The history of Dhaka has been told and retold by many scholars and amateur historians. This account is taken from The Dacca District Gazetteer (1912) which was edited by ICS officer B.C. Allen. It was originally written in longer form by J. T. Rankin,ICS. — BoR Editor
J.T. Rankin
Early history of Dhaka
Buddhist Tradition
There can be little doubt that a portion, at any rate, of the district of Dacca was included in the ancient kingdom of Pragjyotisha or Kamrup — a passage in the Yogini Tantra distinctly stating that the southern boundary of that kingdom was the junction of the Brahmaputra and Lakshya, which is situated,near the modern town of ISaraj’anganj. The early traditions that have come down to us indicate that Dacca and several of the neighbouring districts were originally under the sway of Buddhist kings. According to the Tibetan legends a Buddhist king named Vimala was master of Bangala and Kamrup, and therefore of Dacca. Hiuen Tsiang who visited Kamrup in the second half of the seventh century states that Samtata, which probably included the pargana of Bikrampur, was a Buddhist kingdom although the king was a Brahman by caste.
In the Raipura thana brass images of Buddhist origin have been discovered and two copper-plates with inscriptions of Buddhist kings. These have been assigned by experts to the end of the eighth and beginning of the ninth century, and a copper-plate found in the Faridpur district, which is ascribed to the same period, proves that the Bikrampur pargana was also under Buddhist rule.
The names of a few local Rajas have come down to us, but we know little more about them than their names. One of the best known is Haris Chandra, the ruins of whose capital close to Sabhar can be seen even at the present day. The capital of another local princeling called Josh Pal was at Dakurai, 18 miles north of Sabhar where there are several tanks and an old road called the Rathkhola Sarak, leading to a place called Jatrabari, names which tend to suggest that Josh Pal was not a Buddhist.
The remains of another town which is said to have been the headquarters of a chief called Sisupal are to be found at Singher Dighi, near Mahona, in the north-west of the district. About eight miles
away, at Pirojali, are the ruins of a fort ascribed to one Indra Raj ; and there are traces of old buildings and a moat close to Rajabari five miles west of old Kapasia at a place which is said to have
been the capital of the Chandal Rajas.
The overthrow of Buddhism and a new phase in the history of Dhaka
In the ninth century A.D., one Adisura, a Kshatriya by caste, came from the Deccan and after overthrowing the Buddhist king of Bikrampur established himself at Rampal near Munshiganj. He sent to Kanauj for Brahmans to teach the people the religion which even the priestly class in the district had forgotten and five Brahmans, accompanied by five Kayasthas, in due time arrived.
Tradition says that their reception by the king’s underlings, when they reached Rampal, was so rude that they were about to take their departure again in anger and had even bestowed the blessing intended for the king on the stump of a Gajari or Sal tree to which the court elephants used to be tied. The old stump took life again and is still to be seen at Rampal, the only Gajari tree in Bikrampur, where it is an object of veneration and worship to all Hindus. The king fortunately got word of the arrival of the Brahmans and was able to make his peace with them.
The Sen Kings
From copper-plates and other inscriptions discovered in recent years we learn the names of several kings of the Sen dynasty, who appear next upon the scene. This source of information is
more reliable than the Ain-i-Akbari and the names given in the latter need not be discussed here. The kings referred to ruled in Eastern Bengal in the following order : Vira Sen, Samanta Sen,
Hemanta Sen, Vijaya Sen, Ballal Sen and Lakhshman Sen. It has been conjectured that Vira Sen is identical with Adisura and this is not altogether improbable if, as the inscriptions give us to understand, a considerable interval elapsed between him and the next king. Of the next two kings, Samanta and Hemanta, nothing of note is recorded. Vijaya Sen, however, we are told, was a great
warrior who conquered the king of Gaur, probably, the Pal Raja of the time reigning in Northern Bengal, and it is more than likely that this was the death blow to Buddhism in this part of India.
Ballal Sen
The greatest of the Sen kings was Ballal Sen, famous alike in literature and in tradition, whose residence is still pointed out at Ballal Bari, at Rampal. It is a raised piece of ground rectangular in shape, surrounded on all sides by a moat two hundred feet wide. This is all that is now visible, but in the surrounding country bricks are constantly being turned up and treasure is not infrequently found. Close by are the Tantipara and the Shankhari Para which bear witness to colonies of weavers and shell-cutters
who at one time lived there in attendance on the court.
