Place · Adil Shahi tomb complex · India
Ibrahim Rauza, Bijapur
Also known as Bijapur, Ibrahim Adil Shah II & Taj Sultana, Ibrahim Rauza
The twin Ibrahim Rauza complex at Bijapur (Vijayapura) in Karnataka — the 1626 mausoleum-mosque pair built by Adil Shahi Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II (ruled 1580-1627) for himself and his wife Taj Sultana. The twin domed buildings sit on a shared plinth across a central tank, with the mausoleum on the east and the mosque on the west. The Ibrahim Rauza is called the 'Taj of the Deccan' for its architectural refinement — the pietra dura inlay, the inscribed Quranic calligraphy by Malik Sandal, and the sophisticated acoustic design of the mausoleum. The mausoleum's architectural refinement is said to have inspired Shah Jahan's design of the Taj Mahal thirty years later. The current structure is intact 1626 Adil Shahi; ASI protection since 1917. UNESCO tentative list since 2014 as part of the Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate serial nomination.
- Function
- Burial and funerary
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 16.830, 75.715
Connections (1)
- Court associationTansen
Ibrahim Adil Shah II and Tansen were contemporaries at two courts eight hundred kilometres apart, and the Deccan sultan is the one who left a book: the Kitab-i-Nauras, a collection of Dakhni songs set to ragas and dedicated to Ganesha and Saraswati, written by a Muslim ruler who played the tambur himself. Akbar's court produced the musician the Hindustani lineages descend from; Bijapur's produced the patron who wrote the songs down, which is the rarer thing.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Ibrahim Rauza”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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