Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji

Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji , full name Ikhtiyar ad-Din Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji ; Persian: اختيار الدين محمد بن بختيار الخلجي ; Bengali ইখতিয়ার উদ্দিন মুহম্মদ বিন বখতিয়ার খিলজী (* around 1160 in Garmsir , Afghanistan ; † around 1206 in Devkot , Bengal ) was a Turkmen- born usurper in the north and northeast of India .

biography

Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji was a member of the Khilji or Khalji tribe, which had long lived in southern Afghanistan. Later sources claim that he was of simple birth and had an unfavorable appearance. Around the year 1193 he set out with a few followers in the direction of India to join the Ghurid army under the general Qutb ud-Din Aibak ; however, he was denied officer rank. Thereupon he turned to the east and joined the ruler Maklik Hizbar al-Din , who resided in Badaun ; but a short time later he went to the province of Avadh and joined the military commander Malik Husam al-Din , who appreciated his services and gave him real estate near Mirzapur . Here he recruited some fighters and undertook raids in the neighboring regions. According to Buddhist sources , he is said to have destroyed the city and university of Nalanda in the province of Bihar .

In the years 1202/3 (according to other sources as early as 1200/01) he succeeded in taking all of Bihar, but a short time later he turned against the more fertile and wealthier Bengal . The conquest of the city of Nabadwip is said to have taken place so quickly that only 18 of his men were able to follow him; after that he conquered the old capital Gaur and was now de facto ruler of Bengal. But his urge to conquer knew no bounds - in 1206 he undertook a campaign from Devkot to Tibet (probably more likely Nepal ), from where he was repulsed, however; with only 100 men he returned to Devkot, where he was murdered.

meaning

The unauthorized, d. H. Without a politico-military mandate, the conquest of large parts of northeast India by Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji has the character of a raid but also that of a jihad ; in some texts there is even talk of massacres. In this respect, he is viewed by the Muslims in northern India and Bangladesh as a religious fighter and hero, but by the Hindus as a criminal terrorist.

buildings

Although nothing of the kind can be documented or structurally proven, various mosques and medersa in Bengal and Bangladesh are traced back to Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji.

Others

• The north Indian city of Bakhtiarpur in Bihar is named after him.
• The Bengali writer Al Mahmud wrote a poem called Bakhtiyarer Ghora ("The Horses of Bakhtiyar") in the 1990s .

literature

• RC Majumdar and Jadunath Sarkar: The History of Bengal (Volume II): Muslim Period. BR Publishing, Delhi 2003, ISBN 978-81-76462-37-2 .
• Satish Chandra: Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526). Part 1, Har-Anand Publications, Delhi 2007, pp. 41-43, ISBN 978-81-24112-67-0 .
• Muhammad Mojlum Khan: The Muslim Heritage of Bengal: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of Great Muslim Scholars, Writers and Reformers of Bangladesh and West Bengal. Kube Publishing Ltd. 2013, ISBN 978-1-847-74052-6 .

Web links

• Bakhtiyar Khilji conquest of Bengal - photos, links + info (English)