The Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji’s attack on Indian sub continent has led to a alot of deaths of monks and buddhist traditions, its teachings, monuments and its institutions.
Bakhtiyar Khilji is also known as ikhtiyar ad-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji. Bakhtiyar khalji was born and raised in Garmsir, its present day Afghanistan. he also faced some kind of discrimination in his early years. he left his place in search of employment, and he came to Ghazni and delhi, but he was rejected because he did not have a good appearance. after this he moved to the Badaun, the present day uttar Pradesh, where he got his first employment. there is still debate on whom took him in on job.
Bakhtiyar Khilji was not a ruler but he worked under the Ghurid empire. he was the military general of the Ghurid empire.he was also the governor of the of the Ghurid empire. it means he had significant power on the regions he conquered, regions like Bengal and Bihar. the ghurid empire was run by the ruler Muhammad Ghori. Bakhtiyar belonged to the Khilji tribe and when he started to work in the empire, at first he was a minor military leader but as the time went on, he became main military general, as he was brave and strategic thinker.
he attacked Bengal in 1203, specifically the sena dynasty. he captured the land of Nadia (modern day nabadwip). it was a surprise attack from the Bakhtiyar Khilji, which led to the down fall of the sena dynasty and then the Bakhtiyar Khilji became the first Muslim ruler.
his attack on Nalanda university is one of the well known throughout the world. he destroyed Nalanda university as well as Vikramashila university in 1193. these universities belonged to the Buddhist studies, which was a learning center of the world. it had vast amount of library full of books.
According to the buddhist scholar Taranatha, he had killed many monks at Odantapuri and destroyed the Vikramashila. here many historicans like Satish Chandr and Mohammad Habib have directly or indirectly have said that Bakhtiyar was involved in the destruction of mahaviharas in their texts. but here some contexts like D.N. Jha and Namit Arora have also said that he may have not destroyed these monuments and killed monks.
with his expansion in Bengal and bihar, he tried to establish more and tried to capture the land of assam but he faced defeat by Ahom kingdom. this defeat also attacked his image.
he got defeated in assam, which led to the down fall of the Bakhtiyar Khilji. conflicts among themselves started to increase, his management of his empire weakened, ultimately seeing his downfall, he was killed by his own officer Ali mardan.
after this, his nobles choose the Muhammad Shiran Khalji as new ruler. why nobles choose him? because he was the most loyal person close to him. shiran had a good support from the solders who were under the khalji’s kingdom. because of this, it helped him to come to the power.he also had good connections with the nobles and other military, which also helped in his favour.
his Legacy:
he is considered as one of the factors in spread of islam in Bengal. he had the khutbah, its a Islamic sermon, to declare his power over religious in the state he ruled. he also made coins with his name written on it, to show people who was the leader.
to spread the islam, he allowed to be built – mosques, khanqahs and madrasas. this set an example for his people to follow to build mosques and and continued to build after him.
To learn more about the Khilji dynasty and its historical impact, check out this detailed article on our website. https://ariyotours.com/what-is-the-short-summary-of-khilji-dynasty/
