The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা, romanization: Śāhī Bāṅgālā, lit. 'Royal/Imperial Bengal') was a late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th centuries. It was the dominant power of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, with a network of mint towns spread across the region. The Bengal Sultanate had a circle of vassal states in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, including parts of Odisha in the southwest, parts of Bihar in the northwest, parts of Assam in the northeast, Arakan in the southeast, and Tripura in the east.
The sultanate controlled large parts of eastern South Asia under its five unrelated dynasties, reaching its peak under Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah. Its raids and conquests reached Nepal in the north, Brahmaputra Valley (modern-day Assam) in the east, and Jaunpur and Varanasi in the west. It was reputed as a thriving trading nation. Its decline began with an interregnum by the Sur Empire, followed by Mughal conquest and disintegration into petty kingdoms. The Bengal Sultanate was a Sunni Muslim monarchy with Bengali, Turco-Persian, Afghan, and Abyssinian elites. The most prominent dynasties were the Ilyas Shahi, House of Ganesha, and Hussain Shahi. The kingdom was known for its religious pluralism, where non-Muslim communities coexisted peacefully. While Persian was used as the primary official, diplomatic, and commercial language, it was under the Sultans that Bengali first received court recognition as an official language. The cities of the Bengal Sultanate are termed mint towns where the historical taka was minted. These cities were adorned with stately medieval buildings. In 1500, the royal capital of Gaur was the fifth-most populous city in the world. Other notable cities included the initial royal capital of Pandua, the economic hub of Sonargaon, the Mosque City of Bagerhat, and the seaport and trading hub of Chittagong. The Bengal Sultanate was connected to states in Asia, Africa, the Indian Ocean, and Europe through maritime links and overland trade routes. The Bengal Sultanate was a major trading center on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It attracted immigrants and traders from different parts of the world. Bengali ships and merchants traded across the region, including in Malacca, China, and the Maldives.
Contemporary European and Chinese visitors described the Bengal Sultanate as a prosperous and thriving kingdom. Due to the abundance of goods in Bengal, the region was described as the "richest country to trade with". The Bengal Sultanate left a strong architectural legacy. Buildings from the period show foreign influences merged into a distinct Bengali style. The Bengal Sultanate was also the largest and most prestigious authority among the independent medieval Muslim-ruled states in the history of Bengal.
History
Background (13th and 14th centuries)
Bengal was gradually absorbed into the Delhi Sultanate during the 1200s. It began with Bakhtiyar's 1202–1204 conquest of Gauda during the reign of Muhammad of Ghor. This saw the beginning of the rise of Turko-Afghans in the Indian subcontinent. Bakhityar Khalji served as a military general of the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor. He formed the Khalji dynasty of Bengal. After the assassination of Bakhtiar Khalji by his own officer Ali Mardan in 1206, Bengal was administered by various Maliks belonging to the Khalji tribe (except a brief interregnum by Ali Mardan himself) until Delhi Sultan Iltutmish sent forces under his son, Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud, to bring Bengal under the direct control of the Delhi Sultans. Iltutmish declared Bengal as a province of Delhi in 1225. The Delhi Sultans attempted to govern Bengal through appointed governors, however, Delhi could not succeed given the considerable overland distance with Bengal. Ambitious governors rebelled and ruled as independent rulers until being suppressed militarily by the Delhi Sultanate. However, there were capable rulers among the rebels, including Yuzbak Shah (1257), Tughral Khan (1271–1282), and Shamsuddin Firoz Shah (1301–1322). The latter achieved the Conquest of Sylhet and established a strong administration in eastern and south-western Bengal. In 1325, the Delhi Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq reorganized the province into three administrative regions, with Sonargaon ruling eastern Bengal, Gauda ruling northern Bengal, and Satgaon ruling southern Bengal. Even this arrangement broke down. By 1338, the three administrative regions had separatist sultans, including Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah in Sonargaon, Alauddin Ali Shah in Gauda, and Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah in Satgaon. Fakhruddin conquered Chittagong in 1340 and was succeeded by his son Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah in 1349. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah (or just Ilyas Shah) defeated Alauddin Ali Shah and secured control of Gauda. He then defeated Ikhtiyaruddin of Sonargaon. By 1352, Ilyas Shah emerged victorious among the Bengali triad.
