Khiḍr Khān Surak ( bn, খিজির খান সুরক, Khizir Khan Shurok, fa, خضر خان سرک) was the governor of
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 ...
from 1539 to 1541 CE.
History
When
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 ...
ascended to the throne of
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
in 1539, he appointed Khan to govern the province of Bengal.
In 1541,
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 ...
, who recognised the importance of the Bengal province for the development 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 ...
, was informed of a number of Khan's treacherous acts. He was informed of Khan's marriage to a daughter of
Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah ( bn, গিয়াসউদ্দীন মাহমুদ শাহ, fa, غیاث الدین محمود شاه) was the last Sultan of the Hussain Shahi dynasty of the Bengal Sultanate, reigning from 1533 to 1538 CE. ...
, who was the late Sultan 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 ...
's former
Hussain Shahi dynasty
The Hussain Shahi dynasty ( bn, হোসেন শাহী খান্দান, fa, حسين شاهی خاندان) was a family which ruled the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal from 1494 to 1538.
History
The dynasty's founder, ...
that Suri defeated in 1538. It is thought that Khan married the late Sultan's daughter as a method to claim independence and be known as the rightful sovereign heir of the Hussain Shahi dynasty. Suri set off for Bengal to deal with Khan. Upon reaching him, Suri questioned Khan on why he married the princess without his consent and why he was sat on the ''Tawqi'' (raised platform) as the independent
Sultans 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 ...
used to do.
As a result of Khan's treachery, Suri swiftly dismissed him as governor and imprisoned him. Suri then divided Bengal into numerous administrative units each governed by a Muqta and then appointed
Qazi Fazilat of
Agra
Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
as the Chief of all of the Muqtas of Bengal.
[KingListsFarEast]
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See also
*List of rulers of Bengal
This is a list of rulers of Bengal. For much of its history, Bengal was split up into several independent kingdoms, completely unifying only several times. In ancient times, Bengal consisted of the kingdoms of Pundra, Suhma, Vanga, Samatata a ...
*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 Bangladesh
Civilisational history of Bangladesh previously known as East Bengal, dates back over four millennia, to the Chalcolithic. The country's early documented history featured successions of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms and empires, vying for region ...
*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 ...
References
{{reflist
Governors of Bengal
16th-century Indian Muslims