Historic Landmarks of the Deccan/Chapter 5
CHAPTER V.
TWO OLD CAPITALS OF THE DECCAN.
I.—GULBARGA.
GULBARGA, though easily accessible, is not a resort of sight-seers, and is, if the truth must be spoken, an uninviting spot. It lies in an undulating plain of black cotton soil, fertile enough, but in the hot weather, dismal, dusty, and scorched. Yet the town was selected as the capital of a famous dynasty and held its place as the chief city of an important kingdom through the reigns of eight kings, and it still contains some buildings which might entice even the amateur antiquary to the decayed and otherwise unpicturesque town, as well as one building which is, in its design, unique in India. Towards the end of the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq of Dehli the amirs in the Deccan, disgusted with his fantastic tyranny, revolted, and proclaimed Ismail Fath, the Afghan, king of the Deccan, under the style of Nasir-ud-din Shah. The new king was besieged in Daulatabad by the emperor, who, though he laid waste the city, was unable to capture the citadel, in which Nasir-ud-din maintained a pretence of regal state, while the surrounding districts were seething with discontent. Suddenly a rebellion broke out in Gujarat and Muhammad bin Tughlaq hastened to repress it, leaving Nasir-ud-din unconquered, and palUating his want of success by the issue of a pompous proclamation of victory in which the exploit of harrying the defenceless traders of Daulatabad was represented as the conquest of the city. The emperor's retreat was the signal for a general outbreak in the Deccan. The aged and unenterprising Ismail Fath had been found wanting, and at the instance of the rebel amirs he gracefully resigned his new-born dignity into the hands of Zafar Khan, better known as Hasan Gangu, the most able, active, and resourceful of those who had raised the standard of rebellion. Zafar Khan, the founder of the Bahmani dynasty which bore sway in the Deccan for about 1 50 years and lingered on afterwards for thirty years, was proclaimed king in 1347 under the title of Ala-ud-din Hasan Kangu (or Gangu) Bahmani, according to most historians. Only one well known historian gives him his correct title, Bahinan Shah, but the question is settled by the evidence of a temporary inscription and of legends on coins. It is more important than it might seem at first sight to be, for on the title of the first king depends the correct interpretation of the epithet Bahmani, applied to the dynasty which he founded. This is commonly connected with the caste name Brahman, and various stories are told of assistance received by Zafar Khan in early life from a Brahman, but the epithet was in fact derived from Zafar Khan's own name or title of Bahman which was borne as the assertion of a claim to ancient Persian descent.
Muhammad bin Tughlaq, on hearing of the serious turn which the rebellion in the Deccan had taken, would have returned, but affairs in Gujarat would not permit him to do so. He died in the course of his efforts to stifle the revolt in that province, and the affairs of the empire were in such confusion that Bahman Shah had ample leisure to establish his sovereignty in the south, and the Deccan was not wholly reunited to the empire of Dehli for more than three hundred years. Bahman Shah ignored the historic city of Deogir or Daulatabad, which had, not long before, been the official capital of India, and turning southwards selected Gulbarga as his capital. It is not easy to discover why he should have selected so unattractive a spot unless we suppose that it was because it had been his jagir. Daulatabad was associated with the brief and inglorious reign of Ismail Fath, and was probably considered to be too near the northern frontier of the Deccan to be a suitable capital for the newly-separated kingdom. Gulbarga had the advantage, in the eyes of a faithful Muslim, of being in convenient but not dangerous proximity to the great Hindu kingdom of the Peninsula. One historian tells us that Bahman Shah reg=?rded Gulbarga as a fortunate spot, and his choice was probably regulated by superstition, for he was a firm believer in astrology. The next step, after the selection of a capital, was to make it a worthy residence for a king, and the great mosque was now built. The greater part of the fort, too, was probably built in this reign.
Gulbarga was the city whence, during the next eight reigns, large armies of the faithful marched, with varying success, against the Hindu Rayas of Vijayanagar, and the city held its place during the reigns of at least six of Bahman Shah's successors. The first to evince a dislike to the hot and dusty town was the eighth Sultan, Firuz Shah, known as Ruz Afzun, who founded a town, which he named Firuzabad after him- self, on the banks of the river Bhima, about twelve miles to the south of Gulbarga. In the reign of this Sultan a famous saint, popularly known from his long side-locks as Gisu Daraz, and from his practical charity as Banda Nawaz, came from Dehli to Gulbarga, and was adopted by Firuz Shah as his patron saint. But the zeal of the monarch for the saint cooled by degrees, and Banda Nawaz transferred his religous pat- ronage to the Sultan's brother, Ahmad Khan, the Khan-i-Khanan, Ahmad Khan, a devout and scrupulous Musalman, with some knowledge of theology and casuistry, was a far more promising disciple than the cultured and pleasure-loving Firuz, who, though thoroughly orthodox, was apt to be impatient of saintly control. Ahmad Khan after a struggle overcame his brother, and, in spite of the incredulity of some historians, who will believe nothing wrong of so saintly a king as Ahmad, the sudden death of Firuz Shah within a very short time of his abdication must be pronounced too opportune to have been fortuitous.
