Who among the following was the author of the book 'Kitab-i-Nauras' ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, Ibrahim Adil Shah II. Ibrahim Adil Shah II, the Adil Shahi Sultan of Bijapur (r. 1580-1627), was a scholar-musician who wrote the Kitab-i-Nauras ('Book of Nine Rasas') — a collection of songs in Dakhani (Deccani) set to Indian ragas. Reflecting his famously syncretic outlook, its verses invoke both the Hindu goddess Saraswati and the Sufi saint Gesu Daraz (Banda Nawaz) of Gulbarga, and it carries a Persian preface by his court poet Zuhuri.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Ali Adil Shah (I) was an earlier Bijapur Sultan of the same Adil Shahi line, not the author of the Kitab-i-Nauras — that was Ibrahim Adil Shah II.  (c) Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda was himself a celebrated Dakhani poet (and founder of Hyderabad), which makes him a tempting choice — but the Kitab-i-Nauras was Ibrahim Adil Shah II's work, not his.  (d) Akbar II was a much later Mughal emperor (r. 1806-1837) with no connection to the 16th-17th-century Deccani Kitab-i-Nauras, so the choice is anachronistic.

Concept: The Deccan Sultanates (Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmadnagar and others) were major patrons of the Dakhani language and of a composite Indo-Islamic court culture. Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur exemplified this: a devotee of the Sufi saint Gesu Daraz who also revered Saraswati, he earned the epithet 'Jagadguru' and authored the musical anthology Kitab-i-Nauras. His reign was Bijapur's cultural high-point, which also produced monuments such as the Ibrahim Rauza.

State PCS 2020 Q44 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q44 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer