Shāhzāda Bārbak ( bn, শাহজাদা বারবক, fa, , , Prince Barbak), known by his
regnal title
A regnal title is the title held by a monarch while in office. Monarchs can have various titles, including king or queen, prince or princess (Sovereign Prince of Monaco), emperor or empress (Emperor of Japan, Emperor of India), or even duke or gran ...
as Ghiyāsuddīn Bārbak Shāh ( bn, গিয়াসউদ্দীন বারবক শাহ, fa, ), was 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 ...
in 1487 and the founder of the Sultanate's Habshi dynasty. He was a former commander of the palace-guards of
Jalaluddin Fateh Shah
Jalaluddin Fateh Shah ( bn, জলালউদ্দীন ফতেহ শাহ, fa, ) was the last ruler of later Ilyas Shahi dynasty of the Bengal Sultanate reigning from 1481 to 1487. He was the uncle and successor of Sultan Shamsuddin Yusu ...
court.
Biography
During the reign of
Jalaluddin Fateh Shah
Jalaluddin Fateh Shah ( bn, জলালউদ্দীন ফতেহ শাহ, fa, ) was the last ruler of later Ilyas Shahi dynasty of the Bengal Sultanate reigning from 1481 to 1487. He was the uncle and successor of Sultan Shamsuddin Yusu ...
of the
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 ...
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 ...
, some Abyssinian eunuch slaves ended up in important and influential positions in the royal court, many as ''paik''s (palace guards). Barbak was an eunuch and was one of the increasingly powerful of the Abyssinian palace guards, eventually being promoted to commander of the palace-guards. He led a rebellion against Sultan Fateh Shah and killed him.
Shahzada Barbak took power in 1487 and started what was to become a Habshi dynasty of rulers in Bengal. He assumed the title ''Sultan Shahzada''.
Few coins have been discovered bearing his name.
His reign was short-lived, being murdered roughly in the same year as his coronation by
Saifuddin Firuz Shah
Malik Andil Habshi ( bn, মালিক আন্দিল হাবশী), better known by his regnal title Saifuddin Firuz Shah ( bn, সাইফউদ্দীন ফিরুজ শাহ, fa, ) was the second "Habshi" ruler of the Benga ...
, an Abyssinian eunuch who was loyal to the
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 ...
and was commander of the army.
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 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
Sultans of Bengal
1487 deaths
Year of birth unknown
15th-century Indian monarchs
Habshis of Bengal
{{India-royal-stub