Events on the northern frontier of the kingdom took Ahmad Shah away from Gulbarga for three years, and on his return he was attracted by the superior advantages of Bidar, which, in 1429, he made his capital. Gulbarga thenceforward necessarily declined much in importance as a city, but it gained great reputation as a place of pilgrimage, for Gisu Daraz, who did not accompany the court to Bidar, died and was buried here in the reign of Ahmad Shah, and his tomb is to this day the most famous shrine in the Deccan. But Gulbarga had so far lost favour as a seat of royalty that when Nizam Shah, the twelfth king, was forced in 1463 by the invasion of Mahmud Shah Khalji of Malwa to leave Bidar, he retired, not to the old capital, but to Firuzabad.
At the dismemberment of the Bahmani kingdom in 1490, when the provincial governors proclaimed their independence, each jagirdar continued to hold the lands which he had held under the Bahmanis, and those who were strong enough refused at first to submit to the new kings. Gulbarga was then in the possession of Dastur Dinar, an Abyssinian, who seems to have imagined that he could, with a little assistance, set at naught the authority of Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur, the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty. In 1 500 he formed an alliance with Khaja Jahan of Sholapur, a jagirdar, occupying a position similar to his own, and bade defiance to Yusuf. Yusuf Adil Shah marched against the presumptuous African and defeated and slew him, thereafter capturing the forts of Gulbarga and Sagar, which, together with all the territory which had been in the hands of Dastur Dinar, he annexed to his dominions.
In 1511, in the beginning of the reign of Ismail Adil Shah, Yusufs son and successor, Kamal Khan, one of the principal nobles of Bijapur, entered into a conspiracy with Amir Barid of Bidar, the maire du palais of Mahmud Shah Bahmani, to take possession of and divide the Bijapur kingdom, and in pursuance of this design Amir Barid, taking with him Mahmud Shah Bahmani, invaded Ismail's territories, captured some of the forts in the vicinity of Gulbarga, and laid siege to Gulbarga itself. The rebellion in Bijapur was crushed and the principal rebels were slain. Ismail Adil Shah was now in a position to deal with the invaders. He defeated an army of 20,000 horse led against him by Mahmud Shah Bahmani and Amir Barid, while Jahangir Mirza, one of his nobles who had been forced to take refuge in Ahmadnagar during Kamal Khan's rebellion, relieved Gulbarga. The assumption of the royal title by the provincial governors of the Bahmani kingdom had been due not to dis- loyalty, but to the fixed determination of the governors not to serve the Barids, who were the de facto rulers of the Bahmani dominions. Accordingly we find Ismail Adil Shah, who was not inclined to abate a jot of his actual independence, paying homage to Mahmud Shah Bahmani immediately after he had defeated his troops, and making an effort to release him from the influence of Amir Barid. But the roi faineant^ who cared nothing for the business of the state or for actual power, so long as he had the means of gratifying his passions, hugged his chains and refused to be separated from the minister who was in fact his master. Ismail's intention to induce Mahmud Shah to visit him in Bijapur was thus frustrated, for Amir Barid was too wise to place himself in the power of the man whom he had wronged. The two kings repaired, therefore, to Gulbarga, where Ismail Adil Shah married his sister, Bibi Sati, with great pomp, to the young Prince Ahmad, son of Mahmud Shah. Soon after the ceremony Amir Barid gained possession of the persons of Mahmud Shah, his son, and the bride, and carried them oflf to Bidar. In 1540 one of the numerous internecine wars which weakened the Muhaminadan kingdoms of the Deccan broke out, and Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar and Amir Barid of Bidar marched on Bijapur. Ibrahim Adil Shah I, the fourth of his dynasty, being unable to meet his enemies in the field, retired on Gulbarga, and the invaders, leaving a force to besiege Bijapur, followed him. Asad Khan Lari, one of Ibra- him's principal nobles, who had been compelled by force of circumstances to join the invaders, but who still remained at heart faithful to his old master, contrived to send a message to Ala-ud-din Imad Shah of Berar asking for assistance, and on his arrival joined him with his troops. The invaders were now compelled to retire from Gulbarga and retreated as far as Bir, followed by Ibrahim and Ala-ud-din, who encamped at Daulatabad. Near this place Amir Barid died, and Ibrahim Adil Shah thereupon made peace with Burhan Nizam Shah.
