Kara-Manikpur was a ''

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 ''sub ...

'' (province) in

Medieval India Medieval India refers to a long period of Post-classical history of the Indian subcontinent between the "ancient period" and "modern period". It is usually regarded as running approximately from the breakup of the Gupta Empire in the 6th cen ...

. It consisted of two strongholds: Kara and Manikpur, located on opposite sides of the river

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

, in what is now the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

.Al-Hind: the slave kings and the Islamic conquest : 11th - 13th centuries
Volume 2 By André Wink. In the eleventh century, the warrior saint of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud Ghazi Salar Masud or Ghazi Miyan (1014 – 1034 CE) was a semi-legendary Muslim figure from India. By the 12th century, he had become reputed as a warrior, and his tomb (''dargah'') at Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, India, had become a place of pilgrima ...

, defeated the princes of Manikpur and Kara, but Muslim rule was not established till the defeat of

Jayachandra Jaya-chandra (IAST: Jayacandra, r. c. 1170–1194 CE) was a king from the Gahadavala dynasty of northern India. He is also known as Jayachchandra (IAST: Jayaccandra) in inscriptions, and Jaichand in vernacular legends. He ruled the Antarvedi c ...

by Muhammad Ghori. Manikpur and Kara were important seats of government in the early Muslim period.

Alauddin Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrativ ...

was governor there, before he gained the throne of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

by murdering his uncle on the sands of the river between Manikpur and Kara. In the fifteenth century, the district came under the rule of the Sharqi kings of Jaunpur and, after its restoration to Delhi, the

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

chiefs and the Muslim governors were frequently in revolt. The Afghans long retained their hold on the district, and early in the reign of

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 ...

(mid-16th century), the governor of Manikpur rebelled. In 1580, Akbar reorganized his empire into 12 ''

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 ''sub ...

s'' and combined the provinces of

Jaunpur Sultanate The Jaunpur Sultanate ( fa, ) was an independent Islamic state in northern India between 1394 and 1479, ruled by the Sharqi dynasty. It was founded in 1394 by Khwajah-i-Jahan Malik Sarwar, a former wazir of Sultan Nasiruddin Muhammad Shah IV ...

, Kara-Manikpur and territory of Bandhogarh into the ''Subah of Ilahabad''. It is still called ''Kara-Manikpur'', even though Kara now falls in

Kaushambi district Kaushambi district is a district in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Manjhanpur is the district headquarters. The district was carved from Allahabad district on 4 April 1997. Manauri bajar connects Allahabad and Kaushambi districts by rai ...

, while Manikpur has become a part of

Pratapgarh district, Uttar Pradesh The Pratapgarh district is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh state of India, and Pratapgarh city is the district headquarters. Pratapgarh district is a part of Allahabad division. The total area of Pratapgarh district is 3730 Sq. Km. Wi ...

References

{{coord missing, Uttar Pradesh Awadh Regions of Uttar Pradesh History of Uttar Pradesh