Rise of Provincial Dynasties: Bengal

Political situation and balance of power in north India:

• Timur’s invasion of Delhi in 1398 hastened the downfall of the Tughlaq dynasty, and the end of the Sultanat of Delhi.
• Even before Timur’s invasion, the Sultanat of Delhi had weakened become manifest to all, with the emergence of two kings, one at Firuzabad and another at Delhi and the breaking away of many provincial kingdoms.
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• The Deccani states, and Bengal in the east, and Sindh and Multan in the west had broken away towards the end of Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s rule, and Firuz had reconciled himself to loss.
• Following the Timurid invasion, the governors of Gujarat, Malwa, and Jaunpur declared themselves independent.
  • With the expulsion of the Muslim governor from Ajmer, the various states of Rajputana also asserted their independence.
  • Even within the Delhi region, the rulers were hard put to assert their control.
• While these various provincial kingdoms and Rajput states fought against each other, the 15th century was not a period of decadence and decline in north India.
• Politically:
  • warfare between the various states rarely extended beyond the border regions, with a definite pattern of balance of power emerging between the states located in the various regions.
    • In the west, Gujarat, Malwa and Mewar balanced and checked the growth of each other’s power.
    • In the east, Bengal was checked by the Gajpati rulers of Orissa, as also by the Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur.
    • In the north, while Kashmir remained aloof, the rise of the Lodis at Delhi towards the middle of 15th century led to a long drawn out struggle between them and the rulers of Jaunpur for the mastery of the Ganga-Jamuna doab.
  • The balance of power began to break down by the end of the 15th century.
    • With the final defeat of Jaunpur by the Lodis, and the extension of their rule from Punjab up to the borders of Bengal, the Sultanat of Delhi had been virtually re-established, and the heat was on eastern Rajasthan and Malwa.
  • Meanwhile, Malwa itself had started disintegrating due to internal factors, leading to a sharpened rivalry between Gujarat and Mewar.
    • The Lodis, too, were keen to extend their rule over the region.
    • Thus, Malwa became the cock-pit of the struggle for mastery of north India.
• Culturally:
  • The new kingdoms tried to utilise local cultural forms and traditions for their own-purposes.
  • This was mostly manifested in the field of architecture where efforts were made to adopt and adapt the new architectural forms developed by the Turks by utilising local forms and traditions.
  • In many cases, encouragement was given to local languages, while political necessity compelled many of them to establish a closer association with Hindu ruling elites.
  • This had an effect on the processes of cultural rapprochement between the Hindus and the Muslims which had been working apace.

Eastern India: Bengal

• Bengal had frequently asserted its independence from Delhi, taking advantage of:
  • distance,
  • difficulty of communications by land or water, and
  • hot and humid climate which did not suit soldiers and others used to the drier climate of north-western India.
• Due to the preoccupation of Muhammad Tughlaq with rebellions in various quarters, Bengal again broke away from Delhi in 1338.
• In 1342, one of the nobles, Ilyas Khan, captured Lakhnauti and Sonargaon, and ascended the throne under the title Sultan Shamsuddin Ilyas Khan.

Sultan Shamsuddin Ilyas Khan (1342-1358):

• He became the sultan of the kingdom of Lakhnauti in 1342 and after conquering the kingdom of Sonargoan in 1352, he became the sole ruler of whole Bengal and thus he became the founder of a sultanate of the unified Bengal.
• He founded the Ilyas Shahi dynasty which ruled Bengal for 73 years (1342–1415) and after a gap of 20 years (1415–1435) the dynasty again ruled Bengal for 52 years (1435–1487).
  • Ilyas Shah was succeeded by his son Sikandar Shah.
• Ilyas extended his dominions in the west from Tirhut to Champaran and Gorakhpur, and finally upto Banaras.
• This forced Firuz Tughlaq to undertake a campaign against him. Firuz Tughlaq occupied the Bengali capital Pandua, and forced Ilyas to seek shelter in the strong fort of Ekdala.
  • After a siege of two months, in a hard fought battle, the Bengali forces were defeated. But Ilyas Khan once again retreated into Ekdala.
  • Finally, a treaty of friendship was concluded by which the river Kosi in Bihar was fixed as the boundary between the two kingdoms.
  • Though Ilyas exchanged regular gifts with Firuz, he was in no way subordinate to him.
• Friendly relations with Delhi enabled Ilyas to extend his control over the kingdom of Kamrup (Assam). He also made plundering raids upto Kathmandu in Nepal, and in Orissa.
• Ilyas Shah was a popular ruler:
  • When Firuz was at Pandua, he tried to win over the inhabitants of the city to his side by giving liberal grants of land to the nobles, the clergy and other deserving people. His attempt failed.
• Firuz Tughlaq invaded Bengal a second time when Ilyas died and his son, Sikandar, succeeded to the throne.
  • Sikandar followed the tactics of his father, and retreated to Ekdala.
  • Firuz failed, once again, to capture it, and had to beat a retreat.
• After this, Bengal was left alone for about 200 years and was not invaded again till 1538 after the Mughals had established their power at Delhi.
  • It was overrun by Sher Shah in 1538, but Akbar had to reconquer it after the end of the Sur dynasty.

Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah (1389-1409):

• Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah was the third Sultan of the first Iliyas Shahi dynasty of Bengal.
  • His tomb is situated in Narayanganj of Bangladesh.
• He was known for his love of justice.
• Azam Shah had close relations with the famous learned men including the celebrated Persian poet, Hafiz of Shiraz.
• Ghiyasuddin was a patron of scholars and poets. Persian poet Hafiz was in correspondence with him.
  • Shah Muhammad Sagir, a Bengali poet, wrote his famous work, Yusuf-Zulekha, during Ghiyasuddin’s reign.
  • Also during his time Krittivasi Ramayan, a translation of the Ramayana into Bengali, was written by a Hindu poet, Krittibas Ojha.
• He re-established friendly relations with the Chinese.
  • The Chinese emperor received his envoy cordially and, in 1409, sent his own envoy with presents to the sultan and his wife, and a request to send Buddhist monks to China. This was done.
  • Incidentally, this shows that Buddhism had not died completely in Bengal till then.
  • Six years later, his successor, Sultan Saifuddin, again sent a letter written on a gold plate, and a giraffe to the Chinese emperor.
  • The revival of contact with China helped in the growth of the overseas trade of Bengal.
    • Chittagong became a flourishing port for trade with China.
    • Ocean going ships were built in Bengal, and its exports included fine quality textiles.
    • Bengal also became a centre for the re-export of Chinese goods.
    • Mahuan, the Chinese interpreter to the Chinese envoy, has left an account, and mentions mulberry trees, and the production of silk in Bengal, and paper which was as glossy as deer’s skin.
• Sufi in Bengal:
  • During this period, many sufis came to Bengal. They were welcomed by the Sultan, and encouraged with grant of rent-free lands.
  • These saints impressed the people by their simple style of living, and their deep devotion and saintliness.
  • These saints are credited with effecting conversions to Islam on a large scale, particularly in the eastern part of Bengal where Buddhism was widely prevalent, and poverty was widespread.
  • Perhaps, the conversions were due in large measure to social, cultural and other factors also.

Other rulers:

• Powerful Hindu rajas continued to live under the Muslim rulers of Bengal, and to be associated with the affairs of the state.
  • Raja Ganesh of Dinajpur, who had a large estate and his own army, first became a king-maker to the successors of Sultan and later assumed the throne himself.
  • Some of the Turkish nobles and theologians sent an invitation to the ruler of Jaunpur to reclaim the land of Islam from Hindus.
  • A Jaunpur army was sent to Gaur for the purpose, and won a victory. But it could not stay on because of the active struggle between the rulers of Jaunpur and Delhi.
  • Raja Ganesh, who was an old man, died soon after, and was succeeded by his son who preferred to rule as a Muslim.
• However, the affairs in the kingdom remained unsettled till Alauddin Husain succeeded to the throne in 1493, and set up a new dynasty which continued to rule till the rise of Sher Shah.

Alauddin Husain Shah (reign 1494–1519):

