Gajpati Ujjainiya (also known as Gajpati Sahi or Gajjan Sahi) (1484-1577) was a chieftain of the

Ujjainiya The Ujjainiya Parmār (also spelled as Ujjaini or simply Ujjainiya) are a Rajput clan that inhabits the state of Bihar. They are considered to have played a prominent role in the political history of medieval Bihar with many of their strongholds ...

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

clan and also a commander in the army of

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری) (1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان) , was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...

, the ruler of the

Sur Empire The Sur Empire ( ps, د سرو امپراتورۍ, dë sru amparāturəi; fa, امپراطوری سور, emperâturi sur) was an Afghan dynasty which ruled a large territory in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent for nearly 16 year ...

. He was the first Ujjainiya chief to have a continued battle with

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

Early life

Gajpati was the son of the Ujjainiya chief, Badal Singh and the nephew of Dalpat Sah. Following a war of succession, Gajpati, his mother and his brother, Bairi Sal were banished and Shivram Singh became the chief of the Ujjainiyas. In 1532, his mother requested

to help her sons get back their chieftaincy. With the support of Sher Shah Suri, Gajpati defeated and killed Shivram Singh and came into power in 1534. There are differing views on the original main seat of the Ujjainiya chief. Some sources claim him to be Raja of Uchna, Bihiya and Bhojpur while others as Dawa village in Bihiya.

Battle of Surajgarha

The Ujjainiyas under the leadership of Raja Gajpati helped

in the battle of Surajgarha against the

Bengal sultanate The Sultanate of Bengal ( Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was the dominan ...

who at the time were a major regional power. Raja Gajpati handpicked 2000 of his best men and was able to help Sher Shah Suri in achieving victory. General Ibrahim Khan was killed by Raja Gajpati and all the camp equipment, elephants and artillery pieces of the Bengal army fell into the hands of Ujjainiyas. In return for their help, the Ujjainiyas were entitled to any of the spoils of war that they looted from the defeated army. Sher Shah also assigned Buxar to him as a reward and gifted a sword to his brother, Bairi Sal.

Aftermath

Following the battle, Gajpati was embroiled in another familial feud with Birbhan of Arail who requested Emperor

Humayun Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern ...

in gaining the throne of Bhojpur in 1538. Humayun provided him with some retainers and they succeeded in driving Gajpati out of his stronghold. Birbhan also supported Humayun in his clashes with Sher Shah Suri as a result of this. Gajpati in turn, after being dispossessed from his estate, joined Sher Shah Suri and possibly took a leading role in the

Battle of Chausa The Battle of Chausa was a notable military engagement between the Mughal Emperor, Humayun, and the Afghan warlord, Sher Shah Suri. It was fought on 26 June 1539 at Chausa, 10 miles southwest of Buxar in modern-day Bihar, India. Sher Shah Suri wa ...

. He then managed to recapture his estate and made

Jagdishpur Jagdishpur is a nagar panchayat town of the district Bhojpur of the state of Bihar in eastern India. It was the capital of the eponymous Jagdishpur estate, ruled by Rajputs of the Ujjainiya clan. One of its rulers, Kunwar Singh, was a major f ...

his capital and constructed a fortress there. After the defeat of

, Gajpati extended his boundaries till Jaunpur, becoming the most powerful chief of North-west Bihar. Later in his life, he eventually did ally with the Mughals in their offensive against Afghans in Bihar but oftentimes kept raising the standard of rebellion.

References

Sur Empire 1484 births 1577 deaths Rajputs {{DEFAULTSORT:Ujjainia, Gajpati