In 1554 Ibrahim Adil Shah I was involved in hostilities with Husain Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar and was defeated in the battle of Sholapur owing to his failure to support Saif Ain-ul-Mulk, whom he distrusted. Saif Ain-ul-Mulk, who had formerly been commander-in-chief in Ahmad- nagar, was himself compelled to seek safety in flight, and was refused admittance to Bijapur by Ibrahim who, to conceal his own deficiencies in the day of battle, affected to regard him as a traitor. Disgusted with this treatment Saif Ain-ul-Mulk, who no longer dared to show his face in Ahmadnagar, set up as a guerilla leader in the Bijapur dominions. He thrice defeated armies sent against him by the Sultan, the second battle taking place at Gulbarga. On the third occasion Ibrahim marched against him in person, and was defeated and hemmed in at Bijapur, He was compelled to seek assistance of Sadashivaraya of Vijayanagar, who sent an army which defeated and dispersed the rebels.
In 1581, Ibrahim Adil Shah II being still a boy, the affairs of Bijapur were thrown into confusion by quarrels between the two parties which were ever antagonists in the Deccan, the " foreigners" and the Deccanis, the Africans siding with the latter. Murtaza Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar and Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda took advan- tage of the disorganization of the state to enter into an offensive alliance against Bijapur. The plan of campaign was that the former should attack Naldrug and the latter Gulbarga, joining forces after these forts had fallen. For some reason this plan was not followed, and Muham- mad Quli joined Murtaza at Naldrug without attacking Gulbarga. The allies were, however, unable to reduce this fortress and left it, proceeding at once to the siege of Bijapur. As they advanced the Bijapur amirs who had remained loyal to the young king, but who had withdrawn to their jagirs disgusted with the dissensions in the capital, collected their forces, and in conjunction with the Bargis of the Carnatic attacked the invaders, who now relinquished the task which they had deemed so easy and retired in the direction of their own dominions. Muhammad Quli returned to Golconda, but left his army in the field at Gulbarga where it was attacked by an army from Bijapur under the command of Dilawar Khan the African. A fiercely contested battle resulted in the defeat of the Golconda army, which fled, leaving in the hands of the victors much spoil, including 150 elephants.
Henceforward Gulbarga remained undisturbed by war's alarms until the tide of Mughal conquest advanced into the southern Deccan. In 1631, in the reign of Shah Jahan, Yamin-ud-Daulah invaded the Adil Shahi dominions. After capturing Bhalgi he continued his advance southwards to Sultanpur, near Gulbarga. Most of the inhabitants fled for refuge to Gulbarga, which was well stored with arms and provisions. A force was sent to attack the place and entered the city, which was plundered, but Yamin-ud-Daulah did not care to attempt a siege of the fort and pressed on with his army towards Bijapur. His attempts to capture the city were fruitless, and, after ravaging the surrounding country, he retired to Sholapur. In 1636 the imperial troops again invaded the territory of Bijapur and ravaged the country about Gulbarga, but could not obtain a foothold in the country sufficiently firm to enable them to lay siege to the fortress.
In 1686 Aurangzib carried into execution his long-cherished design of adding Bijapur to his empire and laid siege to the place. In October of that year Sikandar Adil Shah, the last of his line, surrendered and was sent into captivity at Daulatabad. In December Aurangzib marched to Gulbarga, where he halted for some time, engaged in devotions at the shrine of Gisu Daraz, and in attempting to induce Abul Hasan to surrender Golconda without a siege. His diplomacy was unsuccessful and he was compelled to attack the place, which fell after a siege of eight months. Since this period the history of Gulbarga has been uneventful.
