Sikandar Khān Ghāzī ( fa, , bn, সিকান্দার খান গাজী) was the first wazir of Srihat under the Lakhnauti Kingdom ruled by

Shamsuddin Firuz Shah Shamsuddin Firuz Shah ( fa, شمس الدين فيروز شاه, bn, শামসুদ্দীন ফিরুজ শাহ, ''Shams Ad-Dīn Firūz Shāh'') (reigned: 1301–1322) was the independent ruler of the Lakhnauti Kingdom. He ascen ...

. Prior to this, Khan was one of the commanders of the Battles of Gour during the

Conquest of Sylhet The Conquest of Sylhet ( bn, শ্রীহট্টের বিজয়, Srīhôtter Bijôy, Conquest of Srihatta) predominantly refers to an Islamic conquest of Srihatta (present-day Sylhet, Bangladesh) led by Sikandar Khan Ghazi, the milit ...

in 1303. Early

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

manuscripts and inscriptions relating to

Shah Jalal Jalāl Mujarrad Kunyāʾī (), popularly known as Shah Jalal, was a celebrated Sufi figure of Bengal. His name is often associated with the Conquest of Sylhet and the spread of Islam into the region, part of a long history of interactions bet ...

name Sikandar Khan Ghazi as well, highlighting his role as a commander in the battles.

Background

Sikandar Khan Ghazi's maternal uncle was the

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

of Lakhnauti,

. He was of

Turco-Persian tradition The composite Turko-Persian, Turco-Persian
''Turko-Persia in historical perspective'', Cambridge University Press, ...

, and entered

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 ...

alongside Firuz.

Career

Sikandar Khan was appointed as a commander of an army and took part in many expeditions across

. He defeated Raja Matuk of the

Sundarbans Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna to the Hooghly R ...

South Bengal South Bengal ( bn, দক্ষিণবঙ্গ/দক্ষিণ বাংলা) is a term used for the southern parts of Bengal including Southern Bangladesh and Southern West Bengal, state in India. The Bangladesh part denotes the Khulna ...

. He accompanied Firuz in the conquests of

Sonargaon Sonargaon ( bn, সোনারগাঁও; pronounced as ''Show-naar-gaa''; lit. ''Golden Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division. Sonargaon is one ...

and

Satgaon Saptagram (Bengali: সপ্তগ্রাম; colloquially called ''Satgaon'') was a major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in t ...

, before reaching the

Sylhet region The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in the Sylhet District of the Assam Province of British India to decide whether the district would remain in Undivided Assam and therefore within the post-independence Dominion of India, or leave Assam for E ...

. Shaykh Burhanuddin, a Muslim living in Tultikar, Gour, notified

of the injustice he was facing and Firuz ordered Sikandar to lead the expedition to

Gour Kingdom The Kingdom of Gour was one of the greater of the many petty kingdoms of the medieval Sylhet region. According to legend, it was founded by Gurak, off-shooting from Kamarupa's Jaintia Kingdom in 630. Much of its early history is considered leg ...

. Sikandar's army, however, were inexperienced in the foreign hilly terrain and had no option but to retreat back to Bengal to avoid casualties. When

arrived in Bengal, Sikandar met him and greeted him with respect. He asked the cleric to join him in the expedition and that it is not the Raja's wealth and property which he wants but rather to propagate

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

in the Sylhet region. With the assistance of Shah Jalal and

Syed Nasiruddin Syed Shah Nasiruddin ( bn, শাহ সৈয়দ নাসিরুদ্দীন, ar, شاه سيد ناصر الدين) was a Sufi saint and military leader associated with the spread of Islam in Bengal in the 14th century. As the commande ...

, the

Conquest of Gour The Conquest of Sylhet ( bn, শ্রীহট্টের বিজয়, Srīhôtter Bijôy, Conquest of Srihatta) predominantly refers to an Islamic conquest of Srihatta (present-day Sylhet, Bangladesh) led by Sikandar Khan Ghazi, the milit ...

was successful. The King of the Gour Kingdom, Raja

Gour Govinda Govinda Fenchu ( bn, গোবিন্দ ফেঞ্চু), better known by his regnal title Gour Gobind ( bn, গৌড় গোবিন্দ) and also known by the sobriquet Shomudro Tonoy ( bn, সমুদ্র তনয়), was the ...

escaped to

Harong Hurong Harong Hurong ( bn, হারং হুরং) is the name of an ancient cave in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. The word ''Harong Hurong'' are the two dialects of two ancient Sylheti word. In Sylheti language, the word 'harong' means narrow or a ...

cave and was never heard of again. Following the conquest, Sikandar was made the wazir and ruled over Sylhet. He reportedly ruled from modern-day Badarpur in

Karimganj Karimganj is a city in the Karimganj District of the Indian state of Assam. It is the administrative headquarters of the district. Karimganj city is located at . The area of Karimganj city is 16.09 km2. It has an average elevation of 13& ...

towards the east of the

. Ghazi's drawing room can be seen in the village of Gorkapon sitting on the banks of the

Barak River The Barak River flows through the states of Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam in India. Further it enters Bangladesh where it bifurcates into the Surma river and the Kushiyara river which converges again to become the Meghna river before for ...

Death

Khan drowned whilst journeying on a boat to catch fish in at the junction of the Surma,

Barak Barak ( or ; he, בָּרָק; Tiberian Hebrew: '' Bārāq''; ar, البُراق ''al-Burāq'' "lightning") was a ruler of Ancient Israel. As military commander in the biblical Book of Judges, Barak, with Deborah, from the Tribe of Ephraim, ...

and Kushiyara rivers in Badarpur. His body was never found. Due to this he is considered a

shahid ''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...

(martyr) in

. He was succeeded by

Haydar Ghazi Nūr al-Hudā Abū'l-Karāmāt as-Saʿīdī al-Ḥusaynī ( ar, نور الهدىٰ أبو الكرمات السعيدي الحسيني), better known as Ḥaydar Ghāzī ( ar, , bn, হায়দর গাজী), was the second wazir of Sr ...

, who was appointed by Shah Jalal himself. This shows that Khan's death took place before 1346, which was the year of Shah Jalal's death. There is a poem found in the biography of Shah Jalal, ''Tarikh-e-Jalali'', which mentions the incident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan Ghazi, Sikandar Rulers of Sylhet 14th-century Indian Muslims Indian people of Turkic descent

Background

Career

Death

See also

References