Born in the town of Garmsir in
southern Afghanistan the Turkic orgin Khilji tribe military general, Ikhtiyar
Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji conquered Bengal as the head of 18
horsemen at the end of the 12th Century. Actually, He was the Dewan-i-Ard at Ghor1. He starteded to India in the year of 1193 and
tried to enter in the army of Qutb-al-Din but was refused. Then he went more
eastward and got a job under Maklik Hizbar al-Din2,
then in command of a platoon at Badayun in northern India. Malik Husam al-Din3 of Oudh4
gave him a landed estate in the south-eastern corner of modern Mirzapur
district. Ikhtiyar Khilji gathered some
Muslims under his flag and soon unite his position. He started to carry out
raids into neighboring territories.
Khilji's first grand success came from
subjugation of Bihar5 in 1203. Through this he earned a political
influence in the court at Delhi. In the same year he got his forces into
Bengal. He came upon the city of Nabadwip so rapidly that only 18 horsemen from
his army could keep up. Khilji went on to confine the capital Gaur6
and encroached much of Bengal. He set his headquarters at Barisal.
Ikhtiyar Khilji left the town of Devkot7
in 1206 to attack into Tibet, keeping Ali Mardan Khilji8 in
Ghoraghat Upazila to look at the eastern border. The Tibet mission ended in
disappointment and after his return to India, while he was lying ill at Devkot,
he was assassinated by Ali Mardan. His Loyal troops under Muhammad Shiran Khilji9
take vengeance of his death and imprisoned Ali Mardan.
The expedition of Bakhtiyar Khilji lite
the lamp of the Islam in the eastern territory of India. The Hindu
populated Bihar and Bengal came under the Muslim rule and Islam spread day by
day. The then Bengal is now one of the largest populated Muslim countries in
the world.
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