Historic places have a strange lure to those living in the present. They are like time capsules that give us a glimpse of a lost era and reverberate with the stories of people who lived long before us. April 18, every year is known day the World Heritage Day. It is well said that people who forget their History are lost in history. One must never forget its history, once a city of palaces of King filled with courtiers is today a haunted place for it’s residents. The story of ‘Saltunate of Bijapur’ today is witness how people have forgotten their history.
Bijapur(Vijayapur) in Karnataka was once a province of the Bahmani Sultanate.
Yusuf Adil Shah (1490–1510), was appointed Bahmani governor of the province, before creating a de facto independent Bijapur state. Yusuf and his son, Ismail, generally used the title Adil Khan . ‘Khan’, meaning ‘Chief’ in Mongolian and adopted in Persian, conferred a lower status than ‘Shah’, indicating royal rank. Only with the rule of Yusuf’s grandson, Ibrahim Adil Shah I (1534–1558), did the title of Adil Shah come into common use.
This dynasty is known as The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi , It was named after its founder, Yūsuf ʿĀdil Shah , said to have been a son of the Ottoman sultan Murad II . He introduced Shīʿism (was a shia Muslim) but practiced toleration.It was due to the secular nature and liberal patronage of the Sultans from the different parts of world many scholars, poets, painters, dancers, calligraphers, musicians, Sufi saints and other men of arts flocked into Bijapur. Hence 17th century called Bijapur as the ‘Palmyra of the Deccan’.They ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur , centred on present-day Bijapur district, Karnataka in India , in the Western area of the
Deccan region of Southern India from 1489 to 1686.Bijapur had been a province of the Bahmani Sultanate (1347–1518), before its political decline in the last quarter of the 15th century and eventual break-up in 1518. The Bijapur Sultanate was absorbed into the Mughal Empire on 12 September 1686, after its conquest by the Emperor Aurangzeb.
People who forget their History are lost in history. One must never forget its history, once a city of palaces of King filled with courtiers is today a haunted place for it’s residents.
The art and architecture of Adil Shahis is the Gem among Historical Architecture.The Adil Shahi Sultans had concentrated their energies almost exclusively on architecture and the allied arts, each Sultan endeavouring to excel his predecessor in the number, size, or splendor of his building projects. The architecture of Bijapur is a combination of Persian , Ottoman Turkish and Deccani styles.
It is amazing to note mat in Ibrahim Rouzah, Dilkusha Mahal (Mahatar Mahal), Malikah-e-Jahan Mosque, Jal Mahal, etc. the Bijapur sculptors have carved beautiful designs in stones, as the carpenters do in wood. The stucco plaster designing in some monuments is superb.
In 2011, Dr H G Daddi has discovered a medieval period water tunnel, which was almost buried in the ground. This major water supply tunnel, according to historical records, ensured uninterrupted water supply to Bijapur city during the 15th century.Built by Ali Adil Shah I around 1560, this water supply tunnel originated at Toravi near the city and is almost 6 km in length. The tunnel used to carry water from Toravi catchment area and Bhat Bawadi, situated near Toravi to Sangeet Mahal reservoir and later to Surang Bawadi, situated at Sath Khabar through a pipeline with intervening control towers. Then from Surang Bawadi, the tunnel ran towards Ibrahim Rouza and Taj Bawadi.
The maravels of Adil Shahis can’t be accomodated in a single article. The purpose of this Article is that we the people stand up and protect our valuable Monuments from being lost in history. Our generations know the history of their Fatherland ‘Kashmir’.
(The author is contributing exclusively for the edit page of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views are his personal)
