Second Ekdala war

01The second campaign

Firuz came east again in 1359, taking up the cause of a claimant from the earlier ruling house of east Bengal. Sikandar Shah, like his father, retired into Ekdala and let the Delhi army sit outside. Afif describes long negotiations. In the end Sikandar sent gifts, including elephants, and Firuz accepted a nominal submission and marched away. He never tried again, and no Delhi sultan held Bengal for the next two centuries.

02Jajnagar on the way home

On his way back Firuz turned south into Odisha and attacked Jajnagar, the land of the Eastern Ganga kings. Afif and the Sirat-i-Firoz Shahi record that he reached Puri and desecrated the Jagannath temple, throwing images into the sea, before the Ganga king Bhanudeva III bought peace with elephants. The Jagannath worship was restored after his departure and continued under the Gajapatis. The Eastern Ganga kingdom itself survived until Kapilendra Deva founded the Gajapati line in 1434.

Dynasty · 1078–1434 CE (an earlier line ruled Kalinga from the 5th century)Eastern GangasAnantavarman Chodaganga joined Kalinga to Utkala and began the present temple of Jagannath at Puri. His heirs built Konark and held Odisha against the Bengal sultans for two centuries.Read →