Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah

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Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah

Sultan, Amir and Caliph[1]

Arabic silver coin with a lion inscription minted during Jalaluddin

Muhammad Shah's reign

Sultan of Bengal

Reign 1415–1416

1418–1433

Predecessor Shihabuddin Bayazid Shah

Raja Ganesha (1416–1418)

Successor Raja Ganesha (1416–1418)

Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah

Spouse Asmantara, daughter of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah[2]

Issue Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah

Full name

Jalaluddin Abul Muzaffar Muhammad Shah[3]

House Ganesha dynasty

 Father Raja Ganesha

Religion Islam

Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah (Bengali: জালালউদ্দীন মুহম্মদ শাহ; born as Yadu or Jadu[4]) was a
15th-century Sultan of Bengal and an important figure in medieval Bengali history. Born a Hindu to
his aristocratic father Raja Ganesha, the patriarch of the Ganesha dynasty, he assumed the throne
of Bengal after a coup which overthrew the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. He converted to Islam and ruled
the Bengal Sultanate for 16 years. As a Muslim king, he brought Arakan under
Bengali suzerainty and consolidated the kingdom's domestic administrative centres. He pursued
relations with the Timurid Empire, Mamluk Egypt and Ming China.[5]Bengal grew in wealth and
population during his reign. He also combined Bengali and Islamic architecture.

Contents

 1First phase (1415–1416)

 2Second phase (1418–1433)
o 2.1Relation with Hindus
o 2.2Relation with foreign rulers
o 2.3Coins
 3See also
 4References

First phase (1415–1416)[edit]

According to Goron and Goenka, Raja Ganesha seized control over Bengal soon after the death
of Sultan Bayazid (1412–1414). Facing an imminent threat of invasion at the behest of a powerful
Muslim holy man named Qutb al Alam, he appealed to the saint to call off his threat. The saint
agreed on the condition that Raja Ganesha's son Jadu would convert to Islam and rule in his place.
Raja Ganesha agreed and Jadu started ruling Bengal as Jalal al-Din in 1415 AD. Nur Qutbdied in
1416 AD and Raja Ganesha was emboldened to depose his son and accede to the throne himself
as Danujamarddana Deva. Jalaluddin was reconverted to Hinduism by the Golden Cow ritual. After
the death of his father he once again converted to Islam and started ruling his second phase.[6]

Second phase (1418–1433)[edit]

