Mughal conquest of Bakla

01Chandradwip

Chandradwip, later called Bakla, lay among the rivers and islands of the Barisal country at the mouth of the Meghna. Its rulers were a Hindu Kayastha family that had held the land since the time of the Bengal sultans. Raja Ramchandra was young and married to a daughter of Pratapaditya of Jessore. Islam Khan, moving his war-boats down from Dhaka against the chiefs of the south, sent a force against him while another army marched on Jessore.

02Submission

Mirza Nathan records that Ramchandra’s forces resisted for a short time before he came in and submitted. Unlike his father-in-law, he was allowed to keep much of his land as a Mughal zamindar. The fall of Bakla, Bhulua and Jessore in the same year left the chiefs of eastern Bengal without allies, and by 1612 Islam Khan could report the whole province under Mughal rule. Ramchandra’s line went on holding Bakla as zamindars.