Early Bengal Sultanate (14th and 15th centuries)
Ilyas Shah established his capital in Pandua. He unified the deltas of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers into the Sultanate of Bengal. Ilyas Shah waged wars and raids against several city-states and kingdoms in the eastern subcontinent. He conquered eastern Bengal and northern Bihar. He led the first Muslim army into Nepal, raided the Kathmandu Valley, and returned to Bengal with treasures. He controlled an area stretching from Assam in the east to Varanasi in the west. In 1353, Ilyas Shah was defeated by Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq in the Siege of Ekdala Fort during the Ekdala Wars. Bengal agreed to pay a tribute to the Delhi Sultan. Despite losing control of many conquered areas, Ilyas Shah remained in firm control of Bengal.
Ilyas Shah founded the Ilyas Shahi dynasty, which ruled Bengal for fifteen decades. His son and successor, Sikandar Shah, defeated Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq during the second Siege of Ekdala Fort in 1359. A peace treaty was signed between Delhi and Bengal, with the former recognizing the independence of the latter. Firuz Shah Tughluq gave a golden crown estimated to be worth 80,000 taka to Sikandar Shah. The peace treaty ensured Bengal's independence for two centuries.
Sikandar Shah's reign lasted three decades. The Adina Mosque was built during his reign. The mosque's design was based on the Great Mosque of Damascus, a style used during the introduction of Islam in new areas. During this time, much of the agricultural land was controlled by Hindu zamindars, which caused tensions with Muslim taluqdars.
The third Sultan, Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah, began expanding Bengal's influence abroad. He began to send embassies to Ming China, which continued as a tradition during the reigns of his successors. Ghiyasuddin also sponsored construction projects in Arabia. He exchanged letters and poetry with the Persian poet Hafez. The Bengal Sultans pledged nominal allegiance to the Abbasid Caliphate in Cairo. The coins of the Bengal Sultans often bore the name of the contemporary Abbasid Caliph. Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah held his court in the central Bengali city of Sonargaon, in addition to Pandua. The travel accounts of Chinese envoys state that the Sultan lived in a palace near the river port of Sonargaon. The river port had shipping links to China, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. In 1406, Ma Huan found Sonargaon as a large metropolis. Other Chinese envoys provided descriptions of a fortified walled city. Sonargaon was a centre of Sufi education and Persian literature, and Azam Shah even invited Hafez to settle there. The institutions founded by Abu Tawwama during the Delhi Sultanate were maintained by his successors in the Bengal Sultanate, including the Sufi preachers Ibrahim Danishmand, Saiyid Arif Billah, Muhammad Kamel, Saiyid Muhammad Yusuf, and others.
In the 14th century, Islamic kingdoms stretched from Muslim Spain in the west to the Indian subcontinent in the east. The Islamic kingdoms had multiethnic elites. Persian and Arabic were used alongside local languages. Persian was used as a diplomatic and commercial language. Arabic was the liturgical language of the clergy. In Bengal, the Bengali language became a court language and was the main vernacular language under Muslim rule.
Rise of native Ganesha dynasty (15th century)
During the early 15th century, the Ilyas Shahi rule was challenged by Raja Ganesha, a powerful Hindu landowner, who managed to place his son (a convert to Islam), Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, on the throne. Jalaluddin had a relatively short-lived but significant reign, during which he helped an Arakanese king to achieve the reconquest of Arakan. Jalaluddin established control over Fatehabad. Jalaluddin also promoted more native Bengali elements into the architecture and governance of the sultanate. He was initially loyal to the Abbasid Caliph but later declared himself as the Caliph of Allah. The Ilyas Shahi dynasty was restored in 1432.
Nine kings ruled Bengal from Pandua over the course of ten decades. They built palaces, forts, bridges, mosques, and mausoleums. Chinese envoy Ma Huan described the city at the time in his travel accounts, which state that "the city walls are very imposing, the bazaars well-arranged, the shops side by side, the pillars in orderly rows, they are full of every kind of goods". Pandua was an export centre for cloth and wine. At least six varieties of fine muslin and four types of wine were found in Pandua. High-quality paper was produced from the bark of Pandua's mulberry trees. Sultan Mahmud Shah of Bengal shifted the capital from Pandua to Gaur in 1450. One of the probable reasons behind the move was a change in the course of nearby rivers.
The reign of Mahmud Shah witnessed greater control over the Sundarbans. The governor of the Sundarbans, Khan Jahan Ali, built the mint town of Khalifatabad. In 1459, Jessore and Khulna became part of the Bengal Sultanate. Like many other officials, Khan Jahan had settled in Bengal after Timur's sack of Delhi. During the reign of Rukunuddin Barbak Shah, the Kingdom of Mrauk U conquered Chittagong. The late 1480s saw four usurper sultans from the Abyssinian mercenary corps. Tensions between different Muslim communities often affected the sultanate.