The most striliing of all the buildings of Gulbarga is the great mosque, built, as an inscription tells us, in A. H. 769 (A.D. 1367) in the reign of Muhammad Shah, the second king of the Bahmani dynasty, by Rafi bin Shams bin Mansur, Qazvirii. This building is unique among Indian mosques, which usually consist of a large courtyard and a relatively small building, towards which the worshipper prays. What should be the courtyard of the Gulbarga mosque is all covered in. The building has a large dome in the centre of the western end and four others, slightly smaller, at the corners. The spacious roof consists of seventy-five small domes and twenty-seven gabled roofs. The front of the mosque consists of a range of eleven arches, and on each side is a range of fourteen arches, the last three towards the western end being closed. In the interior the effect of the long colonnades with their arches and vaulted ceilings is very striking. Meadows Taylor says that this building is a replica of the great mosque at Cordova, but this is not the case. Apart from radical differences of style the relative dimensions of the two buildings do not correspond, and the Gulbarga mosque could not compare with that of Cordova in point either of size or of richness of materials or wealth of decoration. The bazar consists of an arcade of sixty arches on either side with elaborately ornamented buildings at either end. The tombs of seven of the Bahmani kings who are buried here are unpretentious square buildings surmounted by domes. The tomb of Shaikh Gisu Daraz is more imposing. This is a large domed building with two ranges of arches, one above the other, running round it. But the doorway is small and mean, and the tomb has no pretensions to architectural beauty. To the west of the town is a large domed building standing on high ground and said to have been built by a money-lender and offered by him to Shaikh Gisu Daraz, who, however, refused to accept a building which had been erected with rtioney gained by usury. It subsequently became the headquarters of a gang of robbers, from whom it received the name of Chor Gumbas, which it retains to this day. The fort is interesting and picturesque in its decay. The citadel built by Bahman Shah is a square building of brick, eighty-five feet in height. It covers but a very small area and has the appearance more of a gigantic traverse than of a citadel. The fort received many additions from the ^Adil Shahi kings, particularly Ali I and Ibrahim II. In the reign of the latter, in 1624, a bastion was built to accommodate the great twelve yard gun, which now lies dismounted in the decaying fort.
II. BIDAR.
Legend, as well as etymology, identifies the town of Bidar with the old city of Vidarbha, the capital of a Hindu kingdom of the same name in the Deccan, whose Raja, Rukmin, rejected the demi-god Krishna as a brother-in-law and was at last forced to witness the abduction of his sister by the slighted hero and then to retire into seclusion at Bhatkuh, after the scornful refusal of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Mahabharata, to recognise his arrogant claims. Vidarbha is more pleasingly associated with the romance of Nala, Raja of Nishadha (Malwa), who loved Damayanti, the beautiful daughter of Bhima, Raja of Vidarbha. The story of their love, marriage, and subsequent misfortunes, is told at length in the great Hindu epic, and also by Faizi, Akbar's poet laureate, in his long and somewhat wearisome poem Nal u Daman. So far the legendary history of Vidarbha. Raja Vijaya Sena, one of the Valabhis of the solar line, who succeeded the Guptas in A. D. 319, is said to have founded Vidarbha, by which expression we may understand that he restored the ancient city. But Vidarbha never regained, during the Hindu period of history, its pristine importance, and remained a mere provincial town, unheard of for centuries after its restorer's reign.
In the course of the third expedition of the Musalmans to Warangal, in 1322, the town was captured by Muhammad bin Tughlaq, then heir- apparent to the empire of Delhi, and it was an important centre of the revolt which took place in the Deccan after the accession of this prince to the throne and towards the end of his reign. It was seized in 1346 by the rebel Amir Ali, recaptured by Qutlugh Khan for the emperor, and again, in 1347, captured by Z afar Khan (Ala-ud-din Hasan), who was proclaimed king of the Deccan under the title of Bahman Shah.
The new king divided his kingdom into four tarafs or provinces, of one of which Bidar was the head-quarters, its governor receiving the ex- officio title of Azam-i-Humayun. In 1429, when Ahmad Shah Wali, the ninth king of the Bahmani dynasty, was returning from Berar, he halted at Bidar and was so charm- ed by the situation of the place that he resolved to make it his capital. The usual legend of the hunted fox or hare turning on the dog which was pursuing it is told to account for Ahmad Shah's choice, which is also said to have been influenced by the legendary and historical associations of the town; but its superiority over Gulbarga, in point of situation and cHmate was alone sufficient to account for the preference. Its central position and its situation on a rolling plateau gave it many advantages over the hot and low-lying town of Gulbarga, where Ahmad Shah's health had suffered, and it remained the capital of the Bahmanis as long as the dynasty lasted, and of the Barid Shahi kings who followed them.