There are two bridges in the neighbourhood which tradition ascribes to Ballal Sen. One is over the Mirkadim Khal and is called the Ballali Bridge ; it has three arches and the piers are six feet thick. The other is a little further to the west and spans the Taltala Khal ; this also has three arches but was blown up in the early days of British rule to enable large boats with troops to pass to and from Dacca.
Ballal’s was a long reign. The last trace of Buddhism had been destroyed by his father and he was free to devote himself to the internal administration of the kingdom. We know that he reorganised the caste system and founded Kulinism, a kind of Hindu aristocracy, and that he was the originator of several social reforms. We know also that he wrote two Sanskrit works, the Dana Sagara and the Adbut Sagara. He abdicated in favour of his son in 1170 A.D. and died two years later. His name is still a household word in every Hindu home in the district and his fame is such as only a great and wise king could have inspired.
Fall of the Sen Kings
Ballal was succeeded by his son, Lakhshman Sen, who gave his name to Lakhnauti (Lakhshmana Bati) and lived latterly in Nadia. We are told that after the capture of Nadia by Bakhtyar
Khilji he fled to Bikrampur where he and his sons exercised precarious sovereignty for the next hundred years. He had three sons— Madhab, Keshab and Viswa Rup — the last of whom succeeded him in Bikrampur and evidently had some fighting with the Muhammadans. Eventually the Sens were driven out and we find that the Raja of Mandi claims descent from them and alleges that one of his ancestors, Rup Sen, fled to the Punjab where he founded the present city of Ruper. Beyond these legends all trace of this once powerful dynasty has completely disappeared.
History of Dhaka: Early Muhammadan Period
Little is known of the movements of the Muhammadans in Dacca in the earlier part of the thirteenth century. In 1223 A.D. Governor of Bengal, Ghiyas-ud-din, marched towards Kamrup and Eastern Bengal, but was recalled by an attack on his capital. Another governor invaded Eastern Bengal in 1260A.D., and according to Marco Polo the country was subdued by the Khans of Tartary in 1272 A.D. He gives the following account of these parts : —
” The province Bengala bordereth upon India toward the south, which Great Can subdued, when Marco Polo lived in his court. The country hath a proper king and peculiar language. The inhabitants thereof are all idolaters : they have masters which keep schools and teach idolatries and inchantments [sic] : a thing common to all the great men of that country. They eat flesh, rice and milk : they have cotton in great plenty, and by reason thereof, much and great trading is exercised there : they abound also with spike, galangal, ginger, sugar and divers other spices.
Huge oxen are also there, comparable with elephants in height but not in thickness. Many eunuchs are made in this province, which are afterwards sold unto merchants.”
In 1279 A.D., the district was visited by the Emperor himself who advanced beyond Sonargaon in pursuit of Toghril, the governor of I.aklmauti, who had thrown of his allegiance and proclaimed himself an independent sovereign.
Bahadur Khan
Subsequently the Emperor Ala-ud-din, finding that the viceroy of Bengal had become too powerful, effected a partition of the province and appointed Bahadur Khan to be governor of Eastern Bengal with his headquarters at Sonargaon. A Bengali historian of Sonargaon tells us that after capturing the main forts and subduing the Raja of the locality, Bahadur governed in his name and introduced but few changes in the form of the administration. Certainly, so long as Ala-ud-din lived, Bahadur ruled circumspectly, but on his death he declared himself independent with the title of Bahadur Shah. This so enraged the new Emperor (Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak Shah) that he marched into Bengal (1324 A.D.) and, defeating Bahadur, took him to Delhi with a rope round his neck, appointing Tatar Khan, his adopted son, to be governor of Sonargaon in his place.
Fakhr-ud-din, a major figure in the history of Dhaka
Tatar Khan was succeeded in 1338 A.D. by his armour-bearer Fakhr-ud-din who declared himself to be independent. He was, however, defeated by Qadir Khan who occupied Sonargaon where he amassed great treasure. This treasure proved his destruction for his soldiers went over to Fakhr-ud-din who offered them this immense reward as the price of their treachery, (coins minted by this chief prove that he reigned ten years, when he met his death, probably at the hands of Ali Mubarak, governor of Lakhnauti. The following account of the country in the time of Fakhr-ud-din is given by Ibn Batuta. Writing of the Brahmaputra he says, ” it descends from the mountains of Kamrup and is called the Blue River, by which people travel towards Bengal and Lakhnauti. Along this river are hydraulic wheels, gardens, and villages, on the right and on the left, just as they are to be seen along the Nile in Egypt. The inhabitants of these villages are non-Muhammadaus who pay a protection tax. From them is exacted half of the produce of their lands besides tribute. We remained on this river for fifteen days sailing between villages and gardens just as if we had been passing through a market. On this river there are innumerable ships in every one of which there is a drum. Whenever two ships meet the crew of both of them strike their drums and salute each other. Fakhr-ud-din, the Sultan, of whom we have spoken, has ordered that no duty should be levied from fakirs on that river and that provisions should be given to such of them as had not got them so that whenever a fakir arrives in a village he is given half a dinar.”
