Chapter IDALCAN to IMPALE of I by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

IDALCAN to IMPALE

IDALCAN, HIDALCAN, and sometimes IDALXA, n.p. The title by which the Portuguese distinguished the kings of the Mahommedan dynasty of Bijapur which rose at the end of the 15th century on the dissolution of the Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan. These names represented ’Adil Khan, the title of the founder before he became king, more generally called by the Portuguese the Sabaio (q.v.), and ’Adil Shah, the distinctive style of all the kings of the dynasty. The Portuguese commonly called their kingdom Balaghaut (q.v.).

1510.—“The Hidalcan entered the city (Goa) with great festivity and rejoicings, and went to the castle to see what the ships were doing, and there, inside and out, he found the dead Moors, whom Timoja had slain; and round about them the brothers and parents and wives, raising great wailings and lamentations, thus the festivity of the Hidalcan was celebrated by weepings and wailings…so that he sent João Machado to the Governor to speak about terms of peace.…The Governor replied that Goa belonged to his lord the K. of Portugal, and that he would hold no peace with him (Hidalcan) unless he delivered up the city with all its territories.…With which reply back went João Machado, and the Hidalcan on hearing it was left amazed, saying that our people were sons of the devil. …”—Correa, ii. 98.

1516.—“Hydalcan.” See under SABAIO.

1546.—“Trelado de contrato que ho Gouernador Dom Johão de Crastro ffeez com o Idalxaa, que d’antes se chamava Idalcão.” —Tombo, in Subsidios, 39.

1563.—“And as those Governors grew weary of obeying the King of Daquem (Deccan), they conspired among themselves that each should appropriate his own lands … and the great-grandfather of this Adelham who now reigns was one of those captains who revolted; he was a Turk by nation and died in the year 1535; a very powerful man he was always, but it was from him that we twice took by force of arms this city of Goa. …”—Garcia, f. 35v. [And comp. Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 199.] N.B.—It was the second of the dynasty who died in 1535; the original ’Adil Khan (or Sabaio) died in 1510, just before the attack of Goa by the Portuguese.

1594–5.—“There are three distinct States in the Dakhin. The Nizám-ul-Mulkiya, ’Adil Khániya, and Kutbu-l-Mulkiya. The settled rule among them was, that if a foreign army entered their country, they united their forces and fought, notwithstanding the dissensions and quarrels they had among themselves. It was also the rule, that when their forces were united, Nizám-ul-Mulk commanded the centre, ’Adil Khán the right, and Kutbu-l-Mulk the left. This rule was now observed, and an immense force had been collected.”—Akbar- Nama, in Elliot, vi. 131.

IMAUM, s. Ar. Imam, ‘an exemplar, a leader’ (from a root signifying ‘to aim at, to follow after’), a title technically applied to the Caliph (Khalifa) or ‘Vi cegerent,’ or Successor, who is the head of Islam. The title “is also given—in its religious import only—to the heads of the four orthodox sects…and in a more restricted sense still, to the ordinary functionary of a mosque who leads in the daily prayers of the congregation” (Dr. Badger, Omân, App. A.). The title has been perhaps most familiar to Anglo-Indians as that of the Princes of ’Oman, or “Imaums of Muscat,” as they were commonly termed. This title they derived from being the heads of a sect (Ibadhiya) holdin g pec uliar doctrine as to the Imamate, and rejecting the Caliphate of Ali or his successors. It has not be en assumed by the Princes themselves since Sa’id bin Ahmad who died in the early part of last century, but was always applied by the English to Saiyid Sa’id, who reigned for 52 years, dying in 1856. Since then, and since the separation of the dominions of the dynasty in Oman and in Africa, the title Imam has no longer been used.

It is a singular thing that in an article on Zanzibar in the J. R. Geog. Soc. vol. xxiii. by the late Col. Sykes, the Sultan is always called the Imaun, [of which other examples will be found below].

1673.—“At night we saw Muschat, whose vast and horrid Mountains no Shade but Heaven does hide.…The Prince of this country is called Imaum, who is guardian at Mahomet’s Tomb, and on whom is devolved the right of Caliphship according to the Ottoman belief.”—Fryer, 220.

[1753.—“These people are Mahommedans of a particular sect…they are subject to an Iman, who has absolute authority over them.”—Hanway, iii. 67.

[1901.—Of the Bombay Kojas, “there were only 12 Imans, the last of the number … having disappeared without issue.”— Times, April 12.]

IMAUMBARRA, s. This is a hybrid word Imam-bara, in which the last part is the Hindi bara, ‘an enclosure,’ &c. It is applied to a building maintained by Shi’a communities in India for the express purpose of celebrating the mohurrum ceremonies (see HOBSON-JOBSON). The sepulchre of the Founder and his family