Ala-ud-din II, the son and successor of Ahmad Shah, founded a large hospital at Bidar, and endowed it with y'^^/r lands for the support of the Hindu and Muhammadan physicians attached to it and for the supply of medicine and food to the sick.
On October 4, 146 1, Nizam Shah, the twelfth king of the Bahmani line, ascended the throne in Bidar, in the eighth year of his age. His mother, Makhduma-i-Jahan, governed the kingdom in his name, aided by the advice of Mahmud Gawan Khaja-i-Jahan. Early in this reign Sultan Mahmud Khalji of Malwa, having aUied himself with the Rajas of Urisa and Tehngana, invaded the Bahmani dominions, was defeated in his first engagement, but retrieved his defeat, fell upon the Deccanis as they were plundering, and utterly routed them. Nizam Shah was carried off by his mother to Firuzabad, near Gulbarga ; while the inva- ders sacked and burnt the town of Bidar and laid siege to the citadel which was gallantly held by the Bahmani qalahdar, Mallu Khan. The besiegers daily attempted to fill the ditch with earth and rubbish, but their efforts were frustrated by the energy of the defenders, who cleared the ditch by night. In the meantime Nizam Shah's advisers had written for help to Sultan Mahmud of Gujarat, who now arrived at the northern frontier of the Bahmani kingdom with 80,000 horse. Mahmud Gawan, with five or six thousand Deccani horse, joined him by way of Bir, and occupied himself in raising more troops until he was able to take the field with an army of 40,000 Deccani and Gujarati horse. He sent 10,000 Deccani horse into Berar to harass the army of Malwa during its retreat, and marched on Bidar with the remainder of his force. Mahmud Gawan encamped between Bir and Kandhar and cut off Mah- mud Khalji's suppHes and raided his camp, but would not risk a battle, though the enemy could bring no more than 30,000 horse into the field. At length the army of Malwa was starved out, and Mahmud Khalji, after blinding his elephants and burning his heavy baggage, retreated through Gondwana, being afraid to venture into Berar. His trust in the Gonds whose raja was nominally his vassal, was misplaced. He was pursued and harassed by Mahmud Gawan, and, to avoid being cut off by him, attempted to reach his own dominions by way of the Sat- puras. But he escaped the Deccanis only to encounter worse foes. His army died by the thousand from heat and thirst, and the Korkus of the hills, instigated by their raja, fell upon the exhausted force, slaughtering and capturing many and robbing the troops of all that they possessed. When the army at length emerged from the wild hill country Mahmud Khalji had the Korku Raja put to death.
After the retreat of the invaders Nizam Shah returned to his capital and the city was restored to its former grandeur. In the follow- ing year Mahmud Khalji again invaded the Bahmani dominions and marched towards Daulatabad, but the Deccanis prepared to meet him, and Mahmud Shah of Gujarat again marched to their aid whereupon Mahmud Khalji repented of the enterprise and retired. In 1471 Mahmud Gawan, the great minister of the later Bahmani kings, built a splendid college at Bidar and furnished it with a library of three thousand volumes. The ruins of this college are still standing, and though much dilapidated, still convey some idea of the former magnificence of the building. Nearly the whole of one side has disappeared and but one of the two stately minarets remains. The principal architectural orna- ment of the college was the exterior decoration in enamel and encaustic tiles and enough of this beautiful work remains, sadly mutilated though it is, to convey an impression of the whole design. The encaustic tiles of various colours are arranged in zigzag lines, and along the top of the building runs a frieze ornamented with texts from the Quran in coloured letters nearly three feet high on a ground of gold and green. On April 5, 1481, the great Mahmud Gawan was unjustly executed by order 98
of Muhammad Shah Lashkari, and from this time the power of the Bahmani Sultans declined rapidly.
