Nāṣir ad-Dīn Naṣrat Shāh (r. 1519–1533), also known as Nusrat Shah, was the second

Sultan of Bengal The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges- ...

belonging to the

Hussain Shahi dynasty The Hussain Shahi dynasty was a family which ruled the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal from 1494 to 1538. History The dynasty's founder, Alauddin Husain Shah was possibly of Sayyid Arab, or even Afghan origin. He is considered ...

. He continued with his father's expansionist policies but by 1526, had to contend with the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

ascendency in the

Battle of Ghaghra The Battle of Ghaghra, fought in 1529, was a great battle for the conquest of India by the Mughal Empire. It followed the first Battle of Panipat in 1526 and the Battle of Khanwa in 1527. The forces of Mughal Emperor Babur of the emerging Mugha ...

. Simultaneously, Nasrat Shah's reign also suffered a reverse at the hands of the Ahom kingdom. The reigns of

Alauddin Husain Shah Ala-ud-din Husain Shah (; ; ) was an independent late medieval Sultan of the Bengal Sultanate, who founded the Hussain Shahi dynasty. He became the ruler of Bengal after assassinating the People of Ethiopia, Abyssinian Sultan, Shamsuddin Muzaff ...

and Nasrat Shah are generally regarded as the "golden age" of the

Bengal Sultanate The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges- ...

Early life and background

Nasrat was born into an aristocratic

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

family in the

. His father

was the first Sultan of the

and the father of eighteen sons and at least eleven daughters. Among Nasrat's siblings were Danyal and

Mahmud Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Given name Mahmood * Mahmood Ali (1928 ...

. Nasrat Shah married a daughter of

Ibrahim Lodi Ibrahim Khan Lodi (; 1480 – 21 April 1526) was the last Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate, who became Sultan in 1517 after the death of his father Sikandar Khan. He was the last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, reigning for nine years until 1526, whe ...

, a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

ruler and the last sultan of the neighbouring

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

Reign

After his father's death in 1519, Nasrat rose to the throne as Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah. Following the policies of his father, Nasrat Shah expanded the Sultanate territory early on in his reign and

Khalifatabad The Mosque City of Bagerhat (; historically known as Khalifatabad) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bagerhat District, Bangladesh. It contains 360 mosques, public buildings, mausoleums, bridges, roads, water tanks and other public buildings co ...

emerged as an important mint-town. Following

Babur Babur (; 14 February 148326 December 1530; born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad) was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also ...

's invasion of India, Mahmud Lodi and his Afghan confederates fled to Bengal for safety. In 1527, Babur despatched an envoy to Bengal in order to deduce Nasrat Shah's attitude towards Mughal ascendency and collect some information regarding Bengal. Nasrat Shah did not respond and imprisoned the envoy. However, Nasrat Shah later negotiated peace deals and freed the envoy, in order to send gifts to Babur. Babur was pleased with the response; describing Nasrat as one of the great rulers of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, praising Bengali soldiers for their gunnery and navy, and recognised the loyalty of

Bengalis Bengalis ( ), also rendered as endonym and exonym, endonym Bangalee, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of South Asia. The current population is divi ...

for their leader. After being pestered by the Afghans, the Mughals declared war against them and their Bengali allies. Attempting to defeat the Afghans on the way, the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

proceeded towards Bengal. Babur took control of

Tirhut Mithila (), also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal, is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothi ...

before stopping at

Buxar Buxar is a nagar parishad city in the state of Bihar, India, sharing border with Balia and Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the eponymous Buxar district, as well as the headquarters of the community development ...

, where he requested Bengal to dismiss their troops camped at the banks of the

Ghaghara The Ghaghara River, also known as the Karnali River in Nepal, Mapcha Tsangpo in Tibet, and as the Sarayu River in the lower Ghaghara of India's Awadh, is a perennial trans-boundary river that originates in the northern slopes of the Himalaya ...

. Nasrat Shah's refusal led to the

, taking place on 6 May 1529, in which the Mughals fought the Afghans and Bengalis. The Mughal Empire were victorious, and their territory extended to the Ghaghara's eastern bank in

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

though they did not penetrate Bengal. Nasrat Shah maintained Bengal's status as an independent nation. He completed the building of

Baro Shona Masjid The Baro Shona Masjid (), also known as the Baroduari Masjid () and as the Qutub Shahi Mosque, is a former mosque in a partial ruinous state, located in Gauḍa (city), Gour, in the Malda district, in the state of West Bengal, India. Completed ...

Gauḍa (city) Gauḍa (also known as Gaur, Gour, Lakhnauti, Lakshmanavati and Jannatabad) is a historic city of Bengal in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, and one of the most prominent capitals of classical India, classical and medieval India, be ...

in 1526 AD
8

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasrat Shah, Nasiruddin 1532 deaths 1519 in India Year of birth unknown 16th-century Indian monarchs Hussain Shahi dynasty 16th-century Bengalis People from the Bengal Sultanate

Early life and background

Reign

See also

References