Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah

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Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah
Ganesha dynasty
FatherRaja Ganesha
ReligionIslam

Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah (

Ming China.[4]
Bengal grew in wealth and population during his reign. He also combined Bengali and Islamic architecture.

First phase (1415–1416)

According to Goron and Goenka, Raja Ganesha seized control over Bengal soon after the death of Sultan Bayazid (1412–1414). Facing an imminent threat of invasion at the behest of a powerful Muslim holy man named Nur Qutb Alam, he appealed to the saint to call off his threat. The saint agreed on the condition that Raja Ganesha's son Jadu would convert to Islam and rule in his place. Raja Ganesha agreed and Jadu started ruling Bengal as Jalal al-Din in 1415 AD.[3] Nur Qutb Alam died in 1416 AD and Raja Ganesha was emboldened to depose his son and accede to the throne himself as Danujamarddana Deva.[5] Jalaluddin was reconverted to Hinduism by the Golden Cow ritual. After the death of his father he once again converted to Islam and started ruling his second phase.[6]

Second phase (1418–1433)

Eklakhi Mausoleum in Pandua which disputably houses a tomb of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah and his wife and a son

Jalaluddin maintained a peaceful kingdom during his second phase. His authority stretched to eastern Bengal Moazzamabad (present-day

Cheng Ho, visited the city twice in 1421–22 and 1431–33. He later transferred the capital from Pandua to Gaur.[4] The city of Gaur began to be re-populated during his reign. Jalaluddin himself constructed a number of buildings and sarais there.[7]

Relation with Hindus

Jalaluddin played a distinguished role in converting the Hindus of Bengal to Islam.

Hindu, as the commander of his army.[7] He gained support of Muslim scholars – Ulama and the Shaikhs. He reconstructed and repaired the mosques and other religious architectures destroyed by Raja Ganesha.[4]

The 17th century Persian historian, Firishta applauded him by saying:

He upheld the principles of justice and equity and became the Naushirwan of the age.[9]

According to the Padachandrika, a commentary on the Amarakosha in Sanskrit, Brihaspati Mishra, a Brahmin from Kulingram (present-day Bardhaman district), was promoted by Sultan Jalaluddin to the position of the Sarvabhaumapandita (Court Scholar). And Vishvasrai, son of Brihaspati Mishra, was also appointed a minister by the Sultan.[7] He patronized Sankritic culture by publicly showing appreciation for those scholars of classical Brahmanic scholarship. Many Brahmin poets were honored by Jalaluddin.[10]

According to a 19th-century chronicle written by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, Jalaluddin compelled many Hindus to convert to Islam, resulting in many Hindus fleeing to Kamrup.[11]

Relation with foreign rulers

He also maintained good diplomatic relations. He was in correspondence with the Timurid ruler

Burma; in return he became the overlord of Arakan.[13] He, at some point, also ruled over parts of Tripura and southern Bihar.[14]

Jalaluddin tried to legitimise his rule by publicly displaying his credentials as a devout and correct Muslim. Contemporary Arab sources hold that upon his conversion to

Hanafi
legal tradition.

Between 1428 and 1431, he also supported the construction of two Islamic institutions in

Mamluk sultan.[15] According to Al-Sakhawi's Al-Daw al-lami` li ahli al-Qarni al-Tasi, Barsbay once gifted the Bengali sultan with investiture, a robe of honour and a letter of recognition.[16][17] Jalaluddin had died before his own gifts could be dispatched to Barsbay and this job was left for his son, Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah, to be completed.[18]

In 1427, Jalaluddin described himself in an inscription as Al-sultan al-azam al-muazzamin khalifat Allah 'ali al-makunin Jalal al-Dunya w'al-Din (the most exalted of the great sultans, the caliph of Allah in the universe).