Mausoleum of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah in Gaur, West Bengal
Jalaluddin maintained a peaceful kingdom during his second phase. His authority stretched to
eastern Bengal Moazzamabad (present-day Sunamganj) and south-eastern Bengal (present-
day Chittagong). He also conquered Fathabad (present-day Faridpur) and the southern Bengal.
During his reign Firuzabad Pandua became a populous and flourshing town. It is recorded in
the Ming shi that a Chinese explorer, Cheng Ho, visited the city twice in 1421–22 and 1431–33. He
later transferred the capital from Pandua to Gaur.[7] The city of Gaur began to be re-populated during
his reign. Jalaluddin himself constructed a number of buildings and sarais there.[8]
Relation with Hindus[edit]
Jalaluddin played a distinguished role in converting the Hindus of Bengal to Islam. Dr. James Wise
wrote in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1894) that the only condition he offered was
either the Koran or death. Many Hindus fled to Kamrup and the jungles of Assam, but it is
nevertheless possible that more Mohammedans were added to Islam during these seventeen years
(1414–31) than in the next three hundred years.[9] He maintained good rapport with Non-Muslims in
his kingdom. According to an interpretation of a Sanskrit sloka by D. C. Bhattacharya, Jalaluddin
appointed Rajyadhar, a Hindu, as the commander of his army.[8] He gained support
of Muslim scholars – Ulama and the Shaikhs. He reconstructed and repaired the mosques and other
religious architectures destroyed by Raja Ganesha.[7]
17th century Persian historian, Firishta talked about his tolerance of Hindus and Buddhists,
applauded him by saying:
He upheld the principles of justice and equity and became the Naushirwan of the age.[10]
His remark is corroborated by the evidence of the Smritiratnahara and the Padachandrika. According
to the Padachandrika, a commentary on the Amarakosha in Sanskrit, Brihaspati Mishra,
a Brahmin from Kulingram (present-day Bardhaman district), was promoted by Sultan Jalaluddin to
the position of the Sarvabhaumapandita (Court Scholar). And Vishvasrai, son of Brihaspati Mishra,
was also appointed a minister by the Sultan.[8] He patronized Sankritic culture by publicly showing
appreciation for those scholars of classical Brahmanic scholarship. Many Brahmin poets were
honored by Jalaluddin.[11]
But according to a 19th-century chronicle written by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, Jalaluddin
compelled many Hindus to convert to Islam, resulting in many Hindus fleeing to Kamrup.[12]
Relation with foreign rulers[edit]
He also maintained good diplomatic relations. He was in correspondence with the Timurid ruler Shah
Rukh of Herat, Yung Le of China and al-Ashraf Barsbay, the Mamluk ruler of Egypt.[7] Ibrahim
Sharqiattacked his kingdom but censure from Yung Le and Shah Rukh caused him to withdraw.
Jalaluddin helped Meng Soamun Narmeikhla, King of Arakan, to recover his kingdom from Burma; in
return he became the overlord of Arakan. He, at some point, also ruled over parts of Tripura and
southern Bihar.
Jalaluddin tried to legitimise his rule by publicly displaying his credentials as a devout and correct
Muslim. Contemporary Arab sources hold that upon his conversion to Islam, Jalaluddin adopted
the Hanafilegal tradition. Between 1428 and 1431, he also supported the construction of a religious
college in Mecca and established close ties with Barsbay. With the exchange of gifts, Jalaluddin
requested in return a letter of recognition from the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan. Barsbay was the most
prestigious Muslim ruler in the Islamic heartlands and the custodian of a remnant line of the Abbasid
caliphs. The Mamluk Sultancomplied with the request by sending him a robe of honour and the letter
of recognition. In 1427, Jalaluddin described himself in an inscription as Al-sultan al-azam al-
muazzamin khalifat Allah 'ali al-makunin Jalal al-Dunya w'al-Din (the most exalted of the great
sultans, the caliph of Allah in the universe).
Coins[edit]
Several undated issues of his silver coins and a huge commemorative silver coin minted in Pandua
in 1421, bear the stylised figure of a lion.[13] Another theory says that they were issued to celebrate
the arrival of a Chinese ambassador and yet another theory says that they marked the withdrawal
of Jaunpur's threatening army.[14] Asides from him, the lion-motif coins were also issued
by Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah Iand Jalaluddin Fateh Shah.[15] Such tyoe of coins were also issued by
the kingdom of Tripura in 1464, thus precluding the possibility that Jalaluddin was following the
kingdom's custom. Since the lion is seen as the vehicle of the Goddess as Chandi in whose name
the Sena dynasty rebelled from 1416–18, it is possible he attempted to appeal to the deeply-rooted
sentiments of Goddess-worship. In 1427, he had described himself in a description on a mosque
as the most exalted of the great sultans, the caliph of Allah in the universe. Having tested this, in
1430 he took a bolder step by including "Caliph of Allah" (Khalifat al-Allah) as one of his titles on his
coins.[13] In 1431 AD he issued a new coin inscribing Kalema-tut-shahadat.[7] Thus he reintroduced on
his coins the Kalimah, which had disappeared from Bengal Sultanate coins for several centuries.
He died in Rabi 2, 837 AH (1433 AD) and was buried in Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua.[7]

Raja Ganesha
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Raja Ganesha

King of Bengal (1st time)

