ismail, who attempted to relieve the siege. Ismail was defeated by Krishnadevaraya there in the Battle of Raichur; though initially successful and having an artillery advantage, the first appearance of which in a South Asian battle, Ismail was routed by the Vijayanagara forces in a surprise counter-attack and much of his forces were scattered. The battle contained a contingent of Portuguese mercenaries, which were opposed to the Adil Shahis following their encounters a decade prior. Not long after Ismail's retreat, Krishnadevaraya captured the fort of Raichur. A later diplomatic conflict saw Krishnadevaraya occupy the capital of Bijapur for an extended period through the sultan's insistence to not see the emperor. Ismail invaded the territory of Amir Barid I of Bidar in 1529; he cut off the supply lines to the city and began to besiege it. Aladdin Imad Shah of Berar attempted to intervene in the conflict to seek mediation, but was unsuccessful. Amir Barid, in exchange for his life following his capture, gave up the fort of Bidar, which was subsequently looted by Ismail and his troops. Another campaign the following year saw Ismail recapture Raichur and Mudgal from Vijayanagara, whose monarch Krishnadevaraya had recently died. Amir Barid, as he was present at the engagement, there agreed with Ismail to cede him the forts of Kalyani and Qandhar in exchange for Ismail's relinquishment of Bidar.
Ismail was succeeded by Mallu Adil Shah in 1534, whose reign was short-lived. He was installed by a prominent Bijapuri noble and is noted for his lack of competence. His indifference to taking care of the responsibilities of his role as sultan led Vijayanagara to invade the Sultanate and seize the Raichur Doab from the Adil Shahis. Mallu Adil Shah was soon blinded and removed from power.
Ibrahim Adil Shah I succeeded Mallu as the son of Ismail the same year. He reestablished the state religion as Sunnism, and made drastic anti-Westerner court changes by abolishing the use of the Persian language in certain administrative tasks, though retaining it as the official language of the Sultanate[12] and expelling many of the Westernerns and replacing them with the opposing faction, the Deccanis. Ibrahim also invaded the Vijayanagara Empire in his reign; he pillaged multiple cities and besieged their capital, Vijayanagara, but did not seize any territory in the long-term and returned home only with non-territorial rewards. In another conflict with the Portuguese, Ibrahim was forced to cede two ports in the fear that trade through Goa might be cut off from the Adil Shahis. His kingdom was invaded four times by the forces of the Ahmednagar Sultanate in his reign, who were the Sultanate's greatest adversary; Sultan Burhan Nizam Shah I allied himself initially with Bidar in his first invasion, which saw no territorial losses for Bijapur, but Bidar, ruled by Ali Barid Shah I, later allied itself with Bijapur in the second invasion. This saw a quadruple alliance of Ahmednagar, Jamsheed Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda, Vijayanagara, and Darya Imad Shah of Berar. The war comprised numerous invasions by the belligerents of their opponents' states, and was a defeat for the Bijapuri–Bidar side, who were forced to cede one of the northern districts of the Bijapur Sultanate to Ahmednagar. Burhan and Ibrahim agreed to a policy of allowing Ahmednagar freedom to expand in the territory of Bidar provided Bijapur could have the same freedom to annex lands from Vijayanagara; thus Ibrahim imprisoned Ali Barid Shahi of Bidar despite their former alliance, though he was later freed by Jamsheed out of his yearning for a buffer state in the Deccan. Burhan Nizam Shah four times laid siege to Solapur throughout these conflicts, but did not successfully retain it until a third invasion, where territory on the southern border was additionally occupied. Burhan advanced in a fourth invasion in 1553 with Vijayanagara almost to the Bijapuri capital, but retreated due to his failing health.
