Adil Shahi dynasty

The Adil Shahi dynasty ruled Bijapur in the Deccan, one of the successor kingdoms of the Bahmani sultanate, from 895/1489 until 1097/1686, when Aurangzib conquered it and absorbed it into the Mughal empire.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed P. Hardy, says the founder, Yusuf 'Adil Khan, was a slave in the service of the Bahmani minister Mahmud Gawan. He rose to master of the horse and was appointed governor of Daulatabad, took part in the intrigues of the declining Bahmani kingdom, and had the khutba read in his own name in 895/1489. Later Muslim historians of the dynasty claimed that he was a son of the Ottoman sultan Murad II; the article notes there is no independent evidence for this, and his background is generally accepted as Persian. During his reign (895–916/1489–1510) the Portuguese arrived and took Goa. ¹

The later rulers were Isma'il, Mallu, Ibrahim I, 'Ali I, Ibrahim II (987–1035/1579–1626) and Muhammad (1035–1066/1626–1656). The four Muslim principalities of the Deccan united against Vijayanagar and defeated it at Talikota in 972/1564. Bijapur was spared direct Mughal attack until the reign of Shah Jahan. In 1046/1636 the Mughals invaded and forced Bijapur to accept their suzerainty. In 1068/1656 Shah Jahan objected to the succession of 'Ali Adil Shah II and ordered Aurangzib to invade, but the operations stopped with the news of Shah Jahan's illness. In 1069/1659 the Maratha chief Shivaji destroyed a Bijapur army and its leader Afzal Khan. With the accession of the minor Sikandar, the kingdom lost provinces to the Mughals and the Marathas, until Aurangzib took the capital in 1097/1686 after a siege of more than a year. Sikandar died in captivity in 1111/1700. ¹

The Adil Shahs were great builders, and their capital Bijapur became one of the most magnificent monuments of Islamic architecture in India. They were also great patrons of learning, and the historian Firishta wrote under the patronage of Ibrahim Adil Shah II. ²