Muntakhab al-lubab 82.7

82.7

The mud fort of Golkonda was built by the ancestors of Raja Deo Rai, and it was acquired by the Bahmani Sultans after a good deal of resistance. Upon the fall of the Bahmani dynasty, their territories fell into the hands of a number of petty chiefs; but Sultan Muhammad Kuli, entitled Kutbu-l Mulk, who had been one of the nobles of Sultan Muhammad Shah Bahmani, brought some of the provinces of the Dakhin under his rule. For the old mud fort of Raja Deo Rai, which stood upon the summit of a hill, he substituted one of stone. After some descents, the kingdom came to Muhammad Kutbu-l Mulk, for all the descendants bore the name of Kutbu-l Mulk. He took great pains in repairing the fort of Golkonda. He had a wife named Bhagmati, of whom he was very fond. At her request, he built a city two kos distant from the fortress, to which he gave the name of Bhagnagar. Some time after the death of Bhagmati, the name was changed to Haidarabad; but in the vernacular language of the people it is still called Bhagnagar. That woman had established many brothels and drinking shops in that place, and the rulers had always been addicted to pleasure and to all sorts of debauchery. Abu-l Hasan exceeded all his predecessors in his devotion to pleasure. So the city got an evil name for licentiousness. After the conquest by Aurangzeb, it was called the hostile country (daru-l jihad). [Surrender of the fort of Sakar between Haidarabad and Bijapur.]