NCERT Extracts - The Deccan and South India (Up to 1656)
Category : UPSC
The Deccan and South India (Up to 1656)
- The Maratha troops had always been employed as loose auxiliaries or bargirs (usually called bargis) in the Bahmani kingdom.
- Some of the old Maratha families which rose in the service of the Bahmani rulers and held mansabs and jagirs from them were the More, Nimbalkar, Ghatge, etc.
- Ibrahim Adil Shah ofBijapur who ascended the throne in 1535 was the leading advocate of this policy. It is said that he entertained 30,000 Maratha auxiliaries (bargis) in his army, and showed great favour to the Marathas in the revenue system.
- In 1576, a Mughal army invaded Khandesh, and compelled the rulers of Khandesh to submit.
- Chand Bibi who was the sister of Burhan was the widow of the former ruler of Bijapur who was Ibrahim's uncle.
- Akbar was also keen to secure the fort of Asirgarh in Khandesh which was reputed to be the strongest fort in the Deccan.
- Malik Ambar was an Abyssinian, born in Ethiopia.
- With the help of the Marathas, Ambar made it difficult for the Mughals to consolidate their position in Berar, Ahmadnagar and Balaghat.
- After the surrender of Fateh Khan, Shah Jahan appointed Mahabat Khan as Mughal viceroy of the Deccan.
- Mir Jumla was a the leading noble in Golconda,
- Ali Adil Shah (d.1580) loved to hold discussion with Hindu and Muslim saints and was called a Sufi. He invited Catholic missionaries to his court, even before Akbar had.
- He had an excellent library to which he appointed the well-known Sanskrit scholar, Waman Pandit. Patronage of Sanskrit and Marathi was continued by his successors.
- The successor of Adi Adil Shah, Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1580-1627), ascended the throne at the age of nine. He was very solicitous of the poor, and had the title of "abia baba", or "Friend of the Poor".
- He was deeply interested in music, and composed a book called Kitab-i-Nauras in which songs were set to various musical modes or ragas.
- He built a new capital, Nauraspur, in which a large number of musicians were invited to settle.
- Due to his broad approach he came to be called "Jagat Guru".
- He accorded patronage to all, including Hindu saints and temples.
- This included grants to Pandharpur, the centre of the worship of Vithoba, which became the centre of the Bhakti movement in Maharashtra.
- From 1672 till its absorption by the Mughals in 1687, the administrative and military affairs of the state were dominated by the brothers, Madanna and Akkanna.
- Sultan Muhammad Quii Qutb Shah, a contemporary of Akbar, was very fond of literature and architecture.
- Urdu was patronized at the Bijapur court also.
- Char Minar was completed in 1591-92, it stood at the centre of the new city of Hyderabad founded by Muhammad Quii Qutb Shah.
- The Gol Gumbaz which was built in 1660 has the largest single dome ever constructed.