In October, 1487, Bidar was the scene of a serious revolt. The Deccani and African amirs rose suddenly in the night against the Sultan Mahmud Shah, of whose partiality towards the " foreign," or Turki, Persian, and Mughal amirs, they had long been jealous. They attacked the royal palace, but were repulsed by the desperate valour of a few foreigners in immediate attendance on the Sultan. In the morning Mahmud Shah ordered the foreigners to retaliate on the Deccanis and Africans. The slaughter lasted for three days, and the foreigners inflicted a terrible retribution for wrongs which they had suffered years before. The tombs of the unfortunate Africans, who fell on this occaision, are still pointed out. After these events Mahmud' Shah took no further interest in business of state. He built a new palace and laid out a garden, and spared neither pains nor expense for the adornment of both. These being completed, he gave himself up entirely to luxury and pleasure, and Bidar became the resort of poets, singers, dancers, wantons, story-tellers, and wine-bibbers from all parts of India and Peisia, so that "the city was the envy of Iran and Turan." All those who had any care for public business turned to the provincial governors, who were now practically independent. Qasim Barid, the minister, managed the affairs of the capital as he chose, and when he found that the qalahdars in his jagir declined to surrender to him the forts which they held immediately from the king he rose in revolt. Meanwhile, in 1490, Malik Ahmad Bahri Nizam-ul-Mulk, Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk, and Yusuf Adil Khan proclaimed their independence in Ahmadnagar, Berar, and Bijapur, founding the Nizam Shahi, the Imad Shahi, and the Adil Shahi dynasties. Qasim Barid at the same time proclaimed his independence in Ausa and Kandhar, leaving little more than the capital to the voluptuary who sat on the throne of the Bahmanis, who, finding that he could not overpower the rebel, made terms with him, and in 1492 confirmed him as Amir-i-Jumla or prime minister. Henceforward the Bahmanis ceased in fact to be a ruling dynasty though Mahmud Shah had four nominal successors in Bidar, Ahmad, Ala-ud-din III, Wali-ullah, and Kalim-ullah, the last of whom died, a fugitive, in Ahmadnagar in 1527. Qasim Barid died in 1504, in the lifetime of Mahmud Shah, but he was succeeded by his son Amir All Barid who, on his father's death, obtained complete control of the persons of the remaining members of the royal family. His policy was to ally himself with the kings of Ahmadnagar, Berar, and Golconda against the Adil Shahi icings of Bijapur. This dynasty, however, established its pre-eminence and Ismail Adil Shah, the second of the line, with the assent of Burhan Nizam Shah, who dared not withhold it, resolved to punish Amir Ali Barid. In 1529 he set out for Bidar, and as he approached the place Amir Ali withdrew towards Udgir, leaving his sons, the eldest of whom was Ali Barid, to defend the city. Ismail Adil Shah laid siege to the fortress and defeated in the field both the defenders, who made a sortie, and an army sent from Golconda by Sultan Quli Qutb Shah. He also distinguished himself by slaying in single combat two noted warriors, the maternal uncles of Ali Barid. While the siege was still in progress Ala-ud-din Imad Shah came from Berar to intercede with Ismail Adil Shah for Amir Ali Barid, but was informed that the injuries which the intriguer had inflicted on Bijapur could not be pardoned. Ala-ud-din then advised Amir Ali to make the best terms he could with the invader, but Amir Ali returned to his camp and attempted to drown his sorrows. Asad Khan, who had been sent by Ismail Adil Shah to make a night attack on Amir Ali Barid, found his camp unguarded and the whole army drunk. He made his way carefully to Amir Ali*s private tent and found him lying on a bed dead drunk, surrounded by dancing girls in the same condition. Asad Khan had the bed Ufted up, and Amir AH was carried swiftly away, still in a drunken sleep, towards Ismail Adil Shah's camp at Bidar. On the way he awoke, and cried out that he was being carried off by jins, but Asad Khan re-assured him and then read him a lecture on his debauchery which overwhelmed him with shame. In the morning he was brought before Ismail Adil Shah, who, after recounting his intrigues, ordered him to be put to death. Amir Ali Barid begged for mercy and promised to have Bidar surrendered if his life were spared. The execution was postponed, and Amir Ali was allowed to communicate with his sons in Bidar, who openly replied that their father was an old man, whose life was worth very little to them or to him, and that they would not surrender the fort. Privately, however, they informed their father that they would surrender the fort, but not until the last extremity. Accordingly, when Ismail Adil Shah ordered that Amir Ali Barid should be thrown to an elephant, the old man prayed that the sentence might be carried out before the bastion on which his sons usually sat. His request was granted, and when his sons saw the preparations for his execution they agreed to surrender the fort on the condition that their women were allowed to proceed unmolested to a place of safety. Ismail Adil Shah agreed to the condition, and the ladies withdrew from Bidar with the best part of the Bahmani jewels under their clothes. Ismail now entered the fort and seated himself on the throne of the Bahmanis. The treasures were brought forth, and the conqueror distributed them to his nobles and troops, to Ala-ud-din Imad Shah and others, reserving none for himself. He then restored to Amir Ali Barid all his former ya^/Vs except Bidar, which he kept for himself, and required him to reduce the fortress of Mahur, the governor of which had declared himself independent, and to cede it to Ala-ud-din Imad Shah. Ismail then retired, leaving a garrison in Bidar.
