Daud Khan Karrani (died on 12 July 1576) was the last ruler 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 ...

Karrani dynasty The Karrani dynasty ( ps, کرلاڼي, Karlāṇī, bn, কররাণী, Korrāṇī) was founded in 1564 by Taj Khan Karrani, an ethnic Pashtun from the Karlani tribe, hailing from Bangash district. It was the last dynasty to rule the Sultan ...

as well as the final

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 ...

, reigning from 1572 to 1576. During the reign of his father Sulaiman Khan Karrani, Daud commanded a massive army of 40,000 cavalry, 3,600 elephants, 140,000 infantry and 200 cannons.

Mughal-Bengali war

Daud Khan was discontented to be under the dominion of Mughal Emperor

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 ...

, therefore he decided to fight against the army of Delhi and remain the conqueror of Bengal.

Invasion of Jamania

Emperor

evaded Daud Khan once Daud invaded Jamania near

Ghazipur Ghazipur is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ghazipur city is the administrative headquarters of the Ghazipur district, one of the four districts that form the Varanasi division of Uttar Pradesh. The city of Ghazipur also constitute ...

. The Bengali army razed the Jamania city to the ground and captured its fort. Following this, Akbar finally ordered the governor of Jaunpur,

Munim Khan Munʿim Khān ( fa, ) was a Mughal general under both emperors Humayun and Akbar. He was titled ''Khān-i-Khānān'' ('Khan of Khans') when Emperor Akbar appointed him as Prime Minister of the Mughal Empire in 1560. In 1564, he became the Su ...

, to proceed against Daud. Munim Khan met his friend Ludi Khan, the Prime Minister of Daud, in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

and opted for a truce. The agreement pleased neither Akbar nor Daud. Ludi Khan was later put to death by Daud.

Battle of Patna

In 1573 Munim Khan attacked

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

, forcing Daud to retreat and take shelter in Patna. Daud sent Katlu Lohani, Gujar Khan Karrani and Sri Hari against the Mughal army. Munim Khan, along with

Todar Mal Raja Todar Mal (1 January 1500 – 8 November 1589) was the Finance Minister (Mushriff-i-Diwan) of the Mughal empire during Emperor Akbar's reign. He was also the Vakil-us-Sultanat (Counsellor of the Empire) and Joint Wazir. He was one of the ...

and Mansingh, made the first attack in

Hajipur Hajipur (, ) is the headquarters and largest city of Vaishali district of the state of Bihar in India. Hajipur is the 16th most populous city of Bihar, besides being the second-fastest developing city, next to Patna. It had a total population ...

. After a fierce battle, the Bengalis and Afghans were at the verge of victory. However, Akbar then re-captured the neighboring fort of Hajipur, which was the source of rations for the army of his opponent. The Bengalis along with the Afghans fell in distress and retreated to Bengal. Akbar returned to the capital after appointing Munim Khan as the governor of Bihar and Bengal. Todar Mal was also left to assist him.

Battle of Tukaroi

On 3 March 1575 a fierce battle was fought between the Mughals and the Afghans in Tukaroi. The result was a draw and the Afghans retreated to

Katak Kattak ( ਕੱਤਕ, ) is the eighth month of the Nanakshahi calendar. This month coincides with Kartik in the Hindu calendar and the Indian national calendar, and October and November in the Gregorian and Julian calendars and is 30 days lon ...

Orissa 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 Sch ...

. The Mughals captured Tanda, the Afghan capital of Bengal. Munim Khan transferred the capital of Bengal from Tanda to

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 ...

. In the treaty of Katak, Daud ceded Bengal and Bihar to the Mughals. But he retained only Orissa as his possession. Six months later a plague broke out, and Munim Khan suddenly died in October 1575. The Mughal army was forced to retreat from Eastern Bengal by Kalapahar and

Isa Khan Isa Khan (c. 1529 – September 1599) was a Muslim Rajput zamindar who was one of the Baro Bhuiyans (twelve landlords) and a Zamindar of Khizirpur in 16th-century Bengal. Throughout his reign he resisted the Mughal empire invasion. It was on ...

. Daud marched from Orissa to successfully re-capture Gaur.

Battle of Rajmahal

sent a new army under the command of Khan Jahan Quli to face his formidable foe Daud Khan. He captured Teliagarhi and advanced towards Rajmahal. The two armies met in the battlefield of Rajmahal. The battle went on for many days. As the fight was getting too difficult for Akbar, he requested the governor of Bihar, Muzaffar Khan Turbati and other generals to join him. On the other side Daud was accompanied by other principal Afghan leaders like Junaid, Qutlu Khan and Ismail Khan Lodhi. After a fierce battle on 12 July 1576 Daud was finally defeated and executed. After his death,

went under direct

Mughal rule 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 ...

Subah A Subah was the term for a province (State) in the Mughal Empire. The word is derived from Arabic and Persian. The governor/ruler of a ''Subah'' was known as a '' subahdar'' (sometimes also referred to as a "''Subeh''"), which later became ''subed ...

with

Subahdar Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...

s being installed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karrani, Daud Khan 1576 deaths 16th-century Indian Muslims Karrani dynasty 16th-century Indian monarchs Indian people of Pashtun descent Indian people of Afghan descent 16th-century Afghan people Year of birth unknown