Kalapahar ( bn, কালাপাহাড়; died 24 April 1583), also known by his
daak naam
Personal names in Bengali-speaking countries consist of one or several given names and a surname.
The given is usually gender-specific. A name is usually cited in the " Western order" of "given name, surname". Personal names may depend genera ...
Raju ( bn, রাজু),
was a military general of the
Sultanate of Bengal
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 ...
under the
Karrani dynasty
The Karrani dynasty ( ps, کرلاڼي, Karlāṇī, bn, কররাণী, Korrāṇī) was founded in 1564 by Taj Khan Karrani, an ethnic Pashtun from the Karlani tribe, hailing from Bangash district. It was the last dynasty to rule the Sultan ...
. He is credited for conquering
Orissa
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...
, which remained under
Muslim rule up until the
British conquest of India.
Family and background
Kalapahar was born in the 16th-century. The contemporary ''Makhzan-i-Afghani'' by
Khwaja Niamatullah mentions his alias being "Raju", from which the orientalists
Heinrich Blochmann
Heinrich Blochmann, known as Henry Ferdinand Blochmann (8 January 1838 – 13 July 1878), was a German orientalist and scholar of Persian language and literature who spent most of his career in India, where he worked first as a professor, and event ...
and
Henry Beveridge deduce a
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
origin, and this is also backed up by local folklore. The colonial administrator and author
Edward Albert Gait
Sir Edward Albert Gait (1863–1950) was an administrator in the Indian Civil Service who rose to serve as Lieutenant-Governor of the Bihar and Orissa Province in the Bengal Presidency of British India. He held that office for the years 1915–19 ...
further describes him as a "
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
renegade".
Military campaigns
With the growing influence of the
Mughal Empire
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 ...
, the
Sultan of Bengal
The Sultanate of Bengal (Middle Bengali language, 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 centu ...
,
Sulaiman Khan Karrani, decided to send an expedition to annex
Orissa
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...
under the leadership of his son
Bayazid Khan Karrani and general Kalapahar. They defeated and killed King
Mukunda Deva
Mukunda Deva or Mukunda Harichandana (1559-1568 A.D) was the founder of "Chalukya dynasty" in ancient Orissa (now Odisha). He traced his descent from the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. He was the sole monarch of his dynasty and the last independent ...
. Kalapahar then proceeded to led a contingent deep into the Orissa kingdom to subjugate it further, reaching as far as
Puri
Puri () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is als ...
.
According to
Jadunath Sarkar
Sir Jadunath Sarkar (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty.
Academic career
Sarkar was born in Karachmaria village in Natore, Bengal to Rajkumar Sarkar, the local Zamindar ...
, Kalapahar's army raided the
Jagannath Temple
The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu - one of the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. The present temple was rebuilt f ...
for its wealth. The ''Makhzan-i-Afghani'' by
Khwaja Niamatullah mentions that the army took large amounts of gold from the temple.
The Orissa expedition made northern Bengal vulnerable to attacks from
Cooch Behar
Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in the ...
under the Koch king
Shukladhwaja. Kalapahar then led an army towards Cooch Behar, imprisoning Shukladhwaja and besieging his capital. However, Karrani feared invasions from the
Mughal Army
The Army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 15th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselves, ...
towards the west, and ordered Kalapahar to withdraw and restore the status quo. Subsequently, Shukladhwaja was freed in 1568.
In 1575, the Sultan's son Bayazid was treacherously murdered. Kalapahar rallied around Daud Karrani who ascended to the throne of the Bengal Sultanate.
At the
Battle of Tukaroi
The Battle of Tukaroi, also known as the Battle of Bajhaura or the Battle of Mughulmari, was fought between the Mughal Empire and the Bengal Sultanate on 3 March 1575 near the village of Tukaroi in present-day Balasore District of Odisha. It r ...
in March 1575, Kalapahar drove out the Mughal outpost in
Ghoraghat
Ghoraghat ( bn, ঘোড়াঘাট) is an upazila of Dinajpur District in the Division of Rangpur, Bangladesh.
History
Ghoraghat was established in the time of Bakhtlar Khilji (see Blochmanu's Contr., J.A.S,1873, p. 215, Tabaqat-i-Na ...
although the Mughals were eventually victorious. Daud signed the Treaty of Cuttack which formally ceded the entire Sultanate to the
Mughal Empire
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 ...
except Orissa.
