Battle of Tukaroi - Background

Background

Ikhtiar uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate, defeated the Sena king Lakshman Sen at his capital, Nabadwip in 1203-1204 and conquered most of Bengal . The Deva family — the last Hindu dynasty to rule in Bengal — ruled briefly in East Bengal, although they were suppressed by the mid-fourteenth century.

During the early Muslim period, the former Sena Hindu kingdom became known as the Sultanate of Bangala and Bihar, ruled intermittently from the Sultanate of Delhi. The chaotic shifts in power between the Afghan and Turkish rulers of that sultanate came to an end when Mughal rule became established in Bengal during the sixteenth century.

During the reign of Mughal Emperor Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Akbar the Sultan of Bangala was Daud Khan Karrani, who had seized the Fort Zamania a frontier post of the Mughal Empire. This gave Akbar the cause for war.

Akbar who was in Gujarat when he received the news of Daud's audacity, at once dispatched orders to Munim Khan and the representative of the imperial power in Jaunpur to chastise the aggressor. Munim on receipt of his sovereign's instructions assembled a powerful force and marched on Patna where he was opposed by Lodi Khan an influential Afghan chief who had placed Daud on the throne and now served that prince as minister Munim Khan who was then very old had lost his energy and after some skirmishing was content to cease hostilities and grant Daud extremely lenient terms. Neither of the principal parties was pleased and Emperor Akbar thought that the Munim Khan had been too easy going whereas Daud was jealous of his minister Lodi Khan. The emperor accordingly deputed Raja Todar Mal to take the command in Bihar making over the Raja's civil duties as Diwan temporarily to Rai Ram Das.Daud treacherously killed his minister Lodi Khan and confiscated his property. Munim Khan stung by his master's censure returned rapidly to Patna and laid siege to the city.But he soon found the task of taking it to be beyond his powers and begged Mughal Emperor Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Akbar to come in person and assume charge of the campaign. Akbar who had just returned to the capital after paying his annual visit to Ajmer proceeded to Agra in March 1574 and prepared a fleet of elaborately equipped boats to proceed down the rivers.

On June 15, 1574, Akbar embarked for the river voyage and was accompanied by many of his best officers Hindu and Muslim.The names of nineteen given by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak include Bhagwan Das, Raja Man Singh, Raja Birbal,Shahbaz Khan and Kasim Khan,the admiral or Mir Bahr. The rainy season being then at its height the voyage was necessarily adventurous and many mishaps occurred. Several vessels foundered off Etawah and 11 off Allahabad.

After traveling for 26 days Akbar reached Benares where he halted for three days.He then proceeded and anchored near where the Gomti River joins the Ganges River.On the same day the army which had marched by land arrived. The whole movement evidently had been thought out and executed with consummate skill in the face of tremendous difficulties due to the weather. The ladies and children were sent to Jaunpur and Akbar in response to urgent entreaties from Munim Khan that he would be pleased to come in person with all speed to the front, advanced to the famous ferry at Chaunsa where his father, Emperor Humayun, had suffered a severe defeat in 1539. The army was then brought across to the southern bank of the river.