Reign of Ibrahim : the fourth sultan of Golconda

Reign of Ibrahim : the fourth sultan of Golconda

     After the demise of Sultan Quli, the founder of the Qutub Shahi Kingdom,his son Jamsheed Quli ruled for 1543 to 1550.  When Jamsheed took over Ibrahim had resented. He had left for Vijayanagara during the turmoil following Sultan Quli's death.  Jamsheed Quli had made some administrative reforms during his tenure and Hindus took active role in the administration. During his illness Mustafa Khan was regent. After Sultan Jamsheed Quli  died of cancer  in 1550,his son Subhan Quli who was barely seven ruled was put on the throne by Mustafa Khan and Salabat Khan. However the queen calle Saif Khan or ain-ul-mulk from Ahmadnagar and become Peshwa and Vakil. He became like a ruler. This was resented and Daulat Khan, a brother was favoured by the Naikwaris. Many of them along with Jagadeva went to Bhongir to bring Daulat Khan to Golconda and make him Sultan. However Daulat Khan himself did not want to become king. A battle ensued at Bhongir between Jagadeva and Saif Khan. Saif Khan emrged victorious.However Jamsheed Quli's brother Ibrahim Qutub Shah came back from exile in Vijayanagara and usurped the throne from him and became the fourth Sultan of Golconda on 27th July 1550. When he set foot back on Golconda at the age of 21 he paid respects to his father's grave by lighting thousand golden lamps and distributing food to the poor.

      He ruled for thirty years, 1550-1580. The Golconda kingdom was at it's height during his reign. He was a great patron of literature. During his stay at Vijayanagara with Aliya Rama Raya he became highly appreciative of the Telugu language. He patronised many Telugu poets; Singanacharyudu,Gangadhara Kavi, and Kandukuru Rudrakavi. The poet Gangadhara Kavi was his court poet and dedicated a poem to him in 1560. In Telugu literature he is known and Malkibharam.  Sultan Ibrahim's court was frequented by scholars in the Vedas, Puranas.Many Persian scholars were also patronised who composed prose and poetry. There were many afaqis or foreigners in his state. It  was due to his literary patronage that the languages intermingled and the Deccani evolved, a proto-Urdu language. Mulla Khiyali, Firoz Mahmud were early-Deccani poets in his time.

   His reign saw the making of the Purana Pul, Hussain Sagar and fortification of the fort at Golconda. He developed  Ibrahimbagh.  The town of Ibrahimpatnam is named after him. During his time the population of Golconda grew which necessitated founding of another city across the river Musi, namely Hyderabad. The area Chichlam was the place around which the new city was envisioned. Sultan Ibrahim was not into many battles and did not look much beyond his kingdom.

Sultan Ibrahim's mosque ,Golconda Fort.

By h v shiv shankar (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tile-work remains on Sultan Ibrahim's tomb, Ibrahimbagh,Hyderabad.

Source :flickr.com/photos/nagarjun/6781312293

Image by :Nagarjun Kandukuru

References :

• History of the Qutub Shahi dynasty/Sherwani,H.K,New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharlal,1974.
• M.A.Nayeem/The heritage of the Qutub Shahis of Golconda and Hyderabad,Hyderabad: Hyderabad Publishers,2006.
• wikipedia.org

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Soma Ghosh

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