The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c7.126

c7.126

The occupation was presumably intended to be temporary; a permanent stay in Lower Bengal would have undoubtedly strained Bakhtiyar’s resources and communications. The Ganga dynasty in Orissa was a reputedly great power; the Sena army was still intact and could not be expected to retire without a struggle. A place nearer his base in Bihar would offer greater security and freedom of expansion. Bakhtiyar accordingly sacked Nadia and retreating northwards took up his quarters at Lakhnauti (Lakshanavati), the western capital of the Senas, on the Ganges, near the present site of Gour, in the district of Maldah¹. His calculations proved correct, for over the Rarh country including Nadia, Hindu rule continued for the next fifty years; a grant of Lakshmanasena himself, dated in 1205, was issued from the place which seems to answer the description of Nadia². Minhaj states that ‘Lakhmania’, like his panicky courtiers,—‘Brahmans and the Shahas’ (merchants)—retired to the country of Sanknat and the towns of Bang and Kamrud’, where he soon after died. Sanknat is perhaps a mispronunciation for Sankat or Sankakot, a stronghold of the baniks (merchants) in the twelvth century³ and situated not very far from Vikrampur where Lakshmanasena’s dynasty is archaeologically known to have ruled for three generations.