History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c6.100

c6.100

his authority over Bengal. But numismatic evidence leads us to the conclusion that his sons Shihab-al-Din, Baghra Shah and Ghiyas-al-Din Bahadur Shah had revolted against the authority of their father during his lifetime and issued their own coins. Ghiyas-al-Din Bahadur Shah made conquests in Eastern Bengal and established his sway at Sonargaon under the title of Bahadur Shah as far back as the year 711-12 A.H. (1311-12 A.D.). Shams-al-Din Firuz was still living when his son Bahadur Shah ruled at Sonargaon and he died probably in the year 722 A.H (1322 A.D.) as is evidenced by his coins. The conflicting numismatic evidence creates a positive difficulty in settling the chronology of these rulers with exactitude, for coins of the same year, issued from the same places, bear the names of Shams-al-Din Firuz, Shihab-al-Din Baghra Shah and Ghiyas-al-Din Bahadur.⁴¹ Shams-al-Din Firuz died about 722 A.H., and was succeeded by his eldest son Shihāb-al-Dīn Baghrā Shāh who declared himself ruler of Bengal and established his authority at Lakhnauti, but he and his brother Nasir-al-Din were expelled from Lakhnauti in 719 or 720 A.H. (1319-20) by Bahadur who became the undisputed ruler of Bengal as his coins testify. Nothing is known of Hātim Khan who held the fief of Magadh and Qutlū Khan, the other two sons of Shams-al-Din Firuz. Deprived of their possessions by the audacious and scheming Bahadur, the dispossessed brothers sought refuge at Dihli and implored the intervention of Sultan Ghiyas-al-Din Tughluq. But it appears, as we shall see later, that Nāsir-al-Din had acquired some influence, though it did not amount to actual rulership, in Lakhnauti, for during the expedition of Sultan Ghiyas-al-Din Tughluq he came to Tirhut, accompanied by the Rais and Zamindars of the neighbourhood to offer homage.