HYDRABAD AND BIDUR. 
199 
paramount influence upon his estate ; so that, in the 
reign of Mohummed Shah Bahmani, he, like many 
others of the nobles, aspired to regal power. By 
the conniyance of Adil Shah, Nizam Shah, and 
Imad Shah, he usurped the government of the forts 
of Ousa, Kandahar and Oodghir ; and leaving to his 
king the town and fort of Bidur only, he assumed 
independence, and read prayer and coined money in 
his own name, about the year a. d. 1491-2/’ 
Upon the death of Kasim Bereed, which occurred 
in a. d. 1504, Ameer Bereed ascended the throne. 
During his rule Mahmood Shah Bahmani died, and 
the Bahmani crown descended to Oolla Shah, who 
was driven from his capital by Ameer Bereed. Thus 
was the Bereed Shahi dynasty established in Bidur. 
The royal dignity did not, however, long remain in 
the family ; the government being wrested from 
Ameer Bereed’s grandson, by a conspiracy of all the 
other princes of the Dekkan. It cannot but excite 
our surprise, then, that so short-lived a kingdom, and 
one of comparatively small importance, should have 
left so many magnificent monuments of its kings 
and ministers ; for, in truth, these tombs excel in 
grandeur and costliness all others in the Dekkan. 
In the annexed plate, the large mausoleum upon 
the right hand is that ascribed to Ameer Bereed; 
who is said to have designed it himself, and, accord- 
ing to a common custom among Mohummedans, to 
have had it built during his life-time. It is most 
