Mughal conquest of Jessore

01The Bhuiyans of Bengal

After Rajmahal the Mughals held western Bengal, but the river country of the east and south was ruled by the Bhuiyans, landholding chiefs with forts and war-boats. Pratapaditya of Jessore, in the Sundarbans country, was the strongest of the Hindu chiefs. He had promised help to Islam Khan, Jahangir’s governor, and failed to send it. Islam Khan, who had moved the capital to Dhaka, sent an army and a fleet against him in 1611.

02Salka and the fall of Jessore

The war is told in detail by Mirza Nathan, a Mughal officer who fought in it, in his Baharistan-i-Ghaibi. Pratapaditya’s son Udayaditya met the Mughals at Salka with a fleet and fort and was beaten; a second stand near the capital also failed. Pratapaditya surrendered. He was taken prisoner, and Bengali tradition holds that he died on the way to Delhi. Jessore was annexed. Two centuries later he became a hero of Bengali plays and novels.