Bijapur
About the city
The foundations of this historic city were laid during the reign of the Chalukyan Dynasty of Kalyani between the tenth and eleventh centuries. They called it Vijayapura or the "City of Victory" from which comes its present name Bijapur.Bijapur came under Muslim influence, first under Allaudin Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi, towards the end of the 13th century, and then under the Bahamani kings of Bidar in 1347.
In 1481, Mohammed III, one of the Bahamani Sultans, appointed one of the sons of Sultan Mahmud II of Turkey, Yusuf Adil Khan as the Governor of Bijapur. Yusuf Adil Khan fled his country on the death of his father, to escape the massacre of crown prince in the battle for succession to the throne. Mahmud Gavan, the Prime Minister of Mohammed III, purchased him as a slave.
With the decline of the Bahamani power at Bidar, Yusuf declared his independence in 1489 and thus became the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty, which survived as a kingdom. Till its annexation by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1686.
Bijapur experienced a great burst of architectural activity under the Adil Shahi dynasty. The Adil Shahis encouraged building activity to such an extent that Bijapur itself has over 50 mosques, more than 20 tombs and a number of palaces.
Description
The city consists of three distinct portions: the citadel, the fort and the remains of the city. The citadel, built by Yusuf Adil Shah, a mile (2 km) in circuit, is of great strength, well built of the most massive materials, and encompassed by a ditch 100 yards wide, formerly supplied with water, but now nearly filled up with rubbish, so that its original depth cannot be discovered. Within the citadel are the remains of Hindu temples, which prove that Bijapur was an important town in pre-Islam times. The fort, which was completed by Au Adil Shah in 1566, is surrounded by a wall 6 m. in circumference. This wall is from 30 to 50 ft (10 to 15 m) high, and is strengthened with 96 massive bastions of various designs. In addition there are ten others at the various gateways. The width is about 25 ft (8 m); from bastion to bastion runs a battlemented curtained wall about 10 ft (3 m) high. The whole is surrounded by a deep moat 30 to 40 ft (10 to 12 m) broad. Inside these walls the Bijapur kings bade defiance to all comers. Outside the walls are the remains of a vast city, now for the most part in ruins, but the innumerable tombs, mosques, caravanserais and other edifices, which have resisted the havoc of time, afford abundant evidence of the ancient splendour of the place.Bijapur is one of the unsung glories of India. From 1490 to 1686 it was the capital of the Adil Shahi kingdom, which superseded Vijayanagar (Hampi) as the dominant local power, and stretched to Goa in the west and as far as Thanjavur in the south. The outer walls of this great city were once 48 km in circumference; today the fort, itself 9 km around, accommodates a sleepy country town. A profusion of imposing buildings stands as a reminder of a great past.
Badami, Aihole, and Pattadakal, near Bijapur, are noted for their historical temples in the Chalukyan architectural style.
History
The origin of Bijapur dates back to the early medieval period. The Chalukyas of South India, between the 10th and 11th centuries laid the foundation of Bijapur. At that time, it was called as Vijayapura (the City of Victory). Ala-ud-din Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi, captured it and made it a part of his empire at the end of the 13th century. Khilji could not hold on to Bijapur for long and it became the part of the Bahamani Empire in 1347.The golden period of Bijapur started with the decline of the Bahamani rulers, when, in 1489, Yusuf Adil Shah, one of the nobles under the Bahamani rulers, laid the foundation of the Adil Shahi dynasty and made Bijapur the capital of his kingdom. The Adil Shahis ruled Bijapur until 1686, when the last great Mughal ruler Aurangzeb defeated them.
The city established in the 10th-11th centuries by the Chalukyas of Kalyani was referred as Vijayapura (City of victory). The city came under the influence of the Khilji Sultanate in Delhi by the late 13th century. In 1347, the area was conquered by the Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga. By this time the city was being referred as Vijapur or Bijapur
In 1518, the Bahmani Sultanate split into five splinter states known as the Deccan sultanates, one of which was Bijapur, ruled by the kings of the Adil Shahi dynasty (1490-1686). The city of Bijapur owes much of its greatness to Yusuf Adil Shah, the founder of the independent state of Bijapur. The rule of this dynasty ended in 1686, when Bijapur was conquered by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. In 1724 the Nizam of Hyderabad established his independence in the Deccan, and included Bijapur within his dominions. In 1760, the Nizam suffered a defeat by the Marathas, and ceded the region of Bijapur to the Maratha Peshwa. After the 1818 defeat of the Peshwa by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, Bijapur passed into the hands of the British East India Company, and was assigned to the princely state of Satara.
In 1848 the territory of Satara, along with Bijapur, was annexed to Britain's Bombay Presidency when the last ruler died without a male heir. The British carved a new district by the name Kaladagi. The district included present-day Bijapur and Bagalkot districts. Bijapur was made the administrative headquarters of the district in 1885, when the headquarters were moved from Bagalkot. After India's Independence in 1947, the district became part of Bombay state, and was reassigned to Mysore state, later Karnataka, in 1956. The former southern taluks of the district were separated in 1997 to form Bagalkot District.