Islamization of Bengal (12th century A.D.)
Bakhtiyar Khalji ended an unbroken Hindu rule over Bengal in 1204 when he defeated Lakshman Sena. But 200 years later, the Muslim rule too faced an interruption.
When Sultan Bayazid died around 1414, an immensely influential zamindar named Raja Ganesh decided to make his move.
Raja Ganesh was already a bit of a kingmaker in what was called the Ilyas Shahi regime. With the death of Bayazid, he realized there was no starting enough successor and he didn’t really need to crown another Ilyas Shahi dynasty.
The coup was a cakewalk. Of course the Muslims did not like the development. Enter Shaikh Nur Qutb Alam, the most influential Sufi saint in Bengal.
Don’t let the word “Sufi” warm your cockles. Think whirling dervishes and Ganga-Jamuni mysticism? Lose all such ideas. This one here was every bit as political, as fanatical as the garden variety Ladens and Baghdadis of today.
The saint was so disgusted by the “infidel” takeover that he wrote frantic, pleading letters to Sultan Ibrahim Shah Sharqi of the neighboring Jaunpur Sultanate, practically begging him to invade Bengal and save Islamic rule.
If this sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve read about one Shah Waliullah Dehlawi who wrote similar letters to Abdali after Aurangzeb’s death.
Sultan Sharqi happily obliged and marched a massive, overwhelming army toward Bengal. Realizing he was totally outgunned, Raja Ganesha panicked. He went straight to the Sufi and begged him to call off the invasion. Nur Qutb Alam gave him a non-negotiable ultimatum: “I will stop the army, but only if you convert.”
Ganesha had no choice. He said yes. Which made his wife very angry. She absolutely vetoed the idea.
Caught between an invading army, a jihadi Sufi, and a furious wife, the royal couple reached a desperate compromise. They had a 12-year-old son named Jadu. They offered to convert him instead.
Jadu was handed over to the saint, officially converted to Islam, and renamed Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah. Raja Ganesha abdicated, the young Muslim boy was placed on the throne, and the Jaunpur army went home. But the drama? Far from over.
The jihadi Sufi died in 1416, leaving Raja Ganesha with a second window of opportunity. With his primary religious rival out of the picture, Raja Ganesha boldly came out of “retirement.” He deposed his own teenage son and took the throne back, ruling under the grand title “Danujamarddana Deva.”
But what to do with the newly Muslim son?
According to legendary accounts, he desperately wanted to bring Jadu back into the Hindu fold. To cleanse him of his conversion, Ganesha organized a bizarre, incredibly extravagant Vedic purification ritual known as the Suvarna Dhenu or “Golden Cow.” Craftsmen were commissioned to build a life-sized cow out of solid gold. Jadu was literally passed through the golden cow’s mouth and pulled out its rear to simulate being “reborn” as a pure Hindu. The golden statue was then broken into pieces and distributed to the local priests as alms.
All happily back in Hindu fold now, right?
That’s not how Islam works. Despite the golden rebirth, the ritual didn’t stick. Raja Ganesha died shortly after, around 1418. His younger, Hindu son Mahendra tried to succeed him, but Jadu, now firmly identifying as Jalaluddin once again, violently overthrew his brother.
Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah reclaimed the throne as a fanatical Muslim ruler. He gave the remaining Hindu aristocracy the chilling ultimatum of “Quran or death.”
In a wild twist of fate, the boy who was forced to convert to save his Hindu father’s kingdom ended up ruling for 16 years and became one of the most aggressive proponents of Islamization in Bengal’s history.
Muslim rule in Bengal may have started with Khilji, but meaningful Islamization of the territory? Ironically that credits goes to a Hindu who abandoned his roots.