Built during the 15th and 16th centuries, the tombs are an example of a distinct Indo-Islamic style of architecture unique to the Deccan, drawing heavily from Persian architecture, with considerable Hindu influences.[2][3]
History
The Bahmani Sultanate ruled the Deccan region in South India between the 14th and 16th centuries. The sultans and members of the ruling family were buried in elaborate tombs built in a unique Indo-Islamic style of architecture. The tombs of earlier rulers are found in the Haft Gumbaz complex at Gulbarga, which was the capital of the sultanate.[4]
In 1432, Ahmad Shah I Wali shifted the capital from Gulbarga to Bidar, and consequently, the later sultans are buried here. The tombs were erected from 1436 to 1535,[2] with the tomb of Ahmad Shah being the first.[1][5]
The tombs of eight Bahmani sultans, as well as some queens and other family members, are located at the complex. The decline in size of the later tombs corresponds with the decline of the political influence of the Bahmanis.[6]
The architectural style is a regional variant of Indo-Islamic architecture unique to the Deccan, with considerable Persian influences such as the use of encaustic tiles, as well as influences from Hindu temple architecture. The Bahmani rulers generally employed Persian architects who would design the main featured of the buildings, while Hindu masons and craftsmen would supervise the construction and fill in the details.[3]
There are eight tombs of the Bahmani rulers,[6] as well as tombs of other family members. The tombs are square structures surmounted by bulbous domes, built of black trap masonry laid in lime. Some of the tombs had elaborate external tile decoration, in the form of floral motifs, Islamic geometric patterns, and calligraphy. The inscriptions of the tomb reveal the name of the king, his date of accession, and date of death. Persian poetry and Quranic verses are also inscribed.[9]
Tomb of Ahmad Shah
Tomb of Ahmad Shah
Ahmad Shah I Wali was the first sultan to be buried within the complex. His tomb is of a square design with arches on each face, crowned with a bulbous dome, which resembles Lodi domes in terms of design. The exterior is further embellished by a parapet wall of arch-heads above the walls, and ornate turrets at the corners.[10] Several levels of arched niches adorn the exterior.[5]
The interior of the tomb of Ahmad Shah is decorated with frescoes. The panels above the entrance arches contain religious texts in the Kufic script, and verses by Shah Nimatullah Wali in the Thuluth script. The ceiling is decorated with calligraphy of the names of Allah, Muhammad, Ali, and his descendants.[11]
The tomb is venerated as a dargah by Muslims as well as Hindus of the lingayat sect, who take part in the Urs (death anniversary observance) of Ahmad Shah every year.[5][12][13]
Tombs of Ahmad Shah's wife and son
To the east of Ahmad Shah's mausoleum is a tomb assigned to his wife. The tomb is of a similar style as Ahmad Sha's tomb, but smaller in size. There is no inscription within the tomb. There are five graves within the hall, of which the grave at the extreme left is considered that of the queen.[14]
Another tomb to the south is considered to be the mausoleum of his son. Either his son Mahmud Khan or Daud Khan or both, may be buried within as the hall contains eight graves.[15]
Tomb of Ala-ud-Din Shah
Tomb of Ala-ud-din Shah
Alau-ud-din Shah succeeded his father Ahmad Shah in 1436, and probably built the tomb during his lifetime. The square mausoleum has lofty entrance arches on three sides. Each entrance arch is flanked by a pair of smaller arches on either side. A trefoil-patterned parapet rises above the walls.[16]
The facade of the tomb is covered in enamel tiles, most of which have been lost due to deterioration by the weather and vandalism.[1][17] The tiles, Persian blue, green, and, yellow in colour, comprise calligraphic designs and floral motifs. The ceiling of the dome was originally painted, however, only a few fragments of paint survive.[16]
Tomb of Humayun Shah
The partially collapsed tomb of Humayun Shah
Humayun Shah succeeded his father Ala-ud-din in 1458, and ruled until 1461. A large part of the tomb of Humayun Shah was destroyed by a lightning strike in the late 19th century.[18] The distinctive features of the tomb include the unique shape of it's arches, with a wide span and low imposts, and the trabeate style of niches, which is characteristic of Hindu temples in the Deccan. The upper courses of the dome are made up of light spongy bricks, similar to those used in Kakatiya temples.[19]
Tomb of Malika-i-Jahan
Malika-i-Jahan (lit. Queen of the world) was the title of Humayun Shah's wife. Her tomb is situated to the south-west of her husband's tomb, and is smaller in dimensions. There are four graves within the vault and the second of these, which is in the middle of the hall is that of the queen.[20]
Incomplete tombs of Nizam Shah and Muhammad Shah III
The incomplete tomb of Muhammad Shah III
Nizam Shah ascended the throne at the age of eight, and ruled for two years between 1461 and 1463. His tomb was probably intended to be similar in size to the earlier tombs, given the thickness of the walls. It is thought to have been commissioned by his mother Malika-i-Jahan, and remained unfinished on account of her death. The square hall contains five arches on each face. The entrance is through the southern side, and the interior of the western wall is in the form of a mihrab.[21]
