The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c19.197

v4.c19.197

Aurangzīb was soon again favoured by fortune. Muhammad ‘Ādil Shāh of Bījāpur died on 16 November of this year, and was succeeded by his son ‘Alī ‘Ādil Shāh II, a youth of eighteen. Aurangzīb affected to regard the kings of Bījāpur and Golconda as mere assignees of the empire, whose succession to their assignments was a question to be decided by the emperor. They had, in fact, been independent kings for a century and a half, having acquired that status before Bābur invaded India, and the imperial prerogative had never been suggested, much less asserted, in the case of either kingdom. Aurangzīb, apparently conscious of the weakness of his case, invented another pretext for attacking Bījāpur and asserted that ‘Alī II was not the son of Muhammad ‘Ādil Shāh, and that the kingdom had lapsed to the empire.