• He founded the Hussain Shahi dynasty.
• He became the ruler of Bengal after assassinating the Abyssinian Sultan, Muzaffar Shah, whom he had served under as wazir.
• After his death in 1519 his son Nusrat Shah succeeded him.
• Husain Shah’s long reign was a period of peace and prosperity.
• Initial administrative actions: 
  • Immediately after accession, Husain Shah ordered his soldiers to desist from pillaging Gaur, his capital city.
    • But when they continued to do so, he executed many soldiers and recovered the pillaged articles, which included 13,000 gold plates.
  • Next, he disbanded the paiks (the palace guards), who were the most significant agitators inside the palace.
  • He removed all Habshis from administrative posts and replaced them with Turks, Arabs, Afghans and the local people.
• Engagement with the Delhi Sultanate: 
  • Hussain Shah Sharqi, after being defeated by Bahlol Lodi, retired to Bihar, where he was confined to a small territory.
    • In 1494, he was again defeated by Sikandar Lodi and fled to Bengal, where he was granted asylum by Sultan Ala-ud-Din Husain Shah.
  • This resulted in an expedition against Bengal in 1495 by Sikandar Lodi.
    • The armies of Delhi and Bengal met at Barh near Patna.
    • Sikandar Lodi halted the advance of his army and concluded a treaty of friendship with Ala-ud-din Husain Shah.
    • According to this agreement, the area west of Barh went to Sikandar Lodi while the area east of Barh remained under Husain Shah of Bengal.
  • The final dissolution of the Jaunpur Sultanate resulted in the influx of the Jaunpur soldiery in the Bengal army, which was further strengthened by it.
• Hussain Shah tried to extend his territories in the north into Assam, in the south-west towards Orissa, and south-east towards Chittagaon and Arakan.
  • He was most successful in extending his empire towards Chittagaon and Arakan.
  • Control over the port of Chittagaon was an important link with the overseas trade with south-east Asia, extending upto China, on the one hand, and with Africa on the other.
• Kamata-Kamrup expedition:
  • Husain Shah’s general Shah Ismail Ghazi led an expedition to the Kamata kingdom and annexed the territory up to Hajo.
  • They took Nilambara, the king of Kamata as prisoner and pillaged the capital city. This was publicly recorded in an inscription at Malda.
• Orissa campaigns:
  • Shah Ismail Ghazi commenced his campaign from the Mandaran fort (in Hooghly district) in 1508-9 and reached Puri, raiding Jajpur and Katak on the way.
  • The Gajapati ruler of Orissa, Prataparudra was busy in a campaign in the south.
    • On hearing this news, he returned and defeated the invading Bengal army. He reached the Mandaran fort and besieged it, but failed to take it.
  • Intermittent hostilities between the Bengal and Orissa armies along the border continued throughout the reign of Husain Shah.
• The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, arrived India by sea in 1498.
  • Consequently a Portuguese mission came to Bengal to establish diplomatic relations towards the end of Husain Shah’s reign.

Cultural contribution: 

• The reign of Husain Shah witnessed a remarkable development of Bengali literature.
• Under the patronage of Paragal Khan, Husain Shah’s governor of Chittagong:
  • Kabindra Parameshvar wrote his Pandabbijay, a Bengali adaptation of the Mahabharata and eulogised Husain Shah as the incarnation of Krishna in the Kaliyuga.
• Under the patronage of Paragal’s son Chhuti Khan, who succeeded his father as governor of Chittagong, Shrikar Nandi wrote another Bengali adaptation of the Mahabharata.
• Bijay Gupta wrote his Manasamangal Kavya also during his reign. He eulogised Husain Shah by comparing him with Arjuna.
• An official of Husain Shah, Yashoraj Khan, wrote a number of Vaishnava padas and he also praised his ruler in one of his pada.

Religious tolerance:

• The reign of Husain Shah is also known for religious tolerance towards his Hindu subjects of Bengal.
  • His wazir was a Hindu.
  • The chief physician, the chief of the bodyguard, the master of the mint were all Hindus.
  • The two brothers who were Vaishnavas, Rupa and Sanatan, held high posts, one of them being the sultan’s private secretary.
  • Krittibas, the translator of Ramanayana into Bengali, was closely associated with Sanatan.
• However, during his Orissa campaigns, he destroyed Hindu temples.
• The celebrated saint, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his followers preached the Bhakti cult throughout Bengal during his reign.
  • When Husain Shah came to know about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s huge following amongst his subjects, he ordered his qazis not to injure him in any way and allow him to go wherever he liked.
  • Later, two high level Hindu officers in his administration, his Private Secretary, (Dabir-i-Khas) Rupa Goswami and his Intimate Minister (Saghir Malik) Sanatana Goswami became devoted followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Language:

• The Sultans also patronised the Bengali language.
• The celebrated poet, Maladhar Basu, compiler of Sri Krishna-Vijaya, was patronised by the sultans and was granted the title of Gunaraja Khan.
  • His son was honoured with the title of Satyaraja Khan.
• The most significant period for the growth of the Bengali language was the rule of Alauddin Hussain (1493-1519).
  • Some of the famous Bengali writers of the time flourished under his rule.
  • A brilliant period began under the enlightened rule of Alauddin Hussain.
  • Some of the nobles of Alauddin Hussain gave patronage to Bengali poets.