Sulaiman Khan Karrani ( bn, সুলায়মান খান কররানী, fa, ; reigned: 1565–1572) was a Sultan of Bengal. He ascended to the throne after the death of his brother Taj Khan Karrani. According to the '' Riyaz-us-Salatin'', he shifted the seat of government from

Gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

to Tanda. Sulaiman, his brother Taj and Sulaiman's sons Bayazid and Daud Khan Karrani ran a short-lived Afghan vassal state of

Mughal emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, H ...

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 ...

. They dominated the area while Sulaiman paid homage to the Akbar. The Afghans defeated by Akbar began to flock under his flag. The Afghans were not technically the rulers of Bengal, the post was primarily nominal.

Relation with Akbar

Sulaiman Khan Karrani did not establish his own

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in orde ...

age during his reign, an act that would have been tantamount to declaring

statehood A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "sta ...

to the ruling

Mughals 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 ...

. He also honored Akbar as the supreme ruler of Bengal by requiring that mosques read Akbar's name in the

Khutbah ''Khutbah'' ( ar, خطبة ''khuṭbah'', tr, hutbe) serves as the primary formal occasion for public preaching in the Islamic tradition. Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic tradition ...

, the sermon at the Friday congregational prayers in Bengal. Historians cite these acts as keeping the diplomatic peace between Bengal and Mughal Empire during Akbar's lifetime.

Conquest of Cuttack

Though northern India and parts of southern India were ruled by the Muslim rulers, they had not yet been able to conquer

Odisha 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 Sc ...

. In 1568 Sulaiman Khan sent his son

Bayazid Khan Karrani Bayazid Khan Karrani ( bn, বায়েজীদ খান কররানী, fa, ) was the third Sultan of the Bengal Sultanate's Karrani dynasty. Life During the reign of his father, Sulaiman Khan Karrani, he was given the command of a f ...

and the famous general Kalapahad (Kala Pahar) against Mukunda Deva, the king of

Utkal Utkala Kingdom was located in the northern and eastern portion of the modern-day Indian state of Odisha.This kingdom was mentioned in the epic Mahabharata, with the names ''Utkala'', ''Utpala'', and ''Okkal''. It is mentioned in India's natio ...

(North Odisha). After a few major battles against the Odias, and aided by

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

elsewhere in Odisha, Sulaiman was able to bring the entire area under his rule. Kalapahad sacked the Jagannath temple and took Puri under control. Sulaiman Karrani appointed Ismail Khan Lodhi as Governor of

and Qutlu Khan Lohani as Governor of

Puri Puri () is a coastal city and a 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 also known as ''S ...

respectively.

Conquest of Koch Bihar

Sulaiman Khan Karrani is said to have sent Kalapahad against the Kamata (later Koch Bihar under the Mughals) king, Vishwa Singha. Kala Pahad crossed the

Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. I ...

and advanced as far as Tejapur (modern-day

Dinajpur District, Bangladesh Dinajpur district ( bn, দিনাজপুর জেলা) is a district in the Rangpur Division of northern Bangladesh. Dinajpur is the largest district among all sixteen northern districts of Bangladesh. History Dinajpur was once a par ...

). He defeated and captured the Kamata general Shukla-Dhwaja, third son of Bishwa Singha. Later Shukla-Dhwaja was released and regained Koch Bihar.

Religion

Sulaiman was a devouted Muslim and built the Sona

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...

in old Maldah. `Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni mentions that every morning Sulaiman would hold a devotional meeting with 150 Shaikhs and Ulama and only thereafter would go about transaction of state business

Death and succession

Sulaiman Karrani died on 11 October 1572, leaving his empire to his son,

. He was buried in Tanda, the capital of his Sultanate.

References