The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c27.102

v3.c27.102

His return march to Gulbarga led him to Bīdar, a still important city occupying the site of the ancient Vidarbha, the capital of the ancient kingdom of the same name. It had been restored by Raja Vijaya Sena, one of the Valabhīs of the solar line, who succeeded the Guptas in A.D. 319, and on the establishment of the Bahmanī kingdom more than a thousand years later became the capital of one of its provinces. Ahmad halted for some time at this town, and was so impressed by the beauty of its situation, the salubrity of its climate, and perhaps by its legendary glories that he resolved to transfer his capital thither, and an army of surveyors, architects, builders, and masons was soon engaged in laying out, designing, and erecting a new city under the walls of the ancient fortress, which received the name of Ahmadābād Bīdar.