>genealogy<

SEVEN persons of this family have reigned until the present period, since their first establishment in the capital of Ahmudabad Bidur.

Kasim Bereed Toork was brought by Khwaja Shahab-ood-Deen Ally Yezdy to Bidur, and sold as a Georgian slave to Sooltan Mahomed Shah Lushkurry Bahmuny, by whom he was admitted among the Georgian attendants of that monarch. In his reign he distinguished himself by his bravery against the rebel Marrattas residing be­tween Peitun and Chakun, whom he was deputed to reduce. One action in particular took place, in which Kasim Bereed was victorious, and having slain Sabajee Marratta, the King gave the de­ceased chief's daughter in marriage to Kasim Be-reed's son, Ameer Bereed, as a reward for his ser­vices. Sabajee's territory was also conferred on him; and upwards of four hundred Marrattas, who were connected with the late chief, entered his service, many of whom he persuaded to embrace the faith. To this attached body of Marrattas Ameer Bereed always evinced the utmost kindness; and the con­nection formed by his son's marriage gave him a paramount influence on his estate, so that in the reign of Sooltan Mahmood Shah Bahmuny he, like many of the other nobles, aimed at regal power; and by the advice of Adil Shah, Nizam Shah, and Imad Shah, he usurped the forts of Owsa, Kand'har, and Oodgeer; and leaving to his king only the town and fort of Ahmudabad Bidur, read the public prayers, and coined money, in his own name. After having ruled his estate for a period of

A. H. 910.
A. D. 1504.

twelve years, during the lifetime of his sovereign, Kasim Bereed died in the year 910.

AMEER BEREED succeeded his father. During his rule, Mahmood Shah Bahmuny died, and Kul-eem Oolla Shah Bahmuny, the last of his race, fled from Bidur to Ahmudnuggur. At this period, also, the city of Bidur was taken by Ismael Adil Shah, but was afterwards restored to Ameer Bereed. At the time when Bahadur Shah of Guzerat invaded the Deccan, (at the in­stance of Alla-ood-Deen Imad Shah, and Meeran Mahomed Khan, ruler of Kandeish,) Ismael Adil Shah invited Ameer Bereed to Beejapoor, where he intrusted him with the command of four thou­sand foreign cavalry, wearing the twelve-pointed cap of the Imams, to proceed to the assistance of Boorhan Nizam Shah, as has been already related, and he distinguished himself much in that campaign. At length, when proceeding, some years afterwards, to the assistance of Boorhan Nizam Shah, he was taken ill suddenly, and died at Dowlutabad. His body was brought to Ah-mudabad Bidur by his brother Khwaja Jehan, and he was buried in that city.

A. H. 945.
A. D. 1549. His reign lasted for a period of forty­five years.

THIS person is the first of the dynasty who adopted the style of Shah or King; for though his grandfather Kasim Bereed assumed regalia, he did not take the royal title. When Boorhan Nizam Shah sent his minister, the venerable Shah Tahir, to congratulate him on his accession, Ally Bereed Shah very impru­dently attacked that minister concerning his faith and doctrines. The holy man became so provoked at the taunts he experienced on this occasion, that he left the court, and, on his return, informed his master of the disrespectful treatment he had experienced, and urged him to march his army against Bidur. Ally Bereed Shah having delivered over the fort of Kulliany to Ismael Adil Shah, solicited his aid; notwithstanding which Boorhan Nizam Shah's marches were so rapid, that the forts of Owsa, Kand'har, and Oodgeer, surrendered at his ap­proach, and he reduced the kingdom of Bidur to a territory producing only 400,000 hoons.

A. H. 987.
A. D. 1579. In the year 987, Moortuza Nizam Shah made an attack upon the remain­ing part of the Bidur territories, and laid close siege to the capital itself. Ally Bereed, thus straitened, sent an envoy to Ally Adil Shah, who replied, that if he would make him a present of two eunuchs, whom he named, he would send him assistance. Ally Bereed assented; and two thousand Beejapoor cavalry marched to raise the siege of Mahomedabad Bidur. Moortuza Nizam Shah, hearing of the approach of the Adil Shahies, and also of the rebellion of his brother Boorhan Nizam Shah at Ahmudnuggur, retreated to his capital, and left Mirza Yadgar with a body of Kootb Shahies, who had joined from Golconda, to prose­cute the siege; but as soon as the Beejapoor detachment arrived within a few miles of the place, Mirza Yadgar retreated; and Ally Bereed delivered over the two eunuchs, contrary to their own in­clination, to the Beejapoories. These two youths * were so stung with shame on being transferred from one king to another, that shortly after their arrival at Beejapoor one of them put Ally Adil Shah to death, as we have before seen in his history.

A. H. 990.
A. D. 1562.

Soon after this, Ally Bereed Shah died, having reigned forty-five years. He was succeeded by his eldest son,

THIS Prince reigned seven years, and died.

AFTER the death of Ibrahim, he was succeeded by his younger brother, Ka-sim Bereed II., who after reigning three years died a natural death.

KASIM BEREED II. was succeeded by his son, a child of the name of Mirza Ally Bereed. One of his relations, Ameer Bereed, shortly after usurped the kingdom, and expelled Mirza Ally Bereed to Bhagnuggur; after which he ascended the throne, under the title of Ameer Bereed.

THIS prince is at the present period, being the year 1018, on the throne at Bidur.

Let it not be concealed from the perusers of these sheets that the author has failed in procuring any written accounts of the Kootb Shahy, Imad Shahy, or Bereed Shahy dynasties; he has therefore been compelled to fill up the page with oral tradi­tions, from the most respectable and well informed people of his own times. It is his earnest request, that if any one should, hereafter, ascertain more correctly the precise period when these monarchs ascended the throne, or died, that they will fill up the chasm which occurs in this history; and should any detailed accounts of the reigns of these princes be discovered, it is his request that they may be inserted in his work, to complete the history of the Deccan.*