Randaula Khan

Randaula Khan, also spelt Ranadulla Khan (died 1643), was a leading Indo-African general and viceroy of the Bijapur Sultanate during the 17th century. He governed the southwestern region of the Sultanate from his administrative seat at Mirjan. He was a key player in the Sultanate's politics, particularly during Mughal-Bijapur conflicts in the early 17th century. He is remembered for leading conquests that expanded Bijapur southwards into the Karnataka region in the mid-17th century.

Origins Randaula Khan was the son of Farhad Khan and nephew to Khairiyat Khan, both leading African nobles of the Bijapur Sultanate.

Career Randaula Khan governed the southwestern region of the Bijapur Sultanate as his family's hereditary fief, namely the southern Konkan region and Kanara. His administration extended from Ratnagiri in the west, southwards around Portuguese Goa to Karwar and Mirjan. Mirjan was Randaula Khan's seat of administration. Karwar, Rajapur, and Mirjan were prosperous ports under his control, and his territory was famous for trade in pepper, silk, betelnut, and saltpeter. Scholar Subah Dayal writes that Randaula Khan and his kin held a monopoly over gun trade around the area of Rajapur. A farman (imperial decree) from 1641 also indicates that Randaula Khan operated trade ships that travelled between the ports of Chaul and Dabhol.

Court politics and Mughal imperialism Randaula Khan played a key role in court politics in the years after Mohammad Adil Shah ascended Bijapur's throne in 1627. The accession caused factionalism, in which the nobles Khawas Khan and Mustafa Khan emerged as rivals. The two mainly differed in their foreign policy; Mustafa Khan had sympathies for the Mughal Empire that had been actively reducing the Nizam Shahi kingdom under the rule of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, while Khawas Khan and his faction were anti-Mughal, fearing that Mughal imperialism would soon take over Bijapur itself if encouraged. Randaula Khan was a follower of Mustafa Khan, and while Mohammad Adil Shah initially carried out an alliance with the Mughals over the Nizam Shahis demise, the Mughals soon upset Bijapur by taking control of Dharpur, which caused the sultan to switch to an anti-Mughal policy and ally with the Nizam Shahis to combat the Mughals. Randaula Khan was also deputed to aid Shahji in attacking the Mughals' conquests in the former Nizam Shahi kingdom, in order to distract the Mughals from the Siege of Parenda (1634). Military pressure from Shah Jahan led to Bijapur deserting its policy of harassing the Mughals around 1635, and Shahji was abandoned in his exploits. Randaula Khan was deputed to ally with the Mughals in stopping Shahji; him and Mughal general Khan Zaman besieged Shahji at the fort of Mahuli, where Shahji surrendered and entered Bijapur's service. and was also known by the title 'Rustam-i-Zaman'.