Regional kingdom (15th and 16th centuries)
Alauddin Hussain Shah gained control of Bengal in 1494 when he was prime minister. Alauddin Husain Shah founded the Hussain Shahi dynasty. Francis Buchanan-Hamilton's writings make mention of a manuscript found in the former Bengali capital of Pandua, which labels Hussain as a native of a village named Devnagar in Rangpur who seized an opportunity to redeem the throne of Bengal that his grandfather, Sultan Ibrahim, had held seventy years prior. The local Bengali traditions make him a native of Rangpur, while other sources describe the dynasty to have Arab Sayyid origins. Nitish Sengupta asserts that Alauddin's mother was a Bengali, crediting Alauddin Hussain Shah with being the first Bengali ruler of Gaur. Alauddin brought an end to a period of instability. As sultan, Hussain Shah ruled until 1519. The dynasty he founded reigned until 1538. Muslims and Hindus jointly served in the royal administration during the Hussain Shahi dynasty. This era is often regarded as the golden age of the Bengal Sultanate, in which Bengali territory included areas of Arakan, Orissa, Tripura, and Assam. Under the order of Hussain Shah, Shah Ismail Ghazi commanded the Bengali forces in the Conquest of Kamata, conquering large parts of Assam. After overthrowing the Hindu Khen dynasty, Prince Danyal was appointed the governor of the new region. Hussain Shah also restored Bengali sovereignty in Chittagong and northern Arakan after the war of 1512–1516. Hussain Shah minted coins with the proclamation "conqueror of Kamrupa, Kamata, Jajnagar and Orissa". According to historian Jadunath Sarkar, a 1513 inscription from Sonargaon indicates that Hussain Shah annexed a part of the Twipra Kingdom. The Pratapgarh Kingdom came under Bengali suzerainty. Hussain Shah also waged several campaigns against the Gajapati rulers of Orissa. Hussain Shah extended Bengali territory in the west beyond Bihar, up to Saran in Jaunpur. The Sultan of Jaunpur took refuge in Bengal after an invasion by the Lodi dynasty of Delhi. The Delhi Sultan attacked Bengal in pursuit of the Jaunpur Sultan. Unable to make headway, the Delhi Sultan withdrew after concluding a peace treaty with Bengal. Under Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah, the Sultanate pushed into the Mithila region and annexed the ruling Oiniwar dynasty in 1526, with the ruler of the Oiniwars, Laksminathasimha, being killed in battle.
Embassies from Portuguese India frequented Bengal after the landing of Vasco Da Gama in the principality of Calicut. Individual Portuguese merchants are recorded to have lived in the Bengal Sultanate's capital of Gaur. Portuguese politics played out in Gaur as a reflection of contradictions in contemporary Portugal. The Portuguese provided vivid descriptions of Gaur. They compared the affluence of Gaur with Lisbon. The city included a citadel, a royal palace and durbar, mosques, houses for the rich, and bustling bazaars. Portuguese historian Castenhada de Lopez described the houses of Gaur as being one-storeyed with ornamental floor tiles, courtyards, and gardens. Gaur was the centre of regional politics. The Sultan of Bengal gave permission for establishing the Portuguese settlement in Chittagong. During the period of the Iberian Union, there was no official Portuguese sovereignty over Chittagong. The Portuguese trading post was dominated by pirates who allied with the Arakanese against Bengal.
Decline (16th century)
The absorption of Bengal into the Mughal Empire was a gradual process. It began with the defeat of Bengal forces under Sultan Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah by the first Mughal ruler Babur at the Battle of Ghaghra. The second Mughal ruler, Humayun, occupied the Bengal capital of Gaur during the invasion of Sher Shah Suri against both the Mughals and Bengal Sultans. Humayun later took refuge in the Safavid Empire in Persia. Sher Shah Suri, of Afghan origin, succeeded in conquering Bengal, forming the Sur Empire. During this period, the Grand Trunk Road was renovated, while the Sur rulers placed successive governors in Bengal. The third governor, Muhammad Khan Sur, declared independence after the death of Islam Shah Suri. Muhammad Khan ended the interrupting period of Delhi's rule and re-established the Bengal Sultanate under the Muhammad Shahi dynasty, which was also of Afghan origin.