Amir Ali Barid was in attendance on Ismail Adil Shah at the sieges of Raichur and Mudgal in 1530, and was deeply offended by being made, at a drinking party the subject of an Arabic jest which caused much amusement to the others present, but which he was not scholar enough to understand. Ismail Adil Shah, to heal his wounded vanity, promised to restore Bidar to him on his return to Bijapur, on condition that Kaliani and Kandhar were ceded to Bijapur. The promise was faithfully kept by Ismail, but Amir Ali never fulfilled the condition.
In 1540 Amir Ali Barid joined Burhan Nizam Shah in attacking Ibiahim Adil Shah I. They advanced to Bijapur and did much damage, while Ibrahim retired to Gulbarga ; but, on being joined by his old servant Asad Khan Lari and by Ala-ud-din Imad Shah of Berar, he took the offensive and drove the invaders northwards as far as Daulatabad, where Amir Ali Barid died in 1542 His brother, the Khan-i-Khanan, took the corpse back to Bidar and buried it in the garden of Qasim Barid ; and he was succeeded by his son Ali Barid, who was the first of his house who ventured, the last scion of the Bahmanis being now dead, to assume the title of Shah. In 1579 Sahib Khan, an unworthy favourite of Murtaza Nizam Shah, fell into disgrace and fled from Ahmadnagar to Bidar, pursued by his master. On his arrival at Bidar the garrison, fearing lest his request for protection should be only a ruse to gain admission to the fort on behalf of his master, shut the gates in his face and fired on his troops, killing several. Meanwhile Murtaza arrived, and Sahib Khan found himself between two fires. He hastily tendered his submission to his master on condition that Salabat Khan, his principal opponent, should be dismissed, and that Bidar should be captured and given to him in jagir. The infatuated Sultan agreed to these terms, dismissed Salabat Khan to Bir, and, with the help of troops sent by Ibrahim Qutb Shah from Golconda, laid siege to Bidar. AH Barid Shah applied for help to Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur, who sent a thousand horse and promised to send more on certain conditions. At this time Murtaza heard of the rebellion of his son in Ahmadnagar, and hastily returned to his capital, leaving Ibrahim Qutb Shah's troops with some of his own to continue the siege. The Golconda troops, however, very soon retired to their own country, and the Ahmadnagar troops under Mirza Yadgar were forced to abandon the siege.
Ali Barid Shah died in 1579, as appears from a chronogram in his beautiful tomb at Bidar. He was succeeded by his son Ibrahim Barid Shah, who reigned for seven years and was succeeded in 1586 by Qasim Barid II. In 1589 Qasim was nominally succeeded by his infant son, but a relative. Amir Barid, usurped the throne. He was expelled in 1601 by Mirza Ali Barid, another member of the family, and compelled to fly to Bhagnagar or Haidarabad. Mirza Ali Barid Shah reigned till 1609, and was succeeded by Ali Barid. In 1619, Ibrahim Adil Shah II marched to Bidar to punish Ali Barid, who riad maintained the family tradition of hostility to Bijapur. Bidar fell, and Ali Barid and his sons were made captive by Ibrahim, who carried them to Bijapur, where they ended their days in captivity, Bidar being annexed to Bijapur. Bidar remained a part of the Bijapur kingdom until Aurangzib began to lay his plans for the entire subjugation of the kingdoms of the Deccan. Early in 165^ this prince, then viceroy of the Deccan for his father, the emperor Shahjahan, taking with him his son, Muhammad Muazzam, Mir Jumla, and Iftikhar Khan, marched from Aurangabad to Bidar, which was held by Malik Marjan, who had been qalahdar of the place under the Adil Shahi kings for 30 years. Aurangzib besieged the fortress, and in ten days succeeded in bringing his artillery to the edge of the ditch, and breached the bastion now known as the Fath Burj. Muazzam Khan and Mir Jumla then led a storming party against the defenders of the breach. Sidi Ambar Khan, one of Malik Marjan's lieutenants, had constructed a magazine within the enceinte and filled it with powder, rockets, and grenades. One of Mir Jumla's rockets struck this magazine, which exploded, severely burning Mahk Marjan and his two sons. They were carried into the citadel, while Aurangzib entered the Darwassa-i-Nauras, which he re-named the Fath Darwaza, or '"gate of victory." The sons of Malik Marjan asked for two days' grace in order that they might secure their property. On the second or third day Malik Marjan died and was buried in the tomb of Makhdum-i-Qadiri. His sons then surrendered the citadel, and Aurangzib made his triumphal entry on the 18th April 1656, and Bidar was annexed to the Mughal empire. With the fort were captured twelve lakhs of rupees in cash, ammunition worth eight lakhs of rupees, and 230 guns. There is now in Bidar a curious collection of old arms, most of which date apparently from the time when the fort was captured by Aurangzib, or from an earlier period.