Ali Adil Shah I, who next ascended the throne in 1558, reestablished Shiism as the state religion. He inquired of Hussain Nizam Shah I that he may be given back Solapur and Kaliyani, both of which had been taken from the Sultanate in past Ahmednagari invasions, given the domestic and foreign strife Ahmednagar had been facing, but was declined. He subsequently invaded the Nizam Shahi kingdom, with assistance from Rama Raya, then de facto ruler of Vijayanagara, and Ibrahim Qutb Shah, and laid siege to Ahmednagar and other cities in the kingdom. Hussain sued for peace in 1561, and in return was forced to submit to Rama Raya and return Kaliyani to Ali Adil Shah. In 1563 Hussain attempted to regain Kaliyani and again laid siege to it. Another conflict ensued with the same belligerents; Ahmednagar was besieged by Ali, but his forces voluntarily raised the siege; Hussain too was forced to abandon his siege of Kaliyani, and the only profiteer of the conflict was Vijayanagara, who gained territory from an invasion of Golconda. Vijayanagara additionally gained land from Bijapur through persuasion; this included the cities of Yadgir and Bagalkote. Wary of the growing power of Vijayanagara, Ali aligned his forces with the Sultans of Golconda, Ahmednagar and Bidar, despite their past conflicts, and together brought down the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565 in the decisive Battle of Talikota. Rama Raya was beheaded after being captured by the Deccani side, and Vijayanagara and nearby cities were sacked and looted, the former city for a period of five to six months. Mudgal, the Raichur Doab, and the surrounding area were returned to Bijapur. The Vijayanagara military was demolished, and the power of the kingdom had been significantly diminished from the effects of the battle and as such was a shell of its former self. Another conflict between Ahmednagar and Bijapur arose in 1567; Ali invaded the former and his forces occupied multiple forts, but the war ended up inconclusive. The same year, a conflict with the Portuguese began in the hopes of expelling them completely from India; this did not go according to plan, however, and Ali was defeated after multiple encounters in 1571. He subsequently annexed more land from Vijayanagara in a campaign lasting until 1575, in which he conquered Adoni and much of the Carnatic; Ali embarked on a monarch-transcending campaign to capture and subjugate all of the Karnatak as well the same year, where his zealotry for Shiism was put on display; Richard M. Eaton writes that his "armies destroyed two to three hundred Hindu temples" and that he replaced many of these with Shia religious buildings. These campaigns in the Karnatak lasted until the mid seventeenth century.
Ali I had no son, so his nephew Ibrahim II was set on the throne, then only nine years of age in 1579. Ali I's queen Chand Bibi had to aid him until he came of age, though control of the regency was constantly fought over in the years following Ibrahim II's accession, and there were many years when his regent was instead the influential Kamal Khan. The Adil Shahis formed an alliance with Ahmednagar and Golconda to deter further Mughal advance in the Deccan, who had recently conquered the Berar Sultanate. Their alliance, led under a Bijapuri general, was defeated in their attempts to defeat the Mughal forces despite outnumbering them three to one. Ibrahim II also founded the city of Nauraspur in 1599, three kilometers west of Bijapur as a planned great center of learning and art as a garden[13] and palace city, but it was never fully completed and was destroyed in 1624.[14] In 1618, the sultan lost the fortress of Janjira to the independent Habshi state of western India. Bijapur, under Ibrahim II, conquered the neighbouring Bidar Sultanate in 1619. This was preceded by an agreement between the rulers of Bijapur and the Ahmednagar Sultanate, where they divided their spheres of influence such that the latter was let to conquer the Berar Sultanate, provided the Adil Shahis could expand southwards into the territory of the decaying Vijayanagara Empire without the hindrance of the Nizam Shahis. However, as Bidar did not fall under either of these spheres of influence, Malik Ambar, then de facto ruler of Ahmednagar, grew irate, and invaded Bijapur, reaching the capital relatively unopposed, but later withdrew. The sultan, in addition to his work on Nauraspur, constructed many architectural works near Bijapur which composed the Ibrahim Rauza.
Muhammad Adil Shah succeeded his father Ibrahim II in 1627. Under Muhammad's reign, the Sultanate of Bijapur reached its peak, territorially and in power and economic prosperity. He created his own mausoleum in Bijapur, the Gol Gumbaz, and repelled another invasion by the Ahmednagar Sultanate early in his rule. The first invasion of the Sultanate of Bijapur by the Mughal Empire also took place under Muhammad's rule in 1631 by Shah Jahan, who reached and besieged Bijapur, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The greatest threat to Bijapur's security was, from the late 16th century, the expansion of the Mughal Empire into the Deccan. Various agreements and treaties imposed Mughal suzerainty on the Adil Shahs, by stages, until Bijapur's forced recognition of Mughal authority in 1636 from another invasion, forcing them to pay tribute to the Mughal emperor. It was after this humiliation, however, that Bijapur reached its territorial peak, when it stretched from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal through continued southern conquests. The Sultanate of Bijapur would come however come into rapid political and general decline halfway through Muhammad's reign, primarily due to the strain in relations with nobles and landholders, many of which later deserted to work for the Mughal bureaucracy, and the revolt of then governor of Pune, Shivaji, whose father was a Maratha commander in the service of Mohammed Adil Shah who had been employed in the Karnatak campaigns. Muhammad Adil Shah died in 1656, though was effectively powerless in the last decade of his life from a paralyzing illness which first affected him in 1646.
Ali Adil Shah II inherited a troubled kingdom. His state was invaded by Mughal forces in 1657, under then viceroy Aurangzeb, who captured Bidar and multiple other forts and reached Bijapur, though were forced to retreat before they could lay siege to the city; Aurangzeb was nevertheless able to annex much of the occupied territory, including Bidar. The stability of the Bijapur Sultante was again affected by further troubles with the Marathas, who persisted with raids and rebellions. Afzal Khan, a Bijapuri general, was sent to subdue Shivaji in 1659, but his expedition ended a disaster, as he was murdered and his home fort of Pratapgarh was captured in a confrontation with Shivaji. Despite further Maratha advances in the north, Ali continued his southern campaigns in the Karnatak and Carnatic, in which he captured Tanjore and other cities from the Nayakas from 1659–63.