Coins

Several undated issues of his silver coins and a huge commemorative silver coin minted in Pandua in 1421, bear the stylised figure of a lion.

arrival of a Chinese ambassador. Another theory says that they marked the withdrawal of Jaunpur's threatening army.[20] Asides from him, the lion-motif coins were also issued by Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah I and Jalaluddin Fateh Shah.[21] Such type of coins were also issued by the kingdom of Tripura in 1464, thus precluding the possibility that Jalaluddin was following the kingdom's custom. Since the lion is seen as the vehicle of the Goddess as Chandi in whose name the Sena dynasty rebelled from 1416 to 1418, it is possible he attempted to appeal to the deeply-rooted sentiments of Goddess-worship. In 1427, he had described himself in a description on a mosque as the most exalted of the great sultans, the caliph of Allah in the universe. Having tested this, in 1430 he took a bolder step by including "Caliph of Allah" (Khalifat al-Allah) as one of his titles on his coins.[19] In 1431 AD he issued a new coin inscribing Kalema-tut-shahadat.[4]
Thus he reintroduced on his coins the Kalimah, which had disappeared from Bengal Sultanate coins for several centuries.

Death

He died in Rabi 2, 837 AH (1433 AD) and was disputably buried in the Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua.[4][22]

See also

References

  1. OCLC 13980579
    .
  2. ^ The Philological Secretary, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Volume 43 (1874), p.294
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-81-215-1010-3
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e f Taher, MA (2012). "Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  5. ISBN 978-81-215-1010-3
    .
  6. OCLC 786166571
    .
  7. ^ a b c Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra, ed. (1967) [First published 1960]. The Delhi Sultanate. The History and Culture of the Indian People. Vol. 6. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. pp. 209–211.
  8. OCLC 24232178
    .
  9. ^ Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra, ed. (1967) [First published 1960]. The Delhi Sultanate. The History and Culture of the Indian People. Vol. 6. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 210.
  10. ISBN 978-0-520-08077-5
    ..
  11. ^ Buchanan (Hamilton), Francis (1833). A Geographical, Statistical and Historical Description of the District or Zila of Dinajpur in the Province or Soubah of Bengal. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press. pp. 23–4.
  12. ^ Ray, Haraprasad (1997). "Sino-Indian Commercial and Diplomatic Relations". The Quarterly Review of Historical Studies. 37. Calcutta: Institute of Historical Studies: 114.
  13. ^ Rahim, Muhammad Abdur (1952). "Chittagong under the Pathan Rule in Bengal". Journal of the Asiatic Society. 18 (1). Asiatic Society of Bengal: 22. The fact that a dethroned Arakanese king, named Meng-tsaumum, recovered his throne, in 1430 A. D., with the help of the Gaur king (Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah) and recognized his vassalage goes to show the hold of Gaur court on Chittagong about the time.
  14. ISBN 978-0-8108-8024-5
    .
  15. ^ Karim, Abdul (1960). Corpus of the Muslim Coins of Bengal: (down to A. D. 1538). Asiatic Society of Pakistan.
  16. ^ Al-Sakhawi. Al-Daw al-lami' li ahli al-Qarni al-Tasi (in Arabic).
  17. ^ ʻAbdallāh Muḥammad Ibn-ʻUmar al-Makkī al-Āṣafī al-Ulughkhānī Hajjī ad-Dabir. Zafar ul wālih bi Muzaffar wa ālihi (in Arabic).
  18. ^ Behrens-Abouseif, Doris (16 May 2014). Practising Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in the Medieval Islamic World. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 9, 29, 46.
  19. ^
    ISBN 978-0-520-08077-5
    ..
  20. ISBN 978-81-215-1010-3
    .
  21. ^ The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, Volume 42. Numismatic Society of India. 1980. p. 44.
  22. ^ "Adina Masjid". ASI, Kolkata Circle. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah
House of Raja Ganesha
Preceded by Ruler of Bengal
1415–1416 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Sultan of Bengal

1418–1433 		Succeeded by
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