In 1677, after Aurangzib had come to the throne, Qalandar Khan built a mosque in Bidar, the date of the completion of which was given in a neat chronogram. This mosque has apparently disappeared, but unfortunately the inscription which recorded the date of its completion has been removed and set up in the great mosque of sixteen arches, which is sometimes attributed to Ahmad Shah Wah, but was built, according to Khafi Khan, by Mahmud Gawan. It is a simple, but massive and imposing building in the Pathan style of architecture, with one large dome. It is an excellent example of the style in which it is built, but will not bear comparison with the great mosque at Gulbarga, and, unlike that building, labours under the disadvantage of being hemmed in by buildings which dwarf it and prevent the spectator from obtaining a view sufficiently comprehensive to convey a just idea of its admirable proportions and simple grandeur.
The ruins of the Takht Mahal or royal palace of the Bahmanis are more remarkable for their mass than for architectural beauty, but this building has suffered so much from neglect and from deliberate destruciveness that the ruin conveys no idea of the appearance of the palace before the destruction of its roof, undoubtedly domed, arcades, and terraced approaches. The Barid Shahi kings are blamed, by local tra- dition, for the dehberate destruction of monuments of the magnficience of their greater predecessors, the Bahmanis, and the Takht Mahal is cited as an instance of their vandalism.
The Tirkash Mahals which was the hall of audience of the Barid Shahi kings ^ the Gajan Mahal, and the Rangin Mahal are all interest- ing buildings, and the mother-of-pearl inlaid work of the last is very beautiful. This building has unfortunately been disfigured in recent years by the whitewashing of some old carved work in dark coloured wood.
The old guns in the fort are numerous, and some of them are very large. The finest is a gun, twenty-four feet in length, made in 1580, in the reign of Ali Barid Shah. It bears some engraved inscriptions, one of .which gives the weight of the ball which it carried as six maunds and half a seer, and of its charge as one maund and ten seers, to which ten seers were to be added if it were desired to increase the range.
The most interesting of the numerous tombs in the neighbourhood of Bidar are those of the Bahmani kings. These are, for the most part, large rectangular masses of masonry surmounted by heavy domes and adorned with tiers of arches. Their doorways are low and insig- nificant. The tomb of Ahmad Shah Wali, however, is beautifully adorn- ed with enamel, and is in a very fair state of preservation. A yearly gathering is held at the tomb to commemorate the saintly king. The third tomb, that of Humayun the Tyrant, the grandson of Ahmad Shah, is in ruins, half the dome having fallen away. There is an interesting legend to the effect that the dome split immediately after the Tyrant's body had been placed in the tomb, as though refusing to shelter it. Unfortunately there are many still living who remember the tomb in an undamaged condition, and it is probably not more than twenty years since the dome collapsed. Between the Bahmani tombs and the town is an octagonal building without a dome, the tomb of Khalil-uHah {But Shikan, or the Iconoclast). This saint was adopted by Ahmad Shah as his patron after the capital had been removed to Bidar.
The most beautiful of all the tombs in Bidar is that of Ali Barid Shah. The older Bahmani tombs excite what admiration they deserve by their massive bulk, but this tomb rather by its proportions, which are so perfect that the eye is deceived as to the size of the tomb, which is not insignificant. It is square in plan with an open arch on each side, and it is surmounted by a beautifully proportioned dome, which terminates in a spire, the total height of the building from the ground being 106 feet. The tomb is adorned with exquisite enamel work, and the inscriptions in the interior consist of Persian verses and texts from the Quran beautifully executed. The tomb of Qasim Barid Shah, which stands next to that of Ali Barid, was evidently intended to be a replica of it, but it was never finished, and entirely lacks ornament. There are many other interesting monuments, for Bidar is truly a city of tombs, but the exigencies of space prevent even a passing notice of them. All those who care for relics of the past must regret that this delightful old city, which has stood eight sieges, stands so far from the beaten track of the traveller that the pleasure of visiting it falls to the lot of comparatively few.