In 1502, Adil Shah resolved upon a very important step, which was to change the religion of the State from the Sunnee to the Sheah creed. During his stay in Persia, Adil Shah had imbibed the Sheah doctrine, and was a disciple of the House of Suffeewee, which had now succeeded to the Government. This change of religion at first excited great animosity amongst his brother Sultans in the Deccan, who at once declared against him what is known as the "holy war of the four brothers." In introducing this change Adil Shah behaved with singular moderation. Converts or Perverts are generally very bigotted, but Adil Shah publicly let his subjects know that, whatever he might believe, he was not going to interfere with their beliefs. "My faith for myself and your faith for yourselves," was his tolerant maxim, and the result was that, although a few of his officers withdrew from his service, the majority remained loyal. At first the combination of the other Mahomeden Sultans seemed likely to crush Adil Shah, who throughout seems to have preferred maintaining a welldisciplined but numerically small standing army to the large and disorganized hordes that were then the fashion. Adil Shah's army was rarely more than 25,000 in strength, and he therefore, had to fight a cautious game. He never gave his enemies the chance of meeting him in a pitched battle, but carrying the war into their own territories, constantly avoided an engagement, hovering round the allied army and cutting off its supplies. Retreating before them as they advanced, he led the allied kings, not into his own territory, but into that of Imad-ul-mulk, the Sultan of Berar, who was favourably inclined towards him. Negociations were then commenced, and the allies were told that the war had been made against Adil Shah, not so much on religious grounds, as because Ameer Bereed wished to possess himself of Bijapur, in which case he would become too dangerous a rival. By way of concession, Adil Shah sent orders to restore the Sunnee rites, and

then all cause of quarrel being removed, the allies broke up their confederation and retired each to his own dominions. Ameer Bereed was thus left alone, and Adil Shah promptly seized the opportunity to surprise his camp, in which he was so successful, that Ameer Bereed just managed to escape with the Sultan of Bieder and a few followers. The whole war only lasted three months, and Adil Shah returned in triumph to Bijapur and quietly continued the practice of the new faith without further opposition.

Although the rest of Adil Shah's reign was quiet as far as his own countrymen was concerned, he was brought into contact with another power which was but the pioneer of the present rulers of India. In 1498 on the 26th August, Vascode Gama sighted Mount Dely, in South Kanara, and effected a landing on the island of Anjidiv. the island of Anjidiv. Subsequently, they landed on the mainland, near the mouth of the Kalinadi. Adil Shah-or Sabayo-as he is called by the Portuguese writers, sent an expedition against the foreign invaders, which, however, was destroyed. The leader of this expedition, a Mahomedan Jew, was taken captive and brought by Vasco de Gama to Europe, where he was converted and received the name of Gasper de Gama. In 1503 Vasco de Gama returned, and effected a treaty with the Honavar Chief, then a subject of Vijayanagar. From this time each year saw a fresh arrival of the Portuguese ships. Ferishta says that in 1509 they surprised and took Goa, but were afterwards driven. out by an army sent by Adil Shah. The Portuguese writers are silent regarding this, though they speak of a victory gained over sixty sail despatched against them in 1506 by Adil Shah and commanded by a Portuguese renegade named Abdullah.

In the midst of this continued fighting on the Western Coast, Yusuf Adil Shah died at Bijapur of a dropsical complaint (1510), and was succeeded by his son, Ismael Adil Shah, a boy of about 14 years of age.

Character.

Yusuf Adil Shah ranks high in the Deccan, not only as a soldier but also as a statesman. Like Hassan Gangu, the founder of the Bahmanee dynasty, he was just, humane and tolerant, but enjoyed the additional advantage to be gained from being highly educated. He wrote elegantly, and was not only a good judge of verses, but himself a poet and improvisatore, singing his own verses. to his own music. We read of none of the acts of bigotry and cruelty which disgrace the memories of so many of the Deccan Kings. Even his change of faith, so calculated to excite fanatacism and bloodshed, was carried out with such tolerance and moderation, as to excite no opposition among his subjects. He was a patron of art and literature, and especially that of Persia, and numbers of learned and scientific. men found their way to his Court. He spent his money liberally on buildings and public works, an example which was followed by his successors, so that his dynasty, with the exception of that of the Kutb Shahs of Golconda, has left nobler memorials of the building art than any other in the Deccan. Lastly, his private character was eminently temperate and virtuous. He was the husband of one wife, a Hindoo, the daughter of a Mahratta chieftain, by whom he had one son and three daughters. The lady is said to have been not only of great beauty, but of singular ability, and we shall have a proof of her strength of mind when we come to the history of the next reign. The title bestowed upon her after having embraced Islam was Booboojee Khanum. The three daughters were subsequently married to the three Sultans of Berar, Ahmednugger, and Bieder (Bahmanee), so that family ties joined the Mahomedan kingdoms closely together. Adil Shah was seventy-five years of age when he died, and Ferishta says of him that he was "handsome in person, eloquent of speech, and eminent for his learning, liberality, and valour."

with the Sultan's eldest son, Mahomed, acquired a considerable knowledge of Persian and Arabic. When Mahomed ascended the throne (1462) Malick Hoossein was promoted to the rank of one thousand, and placed in charge of the royal falconry, from which he derived the name of Beherec (Beher meaning a falcon). He was subsequently made Governor of the Telingana provinces, and after Khajeh Gawan's death, succeeded him in office with the title of Malick Naib. Under Sultan Mahomed he was the Prime Minister, and received the

additional title of Nizam-ul-Mulk. Whilst the father was thus employed in the capital, he sent his son, Malick Ahmed, to the Konkan, where he carried on a very successful war against the hill Chieftains, reducing a number of forts, gaining a considerable amount of treasure (especially at Seer), and eventually reducing the whole country as far as the coast. In 1486, Nizam-ul-Mulk rebelled, and after having seized the city of Ahmedabad Bieder, was eventually assassinated, as related in the account of the reign of Mahomed Shah. The son, who was on the way to join his father, at once retired to Khiber, where he assumed the titles of the deceased, and was generally known as Ahmed Nizam-ul-Mulk Beheree, to which, although he did not as yet assume it, the people added the title of Shah. Khiber was situated in the hills not far from the town of Junar, which, for some time, was the seat of Government of the new Sultan. Ahmed Nizam Shah, as we shall call him, although he actually claimed the title a few years subsequently, was an able and gallant soldier, and some of his sudden raids resemble those of that prince of robbers, the Mahratta Sivajee. Kassim Bereed was now the moving power at Bieder, and he sent an army under Nadir-ul-Humán to reduce this new rebel. After some fighting, this army was completely defeated, and its General slain, whereupon a larger force under eighteen of the principal noblemen was sent to reduce Ahmed to subjection. Ahmed Shah, however, by a clever stratagem, managed to elude this army, and getting into its rear with a picked force of three thousand cavalry, made a sudden attack upon the capital (Bieder). Here he was admitted by the guards, and for a day remained in possession of the city. He appears to have behaved with considerable moderation, releasing only the members of his father's family, but at the same carrying off the wives and families of the noblemen who had been sent against him, whom as hostages he treated with all honour.