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Names
	Abul Muzaffar Yusuf Adil Shah Safavi

Yusuf Adil Shah
Yusuf Adil Shah
Emir
	Painting created c. 1680 in Bijapur. Yusuf Adil Shah, shown seated, is being handed the key of legitimacy by Shah Ismail I of Safavid Iran, symbolizing the unwavering allegiance of the Adil Shahi family to the Shia creed of Islam. All nine Adil Shahi sultans are depicted in the painting in a dynastic assembly probably inspired by Mughal paintings.
1st Sultan of Bijapur
Reign	1490 – 5 December 1510
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Ismail Adil Shah
Died	5 December 1510; Koilkonda, Telangana
Burial	1510
Spouse	Bubuji Khanum
Issue	Ismail Adil Shah; Mariam Sultan; Khadija Sultan; Bibi Sati
Names
Names
	Abul Muzaffar Yusuf Adil Shah Safavi
Dynasty	Adil Shahi dynasty
Religion	Shia Islam

Yusuf Adil Shah (1450 – 5 December 1510^[1]), referred as Yusuf Adil Khan or Hidalcão by the Portuguese, was the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty that ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur for nearly two centuries.^[3] As the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty, Yusuf Adil Shah is credited with developing the town of Bijapur and elevating it to significant status.

Legends of origin

Yusuf Adil Shah may have been a Georgian slave^[4] who was purchased by Mahmud Gawan.^[5] Other historians mentioned him of Persian^[6] or Turkmen origin.^[7]^[8] According to the narrative presented by contemporary historian Firishta, Yusuf was a son of the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, although this is considered unfounded by modern historians.^[9]^[10] Another theory states he was a Turkman of the Aq-Quyunlu.^[11]^[12]^[10]

Career

Yusuf's bravery and personality raised him rapidly in the Bahmani sultan's favor, and resulted in his appointment as Governor of Daulatabad. The Bahmani Sultanate's last major sultan, Mahmood Shah Bahmani II, gave him the title Adil Khan for his efforts.^[13]^{[full citation needed]} He was later widely regarded as Yusuf Adil Khan. He was also the leader of the foreigners, or Afaqis in the conflict between them and the Deccanis (local nobility) which resulted in the murder of Prime minister Mahmud Gawan in 1481.^[14] Following his execution, Yusuf vacated his position as Governor of Daulatabad to seize the former territories held by Mahmud Gawan of Bijapur and Belgaum.^[15] He would come in great conflict soon after this with his enemy, Malik Naib, leader of the Deccani party.^[16]

In 1489, Yusuf took advantage of the decline of Bahmani power to establish himself as an independent sultan at Bijapur. He waged war against the Vijayanagar empire, as also against Bijapur's Muslim neighbours.

Yusuf Adil Shah is personally responsible for building the imposing citadel or Arkilla^[17] and the palace named Faroukh Mahal. Yusuf was a man of culture and invited poets and artisans from Persia, Turkey and Rome to his court. He was also an accomplished musician and scholar with deep religious tolerance that was reflected in art and architecture from this time.

Both Yusuf and his son Ismail did not use the title Adil Shah in front of their name, and instead used Adil Khan to respect the Bahmanis, who used Shah in their names. Ibrahim Adil Shah I formally claimed the Bijapur sultanate's independence from the Bahmanis in 1538, although it had been in practice independent since 1490, and became the first ruler in the Bijapur Sultanate to use Adil Shah in his name.^[13]

Death

His death occurred shortly after the loss of Goa to the Portuguese governor Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510. He was succeeded by his son Ismail Adil Shah, who being a minor, was aided in his rule by a certain Kamal Khan.^[18]

Yusuf left behind a strong if small state, one which persisted through two relatively chaotic centuries in a region rife with political ferment. The Bijapur sultanate he founded was a formidable force for close to two centuries until it succumbed to Maratha power and finally resolved by Aurangzeb in 1686 in an ineffective bid to check Maratha power.^[12]

Family

Yusuf Adil Shah married Poonji (Punji), the sister of a Maratha lord Mukundrao Kadamba, later renamed Bubuji Khanum.^[12] By this marriage he had a son and three daughters:^[19]^[20]^[21]

Ismail Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur;
Mariam Sultan, married Burhan Nizam Shah I, Sultan of Ahmednagar;
Khadija Sultan, married Aladdin Imad Shah, Sultan of Berar;
Bibi Sati, married Ahmad Shah, son of Mahmood Shah Bahmani II;

Notes

^ ^a ^b Farooqui 2011, p. 174.
^ Grierson, G. A. (1 August 1996). "The Origin of Sabato" (PDF). p. 994.
^ Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. p. 119. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
^ Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2012). Courtly Encounters: Translating Courtliness and Violence in Early Modern Eurasia. Harvard University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-674-06736-3.
^ Majumdar 1974, p. 445.
^ Meri, Josef W. (2006). Medieval Islamic Civilization, Volume 1 An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-415-96691-7. In 1481, Yusuf 'Adil Khan, a Persian slave who claimed to descend from the Ottoman sultan Murad III, became the governor of Bijapur.
^ Vernon O. Egger (2016). A History of the Muslim World since 1260: The Making of a Global Community. Routledge. ISBN 9781315511078.
^ Clifford Edmund Bosworth (2007). Historic Cities of the Islamic World. BRILL. p. 55. ISBN 978-9004153882.
^ Sherwani 1973, p. 291.
^ ^a ^b Nikki R. Keddie,Rudi Matthee (2011). Iran and the Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics. University of Washington Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780295800240.
^ Bolar, Varija R (2012). "Turks in Karnataka" (PDF). International Journal of Social Studies 4 (1): 423.
^ ^a ^b ^c Farooqui, A Comprehensive History of Medieval India 2011, p. 174
^ ^a ^b History of Karnataka by H.G. Rajesh
^ Haig 1925, p. 416.
^ Haig 1925, p. 421.
^ Haig 1925, pp. 422–423.
^ Ahammad, Mustak (2013). Military Architecture under the Adilshahis of Bijapur. p. 2.
^ Farooqui, A Comprehensive History of Medieval India 2011, p. 175.
^ Hari Narain Verma, Amrit Verma, Indian Women Through the Ages (1976), p. 29
^ Abraham Eraly, Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Moghuls (2007), chp. 11
^ K.K Basu, Career of Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur, Indian Culture, Vol. III, Issue I (1937), p. 117

Bibliography

Farooqui, Salma Ahmed (2011), A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century, Pearson Education India, ISBN 978-81-317-3202-1
Haig, Wolseley (1925). Cambridge History Of India Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press.
Majumdar, R.C. (1974). "The Five Sultanates of the Deccan". The Mughul Empire. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. (1958) [first published 1955], A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar (Second ed.), New Delhi: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-560686-8 – via archive.org
Sherwani, Haroon Khan (1973). History of Medieval Deccan (1295–1724) : Volume I. Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Bahmani Sultanate
Sultans	Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah Mohammed Shah I Mujahid Shah Taj ud-Din Firuz Shah Ahmad Shah I Wali ‘Alau’d-din Ahmad Shah Humayun Shah Nizam-Ud-Din Ahmad III Muhammad Shah III Lashkari Mahmood Shah Bahmani II
Architecture	Bahmani Tombs Chand Minar Chor Gumbad Haft Gumbaz Jama Mosque, Golconda Jama Mosque, Kalaburagi Mahmud Gawan Madrasa Solapur Bhuikot Killa
Tarafdars	Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk Mahmud Gawan Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I Malik Hasan Bahri Qasim Barid I Quli Qutb Shah Yusuf Adil Shah