Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Siege of Bijapur: The Fall of the Adil Shahi Sultanate
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, we've talked about Aurangzeb's long Deccan campaigns many times, but there's one siege that really stands out as both a masterpiece of military engineering and a financial disaster—the siege of Bijapur. Luna: Bijapur—the Adil Shahi capital. I know it was one of the last major sultanates to fall. Lucas: Exactly. By the 1680s, Aurangzeb had already swallowed Golconda, but Bijapur was a tougher nut. The city was ringed by massive walls and a citadel called the Arkilla, and it had a reputation for being almost impregnable. Lucas: The Adil Shahi sultan at the time was Sikandar Adil Shah, a young ruler—only about seventeen when the siege began. He had a formidable general in Sidi Masud, an Abyssinian commander who had held off the Mughals before. Luna: Why did Aurangzeb decide to attack then? Bijapur had been a tributary for a while, right? Lucas: Technically yes, but Aurangzeb wanted outright annexation. He saw the Deccan sultanates as obstacles to his vision of a unified Mughal India. Plus, Bijapur had been sheltering Maratha rebels, including Sambhaji's men. So in 1685, the Mughal army marched south under Prince Azam Shah and the veteran general khan i jahan Koka. Lucas: The siege started in March 1686. The Mughals built extensive earthworks and trenches, and they brought up some of the largest cannons in the empire—like the famous 'Ghazi' cannon. But the defenders were stubborn. Luna: I've read that Sidi Masud even managed to capture some of those guns in a sortie. Lucas: That's right. He mounted a night attack and spiked several Mughal cannons. It was a huge embarrassment. The siege dragged on for over a year, with both sides suffering from disease and desertion. Lucas: The Mughals tried mining—digging tunnels under the walls to collapse them. But the Bijapuris had countermines. It became a deadly game underground. Lucas: Meanwhile, Aurangzeb was growing impatient. He sent reinforcements and even came closer to supervise, though he stayed in a nearby camp. Luna: So how did it finally end? Did the walls fall? Lucas: No, the walls held. What broke Bijapur was treachery. One of the Adil Shahi nobles, a man named Amin Khan, secretly opened negotiations with the Mughals. He convinced the young sultan that resistance was futile. Lucas: In September 1686, Sikandar Adil Shah surrendered. He was taken to Aurangzeb's camp, where the emperor treated him with a show of respect—but then confined him in the fortress of Daulatabad for the rest of his life. Luna: What happened to Sidi Masud? Lucas: He was allowed to leave with his family and his personal retinue, but he died soon after—some say of a broken heart. The Mughals looted the city, but the real cost was the treasure expended. The siege had cost the imperial treasury an enormous sum, and Aurangzeb had to drain resources from other fronts. Lucas: And this is where I want to pause for a moment—because it connects to how we keep this podcast going. Luna: Yeah, it's a good reminder that even the most powerful empires have limits. Lucas: Exactly. If you found this deep dive useful, perhaps the way we unpack these stories episode by episode, one way to help keep Fexingo History ad-free is through listener support. You can buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: It does make a difference. And we really appreciate those of you who chip in. Lucas: So back to Bijapur. After the capture, Aurangzeb annexed the sultanate outright, but the cost—both financial and in manpower—was staggering. The Marathas actually saw this as a sign of Mughal exhaustion and began to raid deeper into Mughal territory. Luna: So the victory at Bijapur ended up weakening the empire in the long run? Lucas: Absolutely. It's a classic case of strategic overreach. Aurangzeb spent years and a fortune on a siege that, while impressive militarily, drained resources he desperately needed elsewhere. Lucas: And within a decade, the Marathas would be on the offensive, and the Mughal Empire would never fully recover. Luna: That's a heavy legacy for a single siege. Lucas: It is. But it also shows the lengths Aurangzeb was willing to go to impose Mughal authority. The siege of Bijapur is a story of ambition, engineering, and ultimately, the limits of power.