Indian History Part 81 Akbar – Section IV. The Conquering Emperor 4. Bihar and Bengal – Expanding to the East

Canberra, 1 August 2020, Saturday In ancient times, the region known as Bengal now was called Vanga and at times Gauda. Epigraphic records show that around 11th century, the region started to be mentioned as Vangala-desa, which in turn was further localised to ‘Bangal’ (Bengal) by Muslim invaders—a name that is still used today. Brief […]

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Indian History Part 81 Akbar Section IV: The Conquering Emperor (1)

Canberra, 28 June 2020 SETTING THE SCENE Akbar continued the policy followed by Biram Khan, of steady and ceaseless expeditions to expand the territorial spread of the Empire. Akbar is supposed to have said, as reported by Abul Fazl and quoted by Bamber Gascoigne in his book, The Great Mughals (page 72), ‘a monarch should […]

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Indian History Part 80 Humayun Section IV: Interlude – The Ambitious Sher Shah Sur

Canberra, 2 May 2020 [The description of the 15-year reign of the Sur dynasty, founded by Sher Shah after the defeat and flight of Humayun, is being included as two independent chapters within the section on Humayun. While Sher Shah and his successors did indeed rule North India during Humayun’s exile; neither did they leave […]

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Indian History Part 80 Humayun Section III: An Empire is Lost

Canberra, 27 April 2020 After having defeated and forced Humayun back to Agra, Sher Shah returned to Bengal and evicted the Mughal governor, Jahangir Kuli, installed by Humayun. Sher Shah knew for certain that he would have to fight Humayun again and therefore wanted to consolidate his territories as soon as possible. More importantly, he […]

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Indian History Part 80 Humayun Section II: Trouble Brews in the East

Canberra, 12 April 2020 Although no material gains had been made in the campaign that he had mounted to Gujarat and Malwa, on his return to Agra Humayun celebrated his ‘victory’ with full-fledged revelry that lasted for nearly a year.  Meanwhile Afghan power was resurgent in Bihar, now under the able leadership of Sher Khan. […]

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Indian History Part 59 The Lodi Dynasty Section III Sikandar Lodi: Life and Times

Singapore, 19 October 2017 SIKANDAR SHAH LODI: LIFE AND TIMES Bahlul Lodi had nine sons, of whom the eldest Khwaja Bayezid has predeceased his father. Bahlul’s sudden death was seized as an opportunity by the Afghan nobles to push forward the claims of their favourite princes for succession. Before proceeding to Gwalior on his last […]

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Indian History Part 59 The Lodi Dynasty Section II Bahlul Lodi

Singapore, 18 October 2017  BAHLUL LODI: CHIEF AMONG EQUALS The Delhi Sultanate was on the verge of extinction when Alam Shah made known his decision to retire to Badaun. Under the leadership of Hamid Khan, the Prime Minster, the nobles of Delhi made a last ditch attempt to save the Sultanate and invited Bahlul Lodi […]

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Indian History Part 58 The Sayyid Dynasty Section II Sultan Mubarak Shah

Canberra, 29 September 2017 Khizr Khan nominated his son Mubarak Khan as his successor on his death bed. Mubarak assumed the throne as Muiz u-Din Fateh Mubarak Shah, with the consent of all the nobles of the court. The details of his reign are available to the historian from a chronicle called Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi written […]

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Indian History Part 58 The Sayyid Dynasty Section I: Khizr Khan Sayyid

 Canberra, 29 September 2017 When Timur ‘the Scourge of God’ departed India, the Delhi Sultanate was in an appalling state of disintegration. The once large empire had fragmented into small independent states, some of which were larger than the core Delhi Sultanate itself. Even so, the Sultanate endured for another 114 years, mostly in perilous […]

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Indian History Part 56 The Tughluq Dynasty Section X The Whimpering End

Canberra, 6 September 2017   Timur left North-Western India in shambles—bleeding and in utter confusion and chaos. The entire countryside was ravaged, plundered and burned to the ground making it easy for famine and pestilence to spread. Trade, commerce and other signs of normalcy had vanished along with all trappings of prosperity. The city of […]

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