[The History of India: The Hindú and Mahometan Periods By Mountstuart Elphinstone, Edward Byles Cowell, Published by J. Murray, 1889, Public Domain] However, the treaty was broken after the death of Mughal general
Munim Khan
Munʿim Khān ( fa, ) was a Mughal general under both emperors Humayun and Akbar. He was titled ''Khān-i-Khānān'' ('Khan of Khans') when Emperor Akbar appointed him as Prime Minister of the Mughal Empire in 1560. In 1564, he became the Su ...
in October, and thus continued the Mughal-Karrani conflict. At the
Battle of Rajmahal
The Battle of Rajmahal ( bn, রাজমহলের জঙ্গ) was a battle that took place between the Mughal Empire and the Karrani Dynasty that ruled the Bengal Sultanate, Sultanate of Bengal in the 16th century. The battle resulted in a ...
in July 1576, Kalapahar led the right wing of Daud's army. After the death of Junaid Khan by cannon, Kalapahar and his forces escaped alongside Qutlu Khan who was leading the vanguard. Though the battle marked the fall of the
Karrani dynasty
The Karrani dynasty ( ps, کرلاڼي, Karlāṇī, bn, কররাণী, Korrāṇī) was founded in 1564 by Taj Khan Karrani, an ethnic Pashtun from the Karlani tribe, hailing from Bangash district. It was the last dynasty to rule the Sultan ...
, Kalapahar continued to show resistance against the Mughals.
Mirza Aziz Koka
Mirzā `Azīz Kokah ( fa, میرزا عزیز کوکه; ), also known as Kokaltāsh ( fa, کوکلتاش) and by his sobriquet Khān-i-A`zam ( fa, خان اعظم ''The Greatest Khan''), was the foster brother of Akbar, who remained one of the lea ...
launched a third conquest of Bengal in 1583. During this conquest, Kalapahar rode a
war elephant
A war elephant was an elephant that was trained and guided by humans for combat. The war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elephant ...
and led 800 cavalry. He died due to gunshot on 24 April.
Legacy
Kalapahar became a commonly mentioned figure in 19th-century fictional
Bengali literature
Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...
.
[ The ''Kalapahar'' novel, by ]Girish Chandra Ghosh
Girish Chandra Ghosh (28 February 1844 – 8 February 1912) was a Bengali actor, director, and writer. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre.Kundu, Pranay K. ''Development of Stage and Theatre Music in Bengal.'' Publ ...
, is about a Hindu boy named Kalachand who falls in love with Rukhsana, a supposed daughter of Sultan Sulaiman Khan Karrani, but is guided by Jagannath
Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...
to a girl named Chintamoni instead. In 1961, Subodh Ghosh
Subodh Ghosh (14 September 1909 – 10 March 1980) was a noted Indian author of Bengali literature and a journalist with the Kolkata-based daily newspaper ''Ananda Bazar Patrika''. Born at Hazaribagh on 14 September 1909, now in Jharkhand, he st ...
wrote a short story titled "''Ekti Shopner Ahban''" which focues on the transition of a boy named Rajiblochan Ray, lovingly called Raju, who later converted to Islam, taking the name Kalapahar and becoming the general and son-in-law of the Muslim ruler of Bengal. Other fictional novels and plays written on Kalapahar include those written by Bidhubhushan Basu, Mohitlal Majumdar
Mohitlal Majumdar (Bengali: মোহিতলাল মজুমদার; 26 October 1888 – 26 July 1952) was a renowned Indian poet and essayist in the Bengali-language. He began his journey as a poet, but later became literary critic.
Li ...
, Mukunda Das and Purnachandra Kanungo.
The term ''Kalapahar'' (or ''Black Mountain'' in English) has come to mean ''iconoclast
Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...
'' among the Hindu population in Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
and Northeast India
, native_name_lang = mni
, settlement_type =
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, motto =
, image_map = Northeast india.png
, ...
. It has also been used derogatorily against Bengali Muslims
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 ...
and other Muslims of the eastern part of the subcontinent. In March 2021, the Indian Minister of Home Affairs
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
Amit Shah
Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...
referred to AIUDF
The All India United Democratic Front (also known as AIUDF and ''Sarva Bharatiya Sanyukt Ganatantric Morcha'') is a political party active in the Indian state of Assam. It is the 3rd largest political party in Assam Legislative Assembly after B ...
leader Badruddin Ajmal
M. Badruddin Ajmal (born 12 February 1950) is an Indian businessman, politician, philanthropist and Islamic theologian from the state of Assam. He is the state-president of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind for Assam.
Biography
Ajmal was born on 12 Februar ...
as ''Kalapahar'' and as an infiltrator.
See also
* History of Bengal
The history of Bengal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It includes modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam's Karimganj ...
* History of Odisha
Human history in Odisha begins in the Lower Paleolithic era, as Acheulian tools dating to the period have been discovered in various places in the region. The early history of Odisha can be traced back to the mentions found in ancient texts l ...
* History of India
According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...
* Bengali Muslims
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 ...
References
Bibliography
*
*{{cite book, last=Salim, first=Gulam Hussain, editor=Abdus Salam , title=Riyazu-s-Salatin: History of Bengal, url=https://archive.org/details/riyazussalatinhi00saliuoft/page/n13/mode/2up, year=1902, publisher=Asiatic Society, Baptist Mission Press, pages=137
History of Odisha
1583 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Sunni Muslims
Bengali Muslims
16th-century Bengalis
16th-century Indian Muslims
Bengal Sultanate officers
Generals of the medieval Islamic world