BIJAPUR.
424
people readily acknowledged his claim.
Yusaf reigned with great dominions westward to the sea-coast, took Goa from the Portuguese. His resources must have been considerable, as he built the vast citadel of Bijapur. He died in 1510, and was succeeded by his son Ismail, who died in 1534, after a brilliant and prosperous reign. Mulu Adi'l Shah having been deposed and blinded, after an inglorious reign of only six months, made way prosperity, and, extending his
younger brother Ibrahim, a profligate man, who died in was succeeded by his son Ali Adfl Shih, who constructed the wall of Bijapur, the Jama Masjid, or great mosque, the aqueducts and other works. This ruler joined the kings of Ahmadnagar and Golconda against Raja Ram, the Hindu sovereign of Vijayanagar, and, with the exception of the Emperor of Delhi, was the greatest potentate in India. Raja Ram was defeated in 1564 in a great battle at Talikot on the river Dhon^ and, being made prisoner, was put to death for
his
He
1557.
in cold blood,
and
his capital taken
and sacked.
Ali Adil
Shah died
in 1579.
The throne then passed to his nephew, Ibrdhi'm Adfl ii., an infant, affairs were managed by Chand Bi'bi, widow of the late king, a
whose
woman
On
celebrated for her talents and energy.
Ibrahim assuming
the government, he ruled with ability; and, dying in 1626, after a reign of forty-seven years, was succeeded by Muhammad Adil Shah, under
whose reign
Sivaji,
the founder of the Maratha power, rose into notice.
Shahji, the father of Sivaji,
King of Bijapur
and the
had been an
first
officer in the service of the
aggressions of Sivaji were
made
at the
expense of that State, from which, in the interval between 1646 and Soon afterwards he took possession of 1648, he wrested several forts. the greater part of the Konkan.
Muhammad,
however, had a more
formidable enemy in the IVIughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, whose son and
and was on the point he was drawn by intelligence of court intrigues, which he feared might end in his own destruction. After his departure, the power of Sivaji rapidly general, Aurangzeb, besieged the city of Bijapur,
of taking
it,
increased,
when he
and
Muhammad
precipitately
that of the
marched
to Agra, whither
King of Bijapur proportionately
died in 1660, and was succeeded by Ali Adil
his decease in 1672, left the
kingdom, then
fast
declined.
ii.,
who, on
descending to ruin, to
his infant son, Sikandar Adil Shah, the last of the race
who occupied
the throne.
In 1686, Aurangzeb took Bijapur, and put an end to its existence Its vast and wonderful ruins passed, with
as an independent State.
Marathas during the decline of the Peshwa, in 1818, they came into the hands of the British Government, and were included within the territory assigned to the Raja of Satara, who manifested the adjoining territory, to
Delhi empire.
On
the
the
overthrow of the
