Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji

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Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji (Bengali: ইখতিয়ার উদ্দিন মুহম্মদ বিন বখতিয়ার খিলজী, Persian: اختيار الدين محمد بن بختيار الخلجي), also known as Malik Ghazi Ikhtiyaru 'l-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji. He was a Turkic military general of Qutb-ud-din Aybak.

Early life

IIkhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji, also known as Malik Ghazi Ikhtiyaru 'l-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji, a member of the Turkic Khilji tribe, who was head of the militant group that conquered much of northeastern India.

Rise

Khalji came from the town of Garmsir in southern Afghanistan. Tradition has it that Khalji's conquest of the Bengal at the head of 18 horsemen was foretold. It is held^{[by whom?]} that he was of common birth, had long arms extending below his knees, a short physical stature and an unfavorable countenance. He was first appointed as the Dewan-i-Ard at Ghor. Then he approached India in about the year 1193 and tried to enter in the army of Qutb-al-Din. Then he went further eastward and took a job under Maklik Hizbar al-Din who was then the commander of the militant group of Badayun in northern India. After a short period he went to Oudh where Malik Husam al-Din, recognized him for his worth. Husam gave a landed estate in the south-eastern corner of modern Mirzapur district. Khilji gathered some Muslims under his banner and soon consolidated his position, carrying out raids into neighboring territories.^{[citation needed]}

Conquests

Khalji's career took flight with a campaign which subjugated Bihar in 1203. This effort earned him political clout in the court at Delhi. The next year he took his forces into Bengal. As he came upon the city of Nabadwip, it is said that he advanced so rapidly that only 18 horsemen from his army could keep up. Khalji went on to capture the capital Gaur and intrude much of Bengal. He was also responsible for the barbaric destruction of Nalanda, which was an ancient center of learning in India.

Death

Khilji started his attack into Tibet from the town of Devkot in 1206 A.D. He left Ali Mardan Khilji in Ghoraghat Upazila to watch the eastern frontier from his headquarters at Barisal. The Tibet expedition ended and Bakhtiyar Khilji was assassinated by Ali Mardan Khilji while he was lying ill at Devkot on his return from the Tibet expedition (1206).

Legacy

Bangladeshi poet Al Mahmud composed a book of poetry titled Bakhtiyarer Ghora meaning Horses of Bakhtiyar in early 1990s depicting Khilji as the praiseworthy figurehead of conquest of Bengal. It was under Bakhtiyar Khilji's reign that Muslim missionaries in India achieved their greatest success, in terms of number of converts to Islam.^[1] Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji had the Khutbah read and coins struck in his own name. Mosques, madrasas and Khanqahs arose in the new abode of Islam through Bakhtiyar's beneficence, and his example was worthily imitated by his Amirs.

Preceded by Sena dynasty King Lakshman Sen

Khilji Dynasty of Bengal 1204-1206

Succeeded by Muhammad Shiran Khilji

See also

• List of rulers of Bengal
• Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi
• Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud
• Khilji dynasty

References

1. ^ The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 227-228

External links

• Sir Jadunath Sarkar, History of Bengal, II (Dhaka, 1948)
• History of the Muslims of Bengal - Volume 1A: Muslim Rule in Bengal (600-170/1203-1757), By- Muhammad Mohar Ali, Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, Department of Culture and Publications.
• Bakhtiyar Khalji, Banglapedia
• Sena Dynasty, Banglapedia

Persondata
Name	Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji
Alternative names
Short description	Military general of Qutb-ud-din Aybak
Date of birth
Place of birth	Garmsir, Afghanistan
Date of death	1206
Place of death