Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/312

 268 INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. BOOK VII. CHAPTER IX. BIJAPUR. CONTENTS. The Jami' Masjid Tombs of Ibrahim and MahmudThe Audience Hall Mihtari Mahall -- Golkonda Tombs Tomb of Nawab Amir Khan, near Tatta. CHRONOLOGY. Yusuf 'Adil Shah. . A. D. 1490 Isma'il'Adil Shah. . . 1510 Mallu 'Adjl Shah. . . 1534 Ibrahim 'Adil Shah I. .. ,, 1535 'Ali 'Adil Shah I. .. A.D. 15 Ibrahim 'Adil^Shah II. . Muhammad 'Adil Shah. . ,, 1626 'Ali Adil Shah II. . . . ,, 1656 As mentioned above, the Bahmani dynasty of Kulbarga main- tained the struggle against the Hindu principalities of the south for nearly a century and a half, with very little assistance from either the central power at Delhi or their cognate states in the Dekhan. Before the end of the I5th century, however, they began to feel that decay inherent in all Eastern dynasties ; and the Hindus might have recovered their original possessions, up to the Vindhya at least, but for the appearance of a new and more vigorous competitor in the field in the person of Yusuf 'Adil Khan, supposed to have been the son of Sultan Murad II. of Anatolia. He was thus a Turk of pure blood, and born in Constantinople, though his mother was forced to send him thence while he was still an infant. After a varied career he was purchased for, and found service in the body-guard of Amir Barid at Bidar, and soon raised himself to such pre-eminence that on the defeat of Dastur Dinar, in 1501, he was enabled to proclaim his independence and establish himself as the founder of the 'Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur. For the first fifty or sixty years after their accession, A the struggle for existence was too severe to admit of the 'Adil Shahis devoting much attention to architecture. The real building epoch of the city commences with 'Alt, A.D. 1557, and all the important buildings are crowded into the 100