History of Bidar
Bidar is a historic place and city located in the north-eastern part of the South Indian state of Karnataka.
Bidar is situated and built on the brink of a plateau, and thus stands above the lowlands (talghat) towards the north and the east.
[2] Legend has associated Bidar with the ancient kingdom of Vidarbha, to which references are found in early Hindu literature.
[3] But the situation of the latter kingdom has been determined by modern research, and it is now considered that Vidarbha occupied the country which was called Berar.
The rulers of the kingdom are supposed to have been vassals of the Andhra rajas, whose dominions covered the plateau of the Deccan and at times extended over a much wider area.
The megalithic culture of the region perhaps had intrusions of two Megalithic strains of different sort from the Vidharba region and eastern India, indicating respectively by certain pottery types particularly lids and also by horse-bits & copper objects on the one hand and the stone alignments on the other in north-eastern part of Karnataka.
[2]: 242 After a long reign of 64 years, he died in 878 and was succeeded by his son, Krishna II, who later developed friendly relations with the Arabs.
In no other period of ancient Indian history did the Deccan enjoy their political prestige which it did during the time of Rashtrakutas.
[2]: 245 Satyashraya who had the titles of Ahavamalla, Irivabedanga, Sahasabhima and Sattiga ruled from 997 to 1008 The hostility between Chalukyas and Cholas continued during this period also.
The Cholas came up to Bijapur (present day Vijayapura) and ransacked the whole kingdom causing great violence.
In the temple at Jalsangi (Jalasangvi) is a beautiful sculpture which depicts a young woman writing an inscription paying great tribute to Vikramaditya VI.
During the reign of Taila III (1149–1162), the Kalachuri Bijjala II was first to rebel against the Chalukyans and was largely responsible for the downfall of Chalukyas.
[2]: 253 In the excavations carried out by the Archaeological Department, State of Hyderabad, some sculptures and broken tablets bearing inscriptions have been found in the Bidar fort; but they do not carry back the history of the place earlier than the 10th century, when it was apparently included in the kingdom of the later Chalukyas (A.D. 974–1190), whose capital, Kalyani (present day Basavakalyan) is only 36 miles (58 km) west of Bidar.
The power of the Chalukyas, however, rapidly declined during the rule of the last three kings of the dynasty, and a large portion of their territory was occupied by the Yadavas of Deogiri and the Kakatiyas of Warangal, whose kingdoms were at the zenith of their glory in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
[1]: 3 The Delhi Sultanate invaded the area first by Allauddin Khilji, and later, Muhammed-bin-Tughluq took control of entire Deccan including Bidar.
In the middle of the 14th century, the Sultan of Delhi's officers that were stationed in Deccan rebelled and this resulted in the establishment of Bahmanid Dynasty in 1347 at Gulbarga/Hasanabad (present Kalaburagi).
[4] The history of the present fort at Bidar is attributed to the sultan Ahmed Shah Wali Bahmani, the sultan of the Bahmani dynasty till 1427, when he shifted his capital from Gulbarga to Bidar since it had better climatic conditions and was also a fertile and fruit-bearing land.
The earliest recorded history of its existence as a small and strong fort is also traced to prince Ulugh Khan in 1322, whereafter it came under the reign of the Tughlaq dynasty.
[5] With the establishment of the Bahmanid dynasty (1347), Bidar was occupied by Sultan Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah Bahmani.
Aurangzeb came to Bidar after his father, Padshah (emperor) Shah Jahan, appointed him the Prince of Deccan.
