history of bijapur(Bara Kaman - Bijapur)

                                    Bara Kaman

Bara Kaman is the unfinished mausoleum of Ali Adil Shah II in Bijapur, Karnataka in India.

Ali Adil Shah of the Adil Shahi dynasty wanted to build a mausoleum of unmatched quality of architecture. As per the plan twelve arches will be placed vertically as well as horizontally surrounding the tomb of Ali Adil Shah. However due to unknown reason the work on the structure was left incomplete and only two arches were raised vertically. However still, the remains of the twelve arches placed horizontally can be seen. The site is managed by the Archeological Survey of India. It is said that the shadow of this structure would touch the Gol Gombaz Gol Gumbaz. So, It was stopped.

Bijapur (Kannada: ವಿಜಾಪುರ Vijapura )Urdu:بیجاپور city is the district headquarters of Bijapur District of Karnataka state. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural importance built during the rule of Adil Shahi dynasty. Bijapur is located 530 km northwest of Bangalore and about 550 km fromMumbai.and 384 km from Hyderabad.

Bijapur's urban population as per 2011 census is 3.26 lakhs.So, efforts are being made to upgrade the CMC into a Municipal Corporation(like the current corporationsHubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bellary, Davangere, Tumkur, Mangalore, Mysore, Bangalore along with Shimoga which would help in getting more funds for the development of city. As per norms, the city should have a minimum population of three lakh for a Municipal Corporation to be formed per KMC act.

The city was established in the 10th-11th centuries by the Kalyani Chalukyas and was known as Vijayapura (City of victory). The city came under the influence of theKhilji Sultanate in Delhi by the late 13th century. In 1347, the area was conquered by the Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga. By this time, the city was being referred as Vijapur or Bijapur. Bijapur, Karnataka

Bara Kaman - Bijapur

Bara Kaman is the unfinished mausoleum of Ali Adil Shah. He lost his life in a conspiracy and the monument remained unfinished. "Bara Kaman" translates to "12 arches".

We hired a "guide"... (he wasn't really a guide... we just paid 20Rs to the security guard who agreed to tell us the history of the monument) and he told us a fascinating fable :). There is no evidence on the internet and if it really is "history" and not a fable :) then I guess the entire credit should go to the security guard.

According to the guard, "Ali Adil Shah was murdered by his father Ibrahim Adil Shah to prevent him from constructing Bara kaman. Ibrahim Adil Shah feared that Bara kaman would lessen the popularity of "Gol Gumbaz" that he had constructed and so had his son murdered. Bara Kaman has the tombs of Ali Adil Shah, his wife Chand Bibi, mistress and his daughters."

History records, Ali Adil Shah had only one son and a daughter. Though there is record of other Adil Shahi sultans having a mistress, there is no known record of Ali Adil Shah having one.

The guard then unravelled the mystery of the construction of "Bara Kaman". He explained to us that, "The architect Malik Sandal, initally raised solid walls in the form of concentric arches and once the entire wall was erected, the inner arches were topelled off and only the outermost arch was left intact. Also iron rings were used to hold the stones in place. They weren't cemented together. He pointed to one of the walls (visible to the right in the photo above) and told us that all the walls probably looked like that particular one before the stones were knocked off."

Malik Sandal was the architect of Gol Gumbaz but there is no historic record of him designing the Bara Kaman.

Probably none of what he said was true. But we heard one good fable for 20Rs that we will all probably remember for the rest of our lives.