A sketch of Raja Ganesha on the cover of a late 19th-century Bengali

work, Raja Ganesh

King of Bengal

Reign 1414–1415

Predecessor Alauddin Firuz Shah I

Successor Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah

King of Bengal (2nd time)

Reign 1416–1418

Predecessor Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah

Successor Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah

Spouse Phuljani, widow of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah[1]

Issue Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah

House House of Ganesha

Religion Hinduism

Part of a series on the

History of Bengal

Ancient Geopolitical Divisions[show]

Ancient and Classical Kingdoms[show]

Medieval and Early Modern States[show]

Colonial Bengal[show]

Post-partition[show]

Calendar[show]

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Museums of antiquities[show]

Related[show]

 v
 t
  e

Raja Ganesha (Bengali: রাজা গণেশ;reigned 1415) was a Hindu ruler of Bengal, who took
advantage of the weakness of the first Ilyas Shahi dynasty and seized power in
Bengal.[2] Contemporary historians of the medieval period considered him as an usurper.
The Ganesha dynasty founded by him ruled over Bengal from 1415−1435.[3] His name mentioned in
the coins of his son, sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah as Kans Jha or Kans Shah.[4] The Indo-
Persian historians mentioned his name as Raja Kans or Kansi.[5][2] A number of modern scholars
identified him with Danujamardanadeva, but this identification is not universally accepted.[6]

Contents

 1Early life
 2Reign
 3Identification with Danujamardanadeva
 4Dinajpur Raj
 5See also
 6References

Early life[edit]
According to the Riaz-us-Salatin (a chronicle written in 1788), Raja Ganesha was a landlord of
Bhaturia and according to Francis Buchanan Hamilton he was the Hakim (Governor) of Dinajpur[7] in
the northern Bengal. In a contemporary letter, he was described as a member of a landholder family
of 400 years' standing.[8]Later, he became an officer of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty rulers in Pandua.
According to a very late authority, the Riaz-us-Salatin, he killed Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam
Shah (reigned 1390–1410), but the earlier authorities like Firishta and Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad do not
refer to any such event and probably he died a natural death.[9]Ghiyas-ud-Din Azam Shah was
succeeded by his son Saifuddin Hamza Shah (reigned 1410–12) and the latter by Shihabuddin
Bayazid Shah (reigned 1413–14).[5]Firishta says that he became very powerful during the rule
of Shihabuddin Bayazid Shah.[8] While the earlier authorities like Firishta and Nizam-ud-Din say that
Ganesha ascended to the throne after the death of Shihabuddin but again the Riaz-us-Salatin says
that he killed Shihabuddin and seized the throne. Shihabuddinwas succeeded by his son Ala-ud-din
Firuz Shah (reigned 1414–15) but he was soon deposed by Raja Ganesha.

