| Battle of Katasin | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Eastern Ganga dynasty | Delhi Sultanate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Narasingha Deva I | Tughral Tughan Khan | ||||||
The Battle of Katasin was fought in 1243 CE between Narasingha Deva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty and Tughral Tughan Khan, the Bengal governor of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi, at Katasin (present-day Contai, in West Bengal, India). Narasingha Deva I delivered a crushing defeat to the Mamluk forces and subsequently went on to capture additional territory. [1]
Narasingha Deva I's predecessor Anangabhima Deva III had already taken steps to protect the Ganga Empire by defeating the invasion attempts of Ghiyasuddin Iwaj Shah, the ruler of Bengal. [2] [3] However, the Muslim rulers of the Mamluk dynasty and their vassal and governor of Bengal Tughral Tughan Khan continued to pose a major threat to the Ganga Empire and in order to counter the threat, Narasingha Deva I undertook an aggressive policy and invaded Bengal. [4]
In the initial phase of the expedition, a siege was laid on the fort of Lakhnauti which was a strategic point of entry into the territory of the Mamluks Muslims from the west and also a point of communication with other Muslim-dominated kingdoms of North India, especially the Delhi Sultanate. In his work known as Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, chronicler Minhaj-I-Siraj Juzani, who accompanied the Muslim forces, gives live accounts and a vivid picture of the war. By 1243 A.D., Tughril Tughan launched a counterattack on the invading Odishan army. Gaining some initial success, the Muslim army followed the forces of Narasingha Deva who were on a tactical retreat at this point towards the frontier fort of Katasin (Contai in the Southern part of today's West Bengal) that was surrounded by jungles and thick cane-bushes and provided a strategic defense. The Odia army had dug trenches to force the advancing Muslim cavalry to slow down and halt, and also left some of their elephants unattended along with fodder in the open fields to lure the advancing enemies and expose them to capture.
After the initial defensive confrontation, the Odia forces followed guerrilla warfare tactics, initially staying hidden from the approaching Muslim forces. In the middle of the raging battle, a retreating Odia force led Tughral Tughan to believe that it had left the area, and halt the army to settle down for midday meals. A sudden and unprecedented attack was launched by the forces of Narasingha Deva, ensuring a massive slaughter of the enemy forces. According to the Minhaj, a section of the Ganga army charged from the direction of the fort, while a concealed detachment of 200 soldiers, 50 horsemen, and 5 elephants pounced on the unsuspecting Bengal Muslim army of Tughan, emerging from the thick cane bushes behind the camp. Several Muslim soldiers were killed in this attack and Tughan himself had a narrow escape with his life and was possibly wounded. [5] The march of Narasingha Deva I's forces over the Muslim army has been described in the Ananta Vasudeva temple inscription. In a dramatic description of these events of slaughtering of a whole Muslim army by the Odia forces, the descendant of Langula Narasingha Deva, Narasingha Deva II in his Sanskrit bronze inscription of Kendupatna, mentioned;
"Radha Varendra Yabani Nayanjanaasru,
Pureya Dur Binibesita Kalima Srihi,
Tadh Bipralamm Karayadrabhuta Nistaranga,
Gangapi Nunamamuna Yamunadhunavut”
The victory at Katasin was followed up by Narasingha Deva I with a further offensive to capture Lukhnor and Lakhnauti. [4] The battle was a blow to Muslim power in the area and put a check on their aggressive and expansionist designs on the Ganga Empire. [6] Tughan Khan fled in fear and appealed to the emperor in Delhi for help, but was again badly defeated. Several districts of Bengal were annexed and added to Narasingha Deva I's empire. [5]
The military successes of Narasingha Deva I in the Battle of Katasin and subsequent victories raised his prestige among contemporary Hindu rulers and augmented his resources, thus enabling him to undertake the building of iconic structures like the Sun Temple of Konark [4]
Shams ud-Din Iltutmish was the third of the Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sovereign to rule from Delhi, and is thus considered the effective founder of the Delhi Sultanate.
Contai popularly known as Kanthi is a coastal and subdivisional city and a municipality in Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Contai subdivision.
Anangabhima Deva III was an Eastern Ganga monarch who ruled an early medieval Odisha centered empire in eastern India from the year 1211 CE to 1238 CE. He was successful in maintaining a large extent of territory that stretched from the river Ganga in the north to Godavari in the South. He had successfully defeated the Kalachuris on the western frontiers of the empire and established a matrimonial alliance with them. His brother or brother in law, Rajaraja II became the ruler of the Dynasty in 1198. When Anangabhima III came into power, in 1211, he expelled the Muslims of Bengal from his kingdom. He had a son, Narasingha Deva I, who would later invade Bengal in 1244, and captured the capital city, Gauda. He was a reformist in the social and spiritual structure of the Odia society as the vaishnavite deity Jagannath was declared as the supreme ruler of the empire and the emperor as the deputy under him. The Madala Panji records he claiming himself as Shri Purushottama dedicating everything to lord Jagannath. He built the famous Pradaskhina mandapa of Srikurmam temple.
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Western Odisha is the western part of the state of Odisha in India, extending from the Kalahandi district in the south to the Sundargarh district in the north.
The Eastern Ganga dynasty were a large medieval era Indian royal Hindu dynasty that reigned from Kalinga from as early as the 5th century to the mid 20th century. Eastern Gangas ruled much of the modern region of Odisha in three different phases by the passage of time, known as Early Eastern Gangas (493–1077), Imperial Eastern Gangas (1077–1436) and Khemundi Gangas (1436–1947). They are known as "Eastern Gangas" to distinguish them from the Western Gangas who ruled over Karnataka. The territory ruled by the dynasty consisted of the whole of the modern-day Indian state of Odisha, as well as major parts of north Andhra Pradesh, parts of Chhattisgarh and some southern districts of West Bengal. Odia language got official status in their regime following the evolution of the language from Odra Prakrit. The early rulers of the dynasty ruled from Dantapuram; the capital was later moved to Kalinganagara, and ultimately to Kataka and then to Paralakhemundi.
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Tughral Tughan Khan, later known as Mughith ad-Din Tughral, was an officer of the Delhi Sultanate. He governed Bengal during 1236-1246 CE and again during 1272-1281 CE.
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Gajapati Langula Narasingha Deva I was an Eastern Ganga monarch and a warrior of the Kalinga region who reigned from 1238 CE to 1264 CE. He defeated the Musalman(Muslim) forces of Bengal who constantly threatened the Eastern Ganga dynasty's rule over his kingdom of Kalinga from the times of his father Anangabhima Deva III. He was the first king from Kalinga and one of the few rulers in India who took the offensive against the Islamic expansion over India by Turko-Afghan invaders of Eastern India. His father had successfully defended his kingdom against the Turko-Afghan rulers of Bengal and crossed into Rarh, Gauda and Varendra in Bengal chasing the invaders on backfoot. He became the dominant ruler of the peninsula by defeating the Turko-Afgan, Gouda, and the powerful monarch of the south kakatiya Dynasty king Ganapati Deva, and was one of the most powerful Hindu rulers in India. He also built the Konark temple to commemorate his victories over the Muslims as well as other temples and the largest fort complex of Eastern India at Raibania in Balasore. He also built famous Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Temple at Simhachalam , Andhra Pradesh. The Kendupatana plates of his grandson Narasingha Deva II mention that Sitadevi, the queen of Narasingha Deva I was the daughter of the Paramara king of Malwa.
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