Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, NALANDA-Bihar

Ikhtiyār al-Dīn Muḥammad Bakhtiyār Khaljī, (Persian: اختیارالدین محمد بختیار خلجی, Bengali: ইখতিয়ারউদ্দীন মুহাম্মাদ বখতিয়ার খলজী) also known as Bakhtiyar Khalji, was a Turko-Afghan ] military general of the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor, who led the Muslim conquests of the eastern Indian regions of Bengal and Bihar and established himself as their ruler. He was the founder of the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, which ruled Bengal for a short period, from 1203 to 1227 CE.

Khalji’s invasions of the Indian subcontinent between A.D. 1197 and 1206 led to mass flight and massacres of Buddhist monks, and caused grave damage to the traditional Buddhist institutions of higher learning in Northern India. In Bengal, Khalji’s reign was responsible for the displacement of Buddhism. His rule is said to have begun the Islamic rule in Bengal, most notably those of Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal.

Bakhtiyar launched an ill-fated Tibet campaign in 1206 and was assassinated upon returning to Bengal by Ali Mardan. He was succeeded by Muhammad Shiran Khalji.

Early life
Bakhtiyar Khalji was born and raised in Garmsir, Helmand, in present-day southern Afghanistan. He was member of the Khalaj tribe, which is of Turkic origin and after being settled in south-eastern Afghanistan for over 200 years, eventually led to the creation of the Ghilji tribe.

Bakhtiyar during his early years went in search of employment to Ghazni and Delhi, although he was rejected there due to his ugly appearance. Afterwards, he moved towards Badaun in present-day Uttar Pradesh, where the Ghurid governor Hizabrudin Hasan Adib took Bakhtiyar in his service and thus, he got his first assignment. A slightly different account of 14th-century chronicler Abdul Malik Isami states that Bakhtiyar’s first employment was in the service of a Rajput ruler Jaitra Singh. The account of Isami is not attested by the earlier authorities and is unlikely to be true considering the hostility between the two in later twelfth century. While there were instances of Afghan soldiers fighting in the Rajput forces as attested by a later chronicler, Ferishta, still the account of Isami regarding Bakhtiyar’s first assignment is largely unreliable and dubious.

Bakhtiyar did not come from an obscure background. His uncle Muhammad bin Mahmud Khalji was a lieutenant of the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor and according to chronicler Minhaj-i-Siraj fought valiantly in the Second Battle of Tarain against Chahamana ruler Prithviraja III where the Ghurids secured a decisive victory. Mahmud was later honoured with the iqta of Kashamandi for his gallantry in Tarain. After the death of his uncle, the iqta was passed to Bakhtiyar. However, Bakhtiyar did not stay in Kashamndi for long and approached the commander of Benaras Husamudin Aghul Bek who was impressed with his gallantry and bestowed on him the iqta of Bhagwat and Bhilui (present-day Mirzapur district).

In his early career before the expeditions in Bengal and Bihar, Bakhtiyar displaced the minor Gahadavala chiefs in the region of present-day Uttar Pradesh and from there raided Maner and Bihar where he looted a large amount of booty. These successful neighbouring raids increased Bakhtiyar’s fame and several Khalji emir joined in his service. At the same time, Muhammad of Ghor’s slave Qutb ud-Din Aibak also honoured him.

Death and aftermath

Ikhtiyar al-Dīn Muḥammad Khalji left the town of Devkot in 1206 to attack Tibet, leaving Ali Mardan Khalji in Ghoraghat Upazila to guard the eastern frontier from his headquarters at Barisal. Bakhtiyar Khalji’s forces suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Tibetan guerrilla forces at Chumbi Valley, which forced him to retreat to Devkot with only about a hundred surviving soldiers. As he lay ill and exhausted in Devkot, Bakhtiyar Khalji was assassinated by Ali Mardan Khalji.

The Khalji noblemen then appointed Muhammad Shiran Khalji as Bakhtiyar’s successor. Loyal troops under Shiran Khalji and Subedar Aulia Khan avenged Ikhtiyar’s death, imprisoning Ali Mardan Khalji. Eventually Ali Mardan fled to Delhi and provoked the Sultan of Delhi Qutb al-Din Aibak to invade Bengal, who sent an army under Qayemaz Rumi, the governor of Awadh, to dethrone Shiran Khalji . Shiran fled to Dinajpur where he later died. Ghiyas-ud-din Iwaz Khalji assisted the invasion and assumed the governorship of Bengal in 1208. But shortly after, he yielded power to Ali Mardan willingly, when the latter returned from Delhi in 1210. However, the nobles of Bengal conspired against and assassinated Ali Mardan in 1212. Iwaj Khalji assumed power again and proclaimed his independence from the Delhi sultanate.

Legacy
Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji had the Khutbah read and coins struck in his name. Mosques, madrasas, and khanqahs arose in the new abode of Islam through Bakhtiyar’s patronage, and his example was imitated by his subordinates.