Shamsuddin Iliyas Shah - Sultan of The Unified Bengal

Sultan of The Unified Bengal

During the early period of his reign, he occupied Tirhut region and raided Nepal. He advanced as far as the capital Kathmandu following the Dudh Koshi river, destroyed the Swayambhunath temple there and returned with a huge booty.He is said to have destroyed the Lichchhavi palaces of Managriha and Kailashkuta. He also damaged all the temples in the Kathmandu valley except the Changu Narayan Temple which he could not locate as it lies some hills away from Kathmandu. He returned after 3 days of looting and burning. Next, he invaded Orissa. Due to the weakness of Bhanudeva II, the Eastern Ganga dynasty ruler, he could advance through Jajpur and Katak as far as the Chilika Lake and returned with an immense booty which included forty-four elephants. Finally he led a campaign against Sultan Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah, the ruler of Sonargaon and annexed his dominions after defeating him in 1352. Thus he became the sole ruler of the whole Bengal. Towards the end of his reign, he also led a successful campaign against Kamarupa (present-day Assam).