Reign[edit]
According to Firishta, the reign of Raja Ganesha was marked by his conciliatory policies toward the
Muslims in Pandua. He mentioned that, "although Raja Ganesha was not a Muslim, he mixed freely
with them and had so much love for them that some Muslims, witnessing to his faith in Islam, wanted
to bury him in the Islamic manner."[10] But according to the Riaz, soon after he took over the power in
Pandua, he oppressed the Muslims of Bengal and slew a number of them. Thereupon, a
Muslim Chishti Shaikh Nur Qutb-ul-Alam wrote a letter to the Jaunpur Sultan, Ibrahim Shah Sharqi,
with an appeal to invade Bengal and overthrow Raja Ganesha. Purport of this letter is found in a
letter written by Hazrat Ashraf Jahangir Simnani, a Sufi shaikh of Jaunpur. According to a tradition,
recorded by Mulla Taqyya, a courtier of Akbar and Jahangir, Ibrahim Shah, while proceeding to
overthrow Raja Ganesha, was opposed by Sivasimha, the ruler of Oiniwar Dynasty Mithila. Mulla
Taqyya gives the date of this event as 805 AH (1402-3), which is obviously wrong but there may be
some truth in his statement about the alliance of Sivasimha with Raja Ganesha.[11]
According to the narrative given in the Riaz, when Ibrahim Shah reached Bengal with his army,
Ganesha asked Shaikh Nur Qutb-ul-Alam for his pardon and protection. The shaikh agreed and
Jadu, the twelve-year-old son of Ganesha, converted to Islam at his hands and was
renamed Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah. He acceded the throne under the title Jalaluddin Muhammad
Shah. As soon as Sultan Ibrahim Shah returned to Jaunpur, Ganesha retook the throne. But on this
occasion, Ganesha was killed by some servants of his son, Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, who was
then restored to the throne.[5]
The earlier accounts of the invasion of Ibrahim Shah Sharqi are different from the account given in
the Riaz. A Chinese source mentioned that a kingdom to the west of Bengal had indeed invaded, but
desisted when placated with gold and money. Abd-ur Razzaq Samarqandi, in his Maṭla'-us-Sadain
wa Majma'-ul-Bahrainmentioned that in 1442, a diplomat in the service of Shah Rukh, the Timurid
ruler of Herat (reigned 1405–47), wrote that his master had intervened in the Bengal-Jaunpur crisis
at the request of the sultan of Bengal, "directing the ruler of Jaunpur to abstain from attacking the
King of Bengal, or to take the consequences upon himself. To which intimidation the ruler of Jaunpur
was obedient, and resisted from his attacks upon Bengal". A contemporary Arakanese tradition
recorded that the army of Raja Ganesha, then firmly in control of Pandua, had defeated Ibrahim in
battle. According to this tradition, one of the rulers of Arakan, who had been given refuge in Pandua
after having been defeated by a Burman monarch in 1406, gave Raja Ganesha the military advice
that enabled his army to defeat Ibrahim .[12]

Identification with Danujamardanadeva[edit]

Silver tanka of Danujamarddana issued at Chatigram (Chittagong) in the year Saka 1339 (= 1417 CE).
Legends are in letters of medieval Bengali;
obverse: sri sri danujamarddana deva,
reverse: sri chandi charana parayana.
In 1922, a modern scholar, Nalini Kanta Bhattasali assumed in his Coins and Chronology of the
Early Independent Sultans of Bengal, that, Danujamardanadeva, who issued silver coins in Saka
era 1339-40 (1416–18) from Suvarnagrama, Pandunagara and Chatigrama with
the Sanskrit legend, Shri Chandi Charana Parayana (devoted to the feet of Goddess Chandi) in
Bengali script on the reverse, is actually a title of Raja Ganesha. He also assumed that
Mahendradeva was the title assumed by the son of Raja Ganesha after his reconversion
to Hinduism and before his second conversion to Islam. Historian Jadunath Sarkar dismisses this
view, saying the Muslim accounts were biased; he favours the identification of Raja Ganesha with
Danujamardanadeva believe that after the death of Raja Ganesha, the Hindu party in the court
raised his second son to the throne under the title Mahendradeva, who was soon ousted by his elder
brother Jalal-ud-Din.[2] But Ahmad Hasan Dani regarded Danujamardanadeva and Mahendradeva as
the local chiefs in East and South Bengal who asserted independence during troubles caused by the
capture of power by Raja Ganesha and the invasions of Ibrahim Shah Sharqi.[5] He, on the basis of
the testimony of later oral and literary sources, identified Danujamardanadeva and Mahendradeva
as the descendants of the Deva dynasty kings of Chandradvipa (the present-day Barisal district).
Another modern scholar, Richard Eaton supported his view and identified the mint town
Pandunagara with Chhota Pandua in the present-day Hooghly
district.[13] However, Vaishnava tradition of Bengal too hold Raja Ganesh as taking the title upon
accession to throne.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalaluddin_Muhammad_Shah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Ganesha