Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Details about the Muslim King Alauddin Ahmad Shah 2 (Rajaka in his Previous Birth) mentioned in the Adhay 50 of Shri Guru Charitra ( Also Included are the Picture and Details of his Tomb at Ashtur near Bidar) :

Adhyay 50 :Shri Guru Narasimha Saraswati at the Bidar Fort of the King (Rajaka)


Adhyay 50 :Shri Guru Narasimha Saraswati at the Bidar Fort of the King (Rajaka)


What we Know about the Muslim King (Rajaka in Previous Birth) is only through the Details Mentioned about him in Shri Guru Charitra. As Per most of the Scholars, Shri Narasimha Saraswati lived from Shaka 1300 to Shaka 1380 or 1378 CE to 1458 CE and Period of his Stay at Ganagapur is Sha.1357-1380 (1435 CE-1458 CE). The Muslim King is said to have met Shri Guru just some time before the Avatar Samapti of Shri Guru. Thus it is clear that the King might have met Shri Guru after 1450 only.

The Kingdom of Vidarbha (Bidar) was at this time ruled by Alauddin Ahmad Shah II  who ascended the Throne on Apr 17, 1436 and continued till May 6, 1458 CE.
Thus its clear that it was Alauddin Ahmad Shah II who Visited Shri Guru. Also according to the Historical Records only Alauddin II is said to have suffered of Wound in his Leg (It is said that the King had the Injury in 1453).  The King might have later visited Shri Guru. It is also interesting to know that the Avatar Samapti Year and the Year of the Kings death is Same. i.e 1458.

Alauddin II belonged to the Bahamani Dynasty and he succeeded his Father Ahmad Shah I in 1436.  These Bahamani Rulers were different from the Delhi Mughals and there were four such states which were existing that time viz Berar (Including Mahur), Daulatabad, Bidar and Gulbarga. Many times " Chahu Rashtra (Four States) " term occurring in Shri Guru Charitra possibly points to this.

This king (Alauddin II)  was very moderate and did not destroy temples or old monuments. He also was supposed to be quite friendly towards the Hindu communities. Shri Guru Charitra also states the Same Character of the King.

Entrance_Bidar Fort of the Muslim King Alauddin Ahmad Shah 2 which Shri Guru Narasimha Saraswati Visited

Tomb of the Muslim King Alauddin Ahmad Shah 2 (Rajaka) located at Ashtur near Bidar

It can be Seen in Adhyay 50 of Shri Guru Charitra that Shri Guru asked the Muslim King to come and meet him at Shrishailyam. Shri Guru had also sent his Disciples on Pilgrimage asking them to come to Shrishailyam later to have his Darshan (While at Vaijnath, Adhyay 15). But the Details about Meeting of Shri Guru with Disciples and the King at Shrishailyam is not mentioned in Shri Guru Charitra.



Now that the tomb of the King is located at Bidar means that the King had been to Shrishailyam for the Darshan of Shri Guru and died later on his return to Bidar.



Tomb of the Muslim King Alauddin Ahmad Shah 2 (Rajaka) located at Ashtur near Bidar



Details about the Tomb :


The Tomb of Alauddin Ahmad Shah II (Reign 1436-58), the first son of Ahmad Shah Wali, and who became the 10th sultan after succeeding his father, is situated nearly adjacent to the tomb of his father, Sultan Ahmad Shah, to the west. It is assumed to have been built in 1458. This majestic tomb is also built on a square plan and has a large dome, however, its outside walls have a special feature. The walls are decorated by five arches in different sizes which are framed by black stones. The central arch is the highest and the two arches on the sides are different in height but still maintain symmetry. On the walls, black basolt and tiles are used. The upper part of the arches is decorated uniquely by patterns including diamond shapes, which give a simple tone to the building as a whole and are effective from a decorative standpoint. (Matsuo Ara)




Some Facts about Alauddin Ahmad Shah II (Rajaka)  known through the Historical Records :


Ahmad Shah I (Father of Alauddin II) had been very successful as a king and when he died he was popular even to the extent of being regarded as a
 Saint. His son Zafar Khan who assumed the title of Ahmad on his accession. He gave preference to newcomers from outside over the old in his cabinet. This created a great cleavage between them (New Comers) and the Dakhnis (Old Comers). He married the Daughter of Raja of Sangmeswar (Hindu) and gave her the title of Zeba Chehra apart from the daughter of Nasir Khan Faruqi of Khandesh ‘Agha Zainab’.

Alauddin, though generally pious and benevolent, gradually overcame his repugnance to taking life. He used wine himself, but prohibited its use by his subjects, and gamblers and wine-bibbers had iron collars riveted on their necks and were compelled to work as scavengers or set to hard labor on the public works; and those who persisted, despite this discipline, in the use of wine, had molten lead poured down their throats. A grandson of the saint Gisu Daraz, convicted of brawling with a woman of the town, received the bastinado in the market place, and his companion was expelled from the city.

He built his father's mausoleum in Ashutur in the eastern outskirts of Bidar and a mausoleum for a saint, Shah Khalil Ullah, between Ashutur and Bidar. It is also known that he had built a great hospital in Bidar and a garden pavilion of Nimatabad, although they do not exist anymore. It is said that he had a liking for culture, and he did not pay much attention to politics.

The king's benevolence was displayed in the establishment and endowment at Bidar of a hospital where food, drugs, and medical treatment were supplied free of charge, and his piety in his love of long sermons and the destruction of idol-temples, from the materials of which mosques were built. He prided himself also on his love of justice, and added al-Adil (The Just) to his titles. At the end of his reign an Arab merchant who had been unable to obtain payment for some horses sold to officers of the court, and had also been scandalized by the massacre of the Sayyids and other Foreigners at Chakan, sprang up on hearing the king thus described, and cried, "No, by God! You are not just, generous, clement, or compassionate, tyrant and liar! You have
slain the pure seed of the prophet and in the pulpit of the Muslims take to yourself such titles as these!"

The king, weeping bitterly, replied: "They will hardly escape from the fire of God's wrath who give me, in this world and the next, a name as ill as Yazid's". He then retired to his chamber and left it no more until he was borne forth to the grave.

Against his virtues must be set that gross sensuality which his religion permitted, and which he carried to such excess that most of his time was spent among the thousand women collected in his harem, and he so neglected business as to hold a public audience no oftener than once in four or five months.

In 1453 the king received an injury to his leg which confined him to his palace, and rumors of his death were circulated and credited.

Alauddin died in 1458, having some time before designated as his heir his eldest son Humayun, who bore a reputation so evil that his father had been urged to reconsider his decision, which, however, had never been revoked.


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