Kedar Ray
| Kedar Ray | |
|---|---|
| Raja of Sundiva (Sripur), and Bikrampur[1] | |
| Born | 1561 Bikrampur, Bengal Sultanate (now Dhaka, Bangladesh) |
| Died | 1616 |
| Issue |
|
| Father | Jadob Deb Ray |
Kedarnath Dev Ray (1561–1616 CE) was the Maharaja of Bikrampur, and among the most prominent of the Baro-Bhuyan in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent,
Military Career
[edit]Arakanese-Magh-Bikrampur Naval Battle
[edit]Arakanese Magh king Selim Shah sent 5,000 naval war ships to attack the coast of Bay of Bengal but Kedar Ray having only 1,000 war ships, still gained a decisive victory in this battle in which more than 3,000 Arakani ships were destroyed and driven out of the Bay of Bengal. The mighty Bikrampur Kingdom was established.[2][3][4]
Battle of Kalindi River
[edit]After a few years, The Mughal Akbar sent Manda Ray, a general of the Mughal Empire, to destroy the Bikrampur Kingdom and merge it into the Mughal Empire Manda Ray attacked on the banks of Kalindi River. General Cavaldro (Military commander of Kedar Ray's Sripur Kingdom) defeated the Mughal Empire in this battle. Many historians bielieve that the Kalindi River turned red with the blood of the Mughal army.[5][3][4]
Battle of Srinagar
[edit]The Mughals were extremely vengeful after their defeat, so the Mughal ally, Maharaja Man Singh of Jaipur sent Kirmak Khan into combat with Kedar Ray. