The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c11.51

c11.51

¹ Barani, p. 82. Among the states raided by him, Barani mentions one Jajnagar or Jajinagar (the printed text has Hajinagar); The I. O. Ms. 177, f. 53b-57b, consistently spells it Jajinagar. The TM, p. 41 has Narkilah (?) while Ferishta has Jajinagar; I, p. 79-80. Elliot, III, p. 112 and 120, rightly held that it could not be Orissa; Stewart: op. cit. p. 70, calls it Jajnagar-Tipperah. Raverty's identification with Orissa, supported by Banerji: Banglar Itihasa, II, p. 70-71, is obviously untenable. For, Balban's arrival at Sunargaon, in his pursuit of Tughril, known to be flying towards Jajnagar, and the conclusion of an agreement with the local raja for preventing the rebel's flight along the rivers, would point to a country in the south east of Bengal. Stewart's identification with Tipperah also does not seem satisfactory. The Tipperah chronicles, it is true, refers to a Turushka king of Gour who helped with troops one of the rival claimants to the Tipperah throne sometime towards the end of the 13th century and who conferred the title of Manikya on the ruler named Ratnapha, a title borne by the Tipperah house ever since; Rajmala, ed. K. C. Sinha, pp. 29-31; also Long's analysis and abridged translation, in JASB, 1850, p. 533 sq. One can understand the flight of Tughril, if he is really identified with this Turushka king, to the country where he could expect to be received by the grateful raja; this treatment he could hardly expect from the king of Orissa whose territory he allegedly raided in the recent past. But the Rajmala is a later compilation and the Turushka king's identification is not beyond doubt. Besides, the existence of Tipperah as an important state in those days is not borne out by epigraphy or archaeology. Such evidences, on the contrary, have recently been unearthed to reveal the existence, in the Tipperah, Noakhali and the Meghna region, of a flourishing kingdom with its capital at Pattikera, now located near what is called the Mainamati hills near Comilla. Its ancient dynasty is proved by archaeological evidences to have been replaced about the middle of the 13th century, by a line of kings whose names end in Deva. Two kings of this line have so far been known, but not only extended the Pattikera kingdom but also seem to have supplanted the later Senas in Vikrampur and Dacca, for the second king, Danujamardana Deva, according to modern epigraphists, is identical with Danuja Rai of Barani (Raja Nauja of Abul Fazal); for this kingdom of Pattikera and the Deva dynasty, see DHB, I, pp. 254-259. Whether Tughril's flight was directed towards this Pattikera is a point worth considering. In that case Danuja Rai's readiness to help in siezing the rebel should be regarded as prompted more by his hostility to him for the recent aggression than a desire to please Balban. Hajinagar is probably the correct version, for it can be equated to Jahajnagar, a popular name of the Tipperah-Noakhali tract on the Meghna-Padma confluence. Ferishta, I, p. 79, and Haji Dabir, III, p. 966, place Tughril's raid on 'Jajnagar', in 671/1272; Stewart: op. cit. p. 70, has 1279.