Muhammad Shah III Lashkari succeeded his brother, and ruled for nineteen years until his death in 1482. His tomb is also incomplete, and of a similar design to the tomb of Nizam Shah. There are three graves within the enclosure, the middle one of which is the grave of Muhammad Shah III.[22]
Tomb of Mahmud Shah II
Mahmud Shah II ruled between 1482 and 1518, and probably constructed the tomb during his lifetime. His tomb is comparable to the earlier tombs in terms of size. However, neither is it's exterior adorned with tiles, nor it's interior decorated with frescoes. The only embellishment present is the parapet of arch-heads rising on top of the walls. Each face of the square tomb has a lofty arch in the middle, flanked by three-tiered smaller arches.[23]
Two anonymous tombs
Two sepulchres are situated to the south of Mahmud Shah's tomb. One of them has a conical dome with eight facets. These may be the burial sites of Ahmad Shah II (r. 1518—1520) and Ala-ud-Din II (r. 1520—1522), who were puppet kings under the prime minister Amir Barid.[24]
Tombs of Wali-ullah and Kalim-ullah
Tombs of Wali-ullah and Kalim-ullah with the tomb of Mahmud Shah in the background
Wali-ullah (r. 1522—1525) and Kalim-ullah (r. 1525—2527) were the last Bahmani rulers, both ruling as puppet monarchs under prime minister Amir Barid. Their tombs are small square structures with conical domes. The tomb of Kalim-ullah is slightly larger, and is crowned with a cylindrical pinnacle.[25]
Tomb of Shah Rukh Khan
The tomb of Shah Rukh Khan is located to the north of Mahmud Shah's tomb. Historians believe he was a scion of the Bahmani dynasty, as only royal family members are buried here. The Ayat Al-Kursi is inscribed over the eastern doorway. There are two graves within the tomb.[26]
Chaukhandi
The Chaukhandi
The Chaukhandi[note 1] is situated about a kilometer west of the main necropolis. It is the tomb of Khalil-ullah Kirmani, a Sufi saint and spiritual advisor to Ahmad Shah. It is a double-storied octagonal structure, and is similar in style to the tomb of Ala-ud-din. It was decorated with encaustic tiles, of which only a few remain.[27]
In later times, several vaults were built for the graves of Khalil-ullah's descendants, one of which is attached to the Chaukhandi. A small domed sepulchre is situated at the south-western face of the Chaukhandi. It is not known who was buried here.[28]
Other tombs and structures
To the south-west of Kalim-ullah's tomb is a mosque, which was used to perform funerary prayers before interment. It is a small building with three arched openings. Another, smaller mosque is located between the tombs of Ahmad Shah and Ala-ud-din.[29]
Other structures within the complex include a well, which was constructed much later in 1609, during the Barid Shahi period. The well contains inscriptions in Persian and Marathi.[30]
Towards the south of the Chaukhandi, there are several tombs built on a platform under a Neem tree.[31]
Preservation
By the 20th century, the tombs had fallen into disrepair. The archeological department of Hyderabad State restored the tombs to some extent, and demolished houses which had been illegally constructed among the tombs.[6]
Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent is conventionally said to start in 712, after the conquest of Sindh and Multan by the Umayyad caliphate. It began in the Indian subcontinent in the course of a gradual conquest. The perfunctory rule by the Ghaznavids in Punjab was folllowed by Ghurids, and Sultan Muhammad of Ghor (r.1173–1206) is generally credited with laying the foundation of Muslim rule in Northern India.
The Deccan sultanates were five late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. The sultanates had become independent during the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate. The five sultanates owed their existence to the declaration of independence of Ahmadnagar in 1490, followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year. Golconda became independent in 1518, and Bidar in 1528.
The Bahmani Sultanate was a Deccani Sunni Muslim empire that ruled the Deccan Plateau in South India. With its origins in North Indian immigrants identified as the Deccanis, and its patronization of an Indo-Persian culture, it was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan, and was known for its perpetual wars with its rival Vijayanagara, which would outlast the Sultanate.
Bidar (/biːd̪ər/) is a city in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state in India. It is the headquarters of Bidar district, which borders Maharashtra and Telangana. It is a rapidly urbanising city in the wider Bidar Metropolitan area. The city is well known for its many sites of architectural, historical and religious importance. Bidar City have a population of more than 2 lakh and are likely to get upgraded to municipal corporation in the next 5 years.
Khuldabad is a city and a Taluka of Aurangabad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is known as the Valley of Saints, or the Abode of Eternity, because in the 14th century, several Sufi saints chose to reside here. The Bhadra Maruti Temple and Dargah of Zar Zari Zar Baksh, Shaikh Burhan ud-din Gharib Chisti and Shaikh Zain-ud-din Shirazi, along with the tomb of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his trusted General Asif Jah I, the first Nizam of Hyderabad, are located in this town. It is a holy and spiritual city of Islamic saints.
