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Habshi Sultanate | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1487-1493 | |||||||||
.jpg) Map of Bengal during the Sultanate period | |||||||||
| Status | Sultanate | ||||||||
| Capital | Gaur | ||||||||
| Common languages | Persian Bengali Arabic | ||||||||
| Religion | State Religion:Sunni Islam (Hanafi) Others:Hinduism Buddhism | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Sultan | |||||||||
• 1487 | Shahzada Barbak | ||||||||
• 1487–89 | Saifuddin Firuz Shah | ||||||||
• 1489–90 | Mahmud Shah II | ||||||||
• 1490–93 | Shamsuddin Muzaffar Shah | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1487 | ||||||||
• Fall | 1493 | ||||||||
| Currency | Taka | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Bangladesh India Myanmar Nepal | ||||||||
TheHabshi dynasty refers to the brief era ofSiddi (referred to at the time asHabesha) rulers in Bengal that lasted from 1487 to 1493 during theBengal Sultanate. Four Habshi rulers ruledBengal during this period. This rule began with the rebellion against and assassination ofJalaluddin Fateh Shah of theIlyas Shahi dynasty.
Before the Ilyas Shahi dynasty, it was customary for Muslim rulers to purchase slaves and appoint them to royal palaces or important positions in the kingdom. Even during the reign of Jalaluddin Fateh Shah, some slaves were appointed as palace guards, who gradually increased their power among themselves. Jalaluddin tried to rein them in. But the Habshis rebelled under the leadership ofShahzada Barbak and killed the Sultan and seized the throne. While originally used to refer specifically toAbyssinia, their name later became more broadly used to refer to Africans of any ethnicity.[1][2] Similarly, this term for Siddis is held to be derived from the common name for the captains of theAbyssinian ships that also first delivered Siddi slaves to the subcontinent.[3][full citation needed] HistorianRichard M. Eaton states Habshis were initiallypagans sold byEthiopian Christians toGujarati merchants for Indian textiles.[4]
Shahzada Barbak killed Jalaluddin Fateh Shah in 1487 and assumed the rule.[5] He took the royal nameGhiyasuddin Shahzada Barbak. As his reign was short-lived, he was able to start few coins.[5] A few months after his accession to the throne, Ilyas Shahi's loyal Malik Andil Khan killed him and took the throne.
Andil Habshi or Saifuddin Firuz Shah ruled Bengal for two years (from 1487 to 1489) after killing Barbak and taking his throne. He is credited by many as the main founder of Habshi rule. Andil was reportedly impotent, generous and kind. According to most historians, he died a natural death. However, according to some historians likeGhulam Husain Salim and Jadunath, he was killed by one of the palace guards.
Mahmud Shah II was the adopted son of Saifuddin Firuz Shah. His reign started while he was still an infant and his regent was Habash Khan. After a year in of rule, in 1490, Sidi Badr killed him and Habash Khan and took over the rule.[6]
Shamsuddin Muzaffar Shah or Sidi Badr was the Habshi ruler who ruled Bengal for the longest time. Intent on capturing Bengal, he first killed Habash Khan, the royal regent of Sultan Mahmud Shah II, before proceeding to assassinate the Sultan. Badr Shams-ud-Din ascended the throne assuming the title of Muzaffar Shah.
He raised an army of thirty thousand soldiers including thousands of Afghans and five thousand Habshi.[5] He defeated the Kamata kingdom in battle and conquered their territory in 1492/92.[5] In 1494 his wazir (chief minister) Sayyed Hussain led a revolt in which Sidi was killed.[5]
Due to political instability and a lack of capacity to deal with injustices, Siddi rule eventually fell. Although Saifuddin Firuz Shah was compassionate, but he could not spread that much power. On the contrary, Shamsuddin Mozaffar Shah, who was focused on expanding his power, was also focused on empowering the Habshi in Bengal. Described by Indo-Persian historians as a tyrant, his cruelty was said to have alienated the nobility as well as his common subjects.[7] In 1494, a rebellion led by Syed Hussain led to the death of Shamsuddin Mozaffar Shah. Syed Hossain ascended the throne with the nameAlauddin Husain Shah. He expelled all the Habshi from power and banished them from the area. Eventually they were forced to move to different areas of theDeccan Plateau andGujarat.[8]
| Habshi Rulers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Prashad was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).