'ADIL SHAHI DYNASTY

(1489-1686), ruling family of the kingdom of Bijapur, India, one of the two principal successor states to the Muslim sultanate of Bahmani in the Deccan. The dynasty strongly resisted the Mughal advance southward in the 17th century until it was extinguished by Aurangzeb with the capture of Bijapur in 1686. It was named after its founder, Yusuf 'Adil Shah, said to have been a son of the Ottoman sultan Murad II. He introduced a form of Islam but practiced toleration. At the end of his reign, Goa was lost (1510) to the Portuguese. After constant wars a coalition of Bijapurand with the three other Muslim Deccan states-Golconda, Bidar, and Ahmadnagar-overthrew the Hindu Vijayanagar empire, threatening from the south, at Talikota in 1565. The dynasty's greatest period was during the reign of Ibrahim 'Adil Shah II (1579-1626), who extended his frontier as far south as Mysore and was a skillful administrator and a generous patron of the arts. He reverted to the Sunnite form of Islam but remained tolerant of other religions, including Christianity. Thereafter, increasing weakness permitted Mughal encroachment and the successful revolt of the Maratha Sivaji, who killed the Bijapur general Afzal Khan and scattered his army. The dynasty left a tradition of cosmopolitan culture and artistic patronage, whose architectural remains are to be seen in the capital city of Bijapur.