Jalaluddin Fateh Shah ( bn, জলালউদ্দীন ফতেহ শাহ, fa, ) was the last ruler of later

Ilyas Shahi dynasty The Ilyas Shahi dynasty ( bn, ইলিয়াস শাহী খান্দান, fa, الیاس شاهی خاندان) was the first independent dynasty to set the foundations of the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal. Hailing ...

of 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 ...

reigning from 1481 to 1487. He was the uncle and successor of Sultan

Shamsuddin Yusuf Shah Shamsuddin Yusuf Shah ( fa, شمس الدین یوسف شاه, bn, শামসউদ্দীন ইউসুফ শাহ) was the Sultan of Bengal from 1474 to 1481. He belonged to the Ilyas Shahi dynasty and was the successor of his father, ...

Early life and family

Fateh was born in the 14th-century into an aristocratic

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

family in the

. His forefathers – the Ilyas Shahis – were the inaugural dynasty of Bengal. Despite his family's long presence in the region, historians such as

Ghulam Husain Salim Ğulām Husayn "Salīm" Zaydpūrī was a historian who migrated to Bengal and was employed there as a postmaster to the English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded ...

assert that Fateh's ancestors were of

Sistan Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan (N ...

i origin, hailing from what is now eastern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. His predecessors lost control of Bengal to the

Ganesha dynasty The House of Ganesha ( bn, বনী গণেশ, Banī Gaṇesh, fa, ) was the second royal house of the late medieval Sultanate of Bengal. It is named after its founder Raja Ganesha, a wealthy Hindu nobleman, who succeeded the former Ilyas ...

, and his father,

Mahmud Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 199 ...

, was a farmer of rural Bengal in his early life. Following a coup in 1435, the nobles of Bengal installed Fateh's father to the throne, thus re-establishing Ilyas Shahi rule in Bengal.

Accession and reign

Fateh Shah's accession occurred in 1481, as the nobles of Bengal deemed his brother Nuruddin Sikandar Shah to be mentally unfit. No reference of military expedition led by Fateh Shah is found. But from the numismatic evidence it can be presumed that his kingdom extended to

Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...

in the northeast and to the river Damodar in the southwest. During his reign, the

Habshi The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, or Habshi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most whom arrived to ...

s took important and influential positions in his court. Fateh Shah took some measures to take back control. But a conspiracy rose against him and later he was assassinated by the commander of the

palace-guards, Shahzada Barbak, in 1487. By his death, the rule of

Ilyas dynasty The Ilyas Shahi dynasty ( bn, ইলিয়াস শাহী খান্দান, fa, الیاس شاهی خاندان) was the first independent dynasty to set the foundations of the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal. Hailin ...

came to an end.

References

1487 deaths Year of birth unknown 15th-century Indian monarchs Ilyas Shahi dynasty 15th-century Bengalis {{India-royal-stub

Early life and family

Accession and reign

See also

References