Yusuf Adil Shah

Yusuf Adil Shah (1450–1511), referred as 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. As the founder of the newly formed Bijapur dynasty (as the Adil Shahi dynasty is also known), Yusuf Adil Shah is credited with developing the town of Bijapur and elevating it to significant status.

Legend of origin

The founder of the dynasty,Yusuf Adil Shah, may have been a Georgian slave who was purchased by Mahmud Gawan from Iran.

Yet, some historians state Yusuf was a son of the Ottoman Sultan Murad II.

According to the historian Mir Rafi-uddin Ibrahim-i Shirazi, or Rafi', Yusuf's full name was Sultan Yusuf 'Adil Shah Sawa or Sawa-i of Saveh, the son of Mahmud Beg of Saveh in Iran, (Rafi' 36–38, vide Devare 67, fn 2). Rafi's history of the 'Adil Shahi dynasty was written at the request of Ibrahim Adil Shah II, and was completed and presented to the patron in AH 1017. The Indian scholar T.N. Devare mentioned that while Rafi's account of the Bahmani dynasty is filled with anachronisms, his account of the Adilshahi is "fairly accurate, exhaustive, and possesses such rich and valuable information about Ali I and Ibrahim II" (312). Rafi-uddin later became the governor of Bijapur for about 15 years (Devare 316).

Adil Shah

Adil or Adel Shah Afshar, born ʿAlī-qolī Khan (Modern Persian: عادل شاه افشار) (died 1749) was the Afsharid Shah of Iran from 1747 to 1748, a nephew and successor of Nader Shah, the founder of the Afsharid dynasty.

Family and early career

Ali-qoli khan was the eldest son of Nader's brother, Ebrahim Khan. Nader appointed him governor of Mashad in 1737. In the same year he married Princess Ketevan, daughter of the Georgian king Teimuraz II, Nader's ally. In 1740 he was also married to a daughter of Abu'l-Fayz, ruler of the recently subdued Bokhara.

Rise to power

From 1743 to 1747, Ali-qoli khan commanded Nader's troops against the Yazidis of Kurdistan, the Karakalpaks and Uzbeks of Khwarazm and in Sistan. He then ran in trouble with his uncle over the latter's decision to levy 100,000 tomans on him combined with Nader's suspiciousness. In April 1747, in conjunction with the rebels of Sistan, Ali-qoli khan occupied Herat and induced the Kurds to enter into a rebellion. Nader, while marching against the insurgents, was murdered by a group of his officers, who then offered the crown to Ali-qoli.