Sikandar Adil Shah, the last Adil Shahi sultan, ruled next for fourteen troublesome years. His reign saw multiple civil wars and much internal strife and unrest, particularly over who should be his regent, as he was only four at the time of his accession. Khawas Khan, Sikandar Adil Shah's initial regent and leader of the Deccani faction, was the same as Muhammad's during his regency, but was quickly removed from power. Shivaji formally founded an independent Maratha Kingdom, which went on to become the Maratha Confederacy, in 1674, and by then had de facto control over much of the Adil Shahis' original territory in the Deccan. He after this undid almost all of the southern Bijapuri conquests, and annexed this territory into his own state, including the recently captured Tanjore. On 12 September 1686, the Mughal armies under Aurangzeb overpowered the city of Bijapur through the siege of Bijapur which the city had undergone since April of the previous year, and the Sultanate of Bijapur came to an end.
See also: Bijapur Fort.
The architecture of the Sultanate of Bijapur, as a subset of Deccani architecture, was a variant of Indo-Islamic architecture, influenced by that of the Middle East. Adil Shahi architecture was of high sculptrual quality, attained through its localized and unique nature. Characteristic of Adil Shahi architecture was large domes and dargahs, complex turrets, geometric and Arabic or Persian calligraphic designs, and decorated friezes of tholobates.
Yusuf Adil Shah, the first sultan, began his work by expanding on two dargahs at Gulbarga commemorating Sufis, and added minarets to them. The first building to fully employ the characteristics of Adil Shahi architecture was a Jama Masjid built during the reign of Ibrahim Adil Shah I. The primary Jami Masjid of Bijapur, however, was built under the rule of Ali I, and was commissioned in 1576. Under Ibrahim II, the aspects of Adil Shahi architecture evolved to focus on intricate carvings and detail; this is seen in one mosque built by the sultan in 1586, the Malika Jahan Begum mosque. His most notable commissioned work though was the eponymous Ibrahim Rauza, completed in 1626, comprising a mosque built in honour of his wife and a mausoleum for his dynasty. Mohammed Adil Shah facilitated the creation of the Gol Gumbaz, his own mausoleum and one of the greatest monuments in Bijapur. It is supported by large arched recesses and a massive dome, the largest in the Islamic world[15] upon its near-completion upon Muhammad's death in 1656. The last main Adil Shahi architectural project was the unfinished mausoleum of Ali Adil Shah II, the Bara Kaman, which stopped construction upon his death in 1672.
See main article: Deccani language. The Adil Shahis partook in miniature painting through the Bijapur school of Deccani painting. Miniature painting was virtually nonexistant in the Bijapur Sultanate prior to the reign of Ali I, but became widespread under his rule and flourished under the rule of Ibrahim II and his successors.[16] The Bijapur School of painting is rooted in Persian miniature painting and culture, and was usually baroque in style;[17] in contrast to North Indian contemporary painting, it almost never depicted events and scenes of war, and rather focused on atmospheres and picturesque fantasies and dreams, and strayed away from logic in general.
The Adil Shahi sultans promoted the development of writing in the Deccani language, and Bijapur was one of the centers for its early literary evolution. Ibrahim II was a skillful writer of Deccani Urdu literature, and one of its earliest proponents. Ibrahim himself wrote the Kitab-e-Navras, a Deccani musical poetry work, and patronized many poets and their works of art. One of these was Muhammad Zuhuri, a Persian poet whom he employed.[18] Another, Firishta, after entering Ibrahim's service in 1604 and gaining his trust, on the sultan's suggestion wrote his history of the medieval Deccan, the Tarikh-i Firishta, which serves as the basis for much of the modern historiography on the region and period.[19]
Nine sultans ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur from 1490 to 1686, their title being the Sultan of Bijapur.[20]
| Titular Name | Personal Name | Reign |
|---|---|---|
| Independence from the Bahmani Sultanate (1490) | ||
| Amir | Yusuf Adil Shah | 1490–1511 |
| Adil Khani | Ismail Adil Shah | 1511–1534 |
| Adil Khani | Mallu Adil Shah | 1534 |
| Adil Khani | Ibrahim Adil Shah I | 1534–1558 |
| Adil Khani | Ali Adil Shah I | 1558–1580 |
| Adil Khani | Ibrahim Adil Shah II | 1580–1627 |
| Adil Khani | Mohammed Adil Shah | 1627–1657 |
| Adil Khani | Ali Adil Shah II | 1657–1672 |
| Adil Khani | Sikandar Adil Shah | 1672–1686 |
| Conquered by Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire in 1686. |