A Large Part Of India’s History Is Hidden In This Buddhist Monastery: Renovation work was going on at “Shakya Monastery”, an ancient Buddhist monastery in Tibet. Suddenly a part of the wall collapses and reveals a huge secret room, which is lined with ancient figurines. Not one or two, a total of 84000 dolls. Historians’ eyes are filled with tears after seeing the contents of the statue. It can be seen that the history of 1000 years of human civilization is preserved here. So far only 5% of this vast collection has been decoded and deciphered.
The picture shows a part of that huge collection. Every ancient university in India had huge collections of such precious statues. Nalanda University alone had 10 lakh effigies, which Bakhtiyar Khilji burnt for six months. This library of Shakya Monastery in Tibet proves that these are no fables. If India’s huge wealth of knowledge had remained intact even today, it can be said for sure that India would have been a thousand yojans ahead of other countries as inheritors of ancient traditions and knowledge.
As boring as a history book written in the format of a few thousand characters may seem, the original history is not so meaningless. Every history is associated with many ups and downs, bloodshed, and sad reality. “Bakhtiyar Khilji conquered Bengal in 1204 with only 17 cavalrymen after defeating Nadia king Laxman Sen” – this line of history books must be memorized by everyone. Although we don’t really know anything before or after this. Let’s know about that Bakhtiyar Khilji and his daring campaign.
Early 13th century AD. At that time, King Laxman Sen of the Sen dynasty was ruling in Bengal. He lived in Nadia. One day the Pandits of his court told him that it was written in their ancient books that Bengal would be conquered by the Turks. By then the whole of North India was occupied by the Turks and the Bakhtiar Khilji conquered Bihar.
The king asked the Brahmin scholars if there was any indication in the ancient texts about the physical appearance of the Bengal invaders. In response, the pundits said that the Turk who conquers Bengal will be short in stature and ugly in appearance, and his hands will be long up to his knees. King Lakshmana Sen sent trusted men to confirm that the accounts corresponded to Bakhtiyar Khilji, the conqueror of Bihar. Laxman Sen did not take it into account even though he understood the Turkish attack as imminent. The Brahmin Pandits left Nadia without the king’s permission.
Historian Minhaj-i-Siraj revealed the above information in his book ‘Tabqat-i-Nasiri’. There is no way to say for sure whether the incident actually happened. But soon after his death, Bakhtiyar Khilji invaded Nadia and established a Muslim empire in Bengal.
Three stages of Muslim imperial expansion can be seen in the subcontinent. First, the Arabs under the leadership of Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in 712 AD. In the second phase, the Turkish Sultan Amir Sabuktgin and his son Sultan Mahmud repeatedly invaded the subcontinent in the late 10th century and incorporated the area around Lahore into their Ghazni kingdom. It was the Turks who led the attack in the third phase as well. Muhammad Ghuri led this time. In this attack, the Turks established a permanent Muslim society in the subcontinent centered on Delhi. Bakhtiar Khilji’s invasion of Bengal was part of this third phase of the invasion.
Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji was a native of Garmshir area of Afghanistan. He belonged to the Khilji sect of Turks. Not much is known about his early life. However, it is believed that he left his homeland in search of livelihood due to poverty. Muhammad Ghuri was then campaigning in the Indian subcontinent. Bakhtiyar unsuccessfully applied for a job in Ghur’s army. The rule then was that every soldier had to provide his own horses and weapons. Bakhtiyar could not afford horses or shield swords for lack of ability. Moreover, Bakhtiar Khilji, with his short body, long arms, and ugly face, could not even attract the attention of the commander.
Failing at Ghazni, Bakhtiyar approached the Emperor Qutbuddin Aibek of Delhi and failed there as well. Then Bakhtiyar advanced eastward and reached Badaun. Malik Hizbar-ud-Din, the ruler of Badaun, employed him on cash pay, but Bakhtiyar was not satisfied with such employment. After working for some time he left for Ayodhya. The ruler of Ayodhya recognized Husam-ud-Din Bakhtiyar’s talent and appointed him as a border guard on the eastern frontier of the Muslim kingdom, giving him the jagirs of two Parganas, Viuli and Bhagat. Here Bakhtiar saw the potential for his future development.
Raja Laxman Sen’s capital was at Vikrampur in Dhaka. He was living in Nadia, the holy pilgrimage place of Gangapara in his old age. He was a brave warrior and a good ruler. It cannot be said that he did not make any prior preparations to protect his kingdom. Historians believe that he guarded the Teliagarh pass, the main entrance to the state. But the resourceful Bakhtiar Khilji did not take that route and advanced through the jungles of Jharkhand in the south.
