Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1556 - September 12 1627), of the Adil Shahi dynasty was the king of Bijapur Sultanate.

Early life

Ali Adil Shah's father, Ibrahim Adil Shah I's had divided power between the Sunni nobles, the Habshis and the Deccanis. However, Ali Adil Shah favored Shi'as.

Kingship

After the death of Ali Adil Shah I in 1580, the nobles of the kingdom decided to appoint Imran Ibrahim, son of Imran sayzada Tahmash Adil Shah and nephew of Ali Adil Shah I as the King. At this time, Ibrahim Adil Shah II was a nine-year old boy.

Seizure

A Deccani general called Kamal Khan seized power and became the regent. Kamal Khan showed disrespect to the dowager queen Chand Bibi, who felt that he had ambitions to usurp the throne. Chand Bibi plotted an attack against Kamal Khan, with help from another general, Haji Kishvar Khan. Kamal Khan was captured while fleeing and was beheaded in the fort.

The Regents

Kishvar Khan became the second regent of Ibrahim. He defeated the Ahmednagar Sultan at Dharaseo, capturing all the artillery and elephants of the enemy army. He then ordered other Bijapur generals to surrender all captured elephants to him. The elephants were highly valued and the generals took great offense. The generals, along with Chand Bibi, hatched a plan to eliminate Kishvar Khan with help from General Mustafa Khan of Bankapur. Kishvar Khan's spies informed him of the conspiracy. Kishvar Khan sent troops against Mustafa Khan, who was captured and killed in the battle.

Defacto Rulers

Chand Bibi challenged Kishvar Khan, who had her imprisoned at the Satara fort and tried to declare himself the king. However, Kishvar Khan was already unpopular among rest of the generals. He was forced to flee, when a joint army led by General Ikhlas Khan marched to Bijapur. The army consisted of forces of three Habshi nobles: Ikhlas Khan, Hamid Khan and Dilavar Khan. Kishvar Khan tried his luck at Ahmednagar unsuccessfully, and then fled to Golconda. He was killed in exile by a relative of Mustafa Khan. Chand Bibi was then declared the regent.

Ikhlas Khan became regent for a short time, but he was dismissed by Chand Bibi shortly afterwards. Later, he resumed his dictatorship, which was soon challenged by the other Habshi generals.

Attack on Bijapur

Taking advantage of the situation in Bijapur, Ahmadnagar's Nizam Shahi sultan allied with the Qutb Shahi of Golconda to attack Bijapur. The troops available at Bijapur were not sufficient to repulse the joint attack. The Habshi generals realized that they could not defend the city alone, and tended their resignation to Chand Bibi. Abu-ul-Hassan, a Shi'a general appointed by Chand Bibi, called for the Maratha forces in Carnatic. The Marathas attacked the invaders' supply lines. The Ahmednagar-Golconda allied army had to retreat,

Ikhlas Khan then attacked Dilavar Khan to seize the control of Bijapur. However, he was defeated and Dilavar Khan became the supreme ruler from 1582 to 1591. He was the last regent of Ibrahim.

Ibrahim Adil Shah's reign

The fifth king of the Adil Shahi dynasty is known in the Indian history as "Jagadguru Badshah." He tried to bring in cultural harmony, between the Shias and the Sunnis and between Hindus and Muslims through music. He was a great lover of music, played musical instruments, sang and composed praises of Hindu deities Saraswati and Ganapati. He wrote the book Kitab-E-Navras (Book of Nine Rasas) in Dakhani. It is a collection of 59 poems and 17 couplets. According to his court-poet Zuhuri, he wrote it to introduce the theory of nine Rasas, which occupies most important place in Indian aesthetics, to acquaint people who were only brought up in Persian ethos. The book opens with prayer to Saraswati, the Goddess of learning. He claimed that his father was divine Ganapati and mother the Holy Saraswati. For him, the Tanpura personified learning -- "Ibrahim the tanpurawala became learned due to grace of god, living in the city of Vidyanagari" (Vidyanagari is the earlier name of Bijapur.)

Ibrahim II publicly declared that all he wanted was Vidya or learning, music, and Guruseva (serving the teacher). He was a devotee of Hazrat Banda Nawaj, the Sufi saint of Gulbarga. He has composed a prayer to him to bestow Vidya or learning and charitable disposition.

He founded a new township Navraspur to give concrete shape to his musical conception or idea of a musical city. He had a temple built inside the precincts of the palace which still exists. Considering that Islam does not recognize music as a path of devotion, it is surprising on the part of this king not only to master it but trying to popularize it, and govern through it.

Bijapur attracted best musicians and dancers of the period because the king was famous as a great connoisseur and patron of music and it was a unique privilege to get recognition from him.

Kitabe Nauras

bhaka nyari nyari bhava ekkaha turuk kaha barahaman

Whether a Muslim or a Brahmin with different language--emotion is the same.

nouras soor juga joti ani saroguniyusat sarasuti mataibrahim parasada bhayi dooni

Oh mother Saraswati! Since you have blessed Ibrahim, his work Navras will last for long

He has composed poems on his wife Chand Sultana, his Tanpura Motikhan and his elephant Atish Khan. He spoke Marathi, Dakhani, Urdu and Kannada languages fluently, and like his predecessors, employed several Hindus in top posts.

References

• A Visit to Bijapur by H. S. Kaujalagi
• "Avalokana" a souvenir published by the Government of Karnataka
• Centenary souvenir published by the Bijapur Municipal Corporation