Sulaiman Khan Karrani ( bn, সুলায়মান খান কররানী, fa, ; reigned: 1565–1572) was a

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 ...

. He ascended to the throne after the death of his brother

Taj Khan Karrani Taj Khan Karrani (reigned 1564-1565) was the founder of the Karrani dynasty, a Pashtun dynasty of Karlan-Pashtun origin that ruled Bengal, Orissa and parts of Bihar. History Taj was a former employee of the Pashtun emperor Sher Shah Suri. at the ti ...

. According to the ''

Riyaz-us-Salatin Riyaz-us-Salatin ( fa, ) is the first British-era historic book on the Muslim rule in Bengal that was published in Bengal in 1788. It was written by Ghulam Husain Salim Zaidpuri. Content The books starts with the arrival of Muhammad bin Bakhti ...

'', 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 m ...

to Tanda. Sulaiman, his brother Taj and Sulaiman's sons Bayazid and

Daud Khan Karrani Daud Khan Karrani (died on 12 July 1576) was the last ruler of Bengal's Karrani dynasty as well as the final Sultan of Bengal, reigning from 1572 to 1576. During the reign of his father Sulaiman Khan Karrani, Daud commanded a massive army of 40 ...

ran a short-lived

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

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 t ...

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, Hum ...

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 Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...

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 order t ...

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

, 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 ...

. In 1568 Sulaiman Khan sent his son Bayazid Khan Karrani and the famous general

Kalapahad Kalapahar ( bn, কালাপাহাড়; died 24 April 1583), also known by his daak naam Raju ( bn, রাজু), was a military general of the Sultanate of Bengal under the Karrani dynasty. He is credited for conquering Orissa, which re ...

(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 national ...

(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 policies ...

elsewhere in Odisha, Sulaiman was able to bring the entire area under his rule.

sacked 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 ...

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 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 ...

respectively.

Conquest of Koch Bihar

Sulaiman Khan Karrani is said to have sent Kalapahad against the

Kamata Kamata can refer to: Places *Kamata, Tokyo, a neighborhood in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan **Kamata High School, a school located in the Kamata neighborhood, Ōta, Tokyo, Japan * Kamata Kingdom, a 13th-century kingdom in Assam, India * Kamata, New Zealand ...

(later Koch Bihar under the Mughals) king,

Vishwa Singha Biswa Singha (1515–1540) was the progenitor king of the Koch dynasty of the Kamata kingdom. He was able to unify different Bodo-Kachari tribal groups, replace the Baro-Bhuyans of Kamata kingdom, and establish a dynasty the remnant of whi ...

. 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. It ...

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 part ...

). 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 Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and built the Sona

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

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, Bayazid Khan Karrani. He was buried in Tanda, the capital of his

Sultanate This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continui ...

References