Bidar sultanate was one of the Deccan sultanates of late medieval southern India. The sultanate emerged under the rule of Qasim Barid I in 1492 and leadership passed to his sons. Starting from the 1580s, a wave of successions occurred in the rulership of the dynasty which ended in 1609 under the last Sultan Amir Barid III who was eventually defeated in 1619 by the Bijapur sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II. Bidar became annexed into the Bijapur Sultanate.
Ahmed Shah Al Wali Bahamani was the ruler of the Bahmani Sultanate from 1 October 1422 to 17 April 1436, and was a great patron of arts and culture. He brought Persian artisans from Iran, including the metal-worker Abdulla-bin-Kaiser, who was the master of Bidriware, the inlaying of zinc alloy with silver and gold.
The Farooqi dynasty was the ruling dynasty of the Khandesh Sultanate from its inception in 1382 till its annexation by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1601. The founder of the dynasty, Malik Ahmad participated in a rebellion against the Bahmani ruler Muhmmad Shah I in his early years. When he was compelled to flee from Deccan, he established in Thalner on the Tapti River. After receiving the grant of the fiefdoms of Thalner and Karanda from Firuz Shah Tughluq in 1370, he conquered the region around Thalner, which later became known as Khandesh. By 1382, he started ruling independently.
Qasim Barid I was prime-minister of the Bahmani sultanate and the founder of the Bidar Sultanate, one of the five late medieval Indian kingdoms together known as the Deccan sultanates.
Mahmud Gawan was a prime minister in the Bahmani Sultanate of Deccan. Khwaja Mahmud Gilani, from the village of Gawan in Persia, was well-versed in Islamic theology, Persian language and Mathematics and was a poet and a prose writer of repute. Later, he became a minister in the court of Muhammad III (1463–1482). A storehouse of wisdom, Mahmud enjoyed the trust and confidence of rulers, locals as well as that of foreign kingdoms, who had great respect for Mahmud.
Bidar Fort is located in old city area, Bidar, Karnataka, India. The fort, the city and the district are all affixed with the name Bidar. Sultan Ahmad Shah I of the Bahmanid dynasty shifted his capital from Gulbarga to Bidar in 1427 and built his fort along with a number of Islamic monuments. There are over 30 monuments inside Bidar fort.
The Gulbarga Fort is located in Kalaburagi in the Kalaburagi district of North Karnataka. It was subsequently significantly enlarged in 1347 by Al-ud-din Hasan Bahmani of the Bahmani Dynasty after he cut off his ties with the Delhi Sultanate; Islamic monuments such as mosques, palaces, tombs, and other structures were also built later within the refurbished fort. The Jama Masjid built later, within the fort, in 1367, is a unique structure built in Persian architectural style, fully enclosed, with elegant domes and arched columns, which is unlike any other mosque in India. It was built to commemorate the establishment of the dynastic rule of the Bahmani kingdom at Kalaburagi fort between 1327 and 1424. It remained the capital of the Bahmani Kingdom till 1424 where after the capital was shifted to Bidar Fort, as Bidar had better climatic conditions.
Taj ud-Din Firoz Shah, also known as Firoz Shah Bahmani, was the ruler of the Bahmani Sultanate from 16 November 1397 to 22 September 1422. Firuz Shah is considered an important ruler of the Bahamani Sultanate. He expanded his kingdom and even succeeded in conquering the Raichur Doab from Vijaynagara kingdoms.
Jamia Masjid Gulbarga is a mosque located in Gulbarga, Karnataka, India.
Deccani Architecture refers to the architectural styles developed during the Deccan sultanate period. The Deccan sultanates were five dynasties that ruled late medieval kingdoms, namely, Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar in south-western India. The Deccan sultanates were located on the Deccan Plateau. Their architecture was a regional variant of Indo-Islamic architecture, heavily influenced by the styles of the Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal architecture, but sometimes also directly from Persia and Central Asia.
Ali Barid Shah I was the third ruler of the Barid Shahi dynasty at Bidar. He succeeded his father in 1540, and ruled until his death in 1580. He was considered a man of letters, and invited scholars and craftsmen from all over the Indian subcontinent to his capital. He is also known to have played a key logistical role in the Battle of Talikota.
Mahmood Shah or Shihab-Ud-Din Mahmud was the sultan of the Bahmani Sultanate from 1482 until his death in 1518. His long rule is noted for the disintegration of the sultanate and the creation of the independent Deccan sultanates.
The Barid Shahi tombs are tombs of the Barid Shahi dynasty. They are located in Bidar in the Indian state of Karnataka.
Amir Barid I, also known as Amir Ali Barid was the second ruling member of the Barid Shahi dynasty.
References
Explanatory notes
↑ Chaukhandi is a Hindi word meaning a four-storied building. The tomb of Khalil-ullah is two-storied, but is known as the chaukhandi as it is situated on a raised platform, accessible by several flights of steps.(Yazdani 1947, p.141)
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