At Sonargaon the travellers found a jonk which was bound for the country of Java and embarked on it.
Dynasty of Haji Ilyas
In 1352 A.D. Haji Ilyas conquered Eastern Bengal and founded a dynasty which continued with a brief interval to reign over that province for nearly a century and a half. In 1354, he was attacked by the Emperor Feroz Shah and fled to the fort of Ekdala. It is said that during the siege of the fort the saint Shaikh Raja Biyabani died, and Ilyas, coming out of the fort disguised as a mendicant, joined the Shaikh’s funeral procession and afterwards went to see the Emperor without himself being recognised.
Sikandar Shah
Ilyas died in 1359 A.D. and was succeeded by his son Sikandar Shah in whose reign the emperor Feroz again invaded Bengal. Hearing of the Imperial advance Sikandar, like his father, fled ” into the islands of Ekdala.” Another siege ensued during which one of the chief towers of the fort fell owing to the pressure of the people upon it, but the fort being built of mud was speedily repaired. Negotiations for peace were opened and presents were exchanged. It is related that the Sultan sent into the fort of Ekdala by the hands of Malik Kabul a crown worth 80,000 Tanka and 500 valuable Arab and Turki horses with the expression of his wish that henceforth they might never again draw the sword. Sikandar seems to have paid great attention to internal administration and it is said that he made a regular survey of the province, his name surviving to the present day in the term Sikandari gaj. His end was however an unhappy one as he was defeated and killed by his son Ghiyas-ud-din at Garpara in the Manikganj subdivision in 1368 A.D.
Ghiyas-ud-din and the glorious history of Dhaka
Ghiyas-ud-din held his court at Sonargaon. He was a man of some literary attainments and invited the celebrated poet Hafiz to visit him. At the same time he was an able and enlightened ruler. We learn from Chinese sources that he despatched embassies to China and received presents in return. He died in 1373 A.D. and the remains of his tomb are still to be seen in Mahalla Baghalpur at Sonargaon. At the present day it is in a very dilapidated condition but it was described by Dr. Wise in 1874 in the following terms: —
”This mausoleum formerly consisted of a ponderous stone which occupied the centre, surrounded by pillars about five feet high. These stones are all beautifully carved and the corners of the slabs and the arabesque tracery are as perfect as the day they left the workman’s hands. The stones are formed of hard, almost black, basalt. At the head is a prostrate sandstone pillar, half buried in earth. It was evidently used when erect as a Chiraghdan, or stand for a light.”
Ghiyas-ud-din’s coins were struck at Muazzamabad, where a mint had been established by his father. This place appears to have been close to Sonargaon, and may have been the same as Muazzampur, a village lying a few miles to the north of Sonargaon, which we know as the seat of a saint in the reign of Jalal-ud-din a few years later.
Raja Kans and his descendants
In 1405 there was a brief recrudescence of Hindu sovereignty, the throne of Bengal being seized by Kaja Kans who reigned till 1414 A.D. His son and successor Jalal-ud-din was, as his name
implies, a convert to the Muhammadan religion. He was followed by his son Ahmad Shah to whose reign belongs the oldest inscription yet found in the district. It is to be seen in the mosque of
the saint Shah Langar at Muazzampur.
Nasir Shah
In 1432 A.D., the dynasty of Ilyas Shah was restored in the person of Sultan Nasir-ud-din Abul Muzaffar Mahmud Shah who reigned till 1460 A.D. He restored to his throne Meng Soamwun,
the king of Arakan, who had been expelled by the Burmese in 1406 A.D., but only on condition that he should remain a vassal of Bengal. The mosque of Binat Bibi at Narinda in the city of
Dacca was erected during his reign, but otherwise, there is little known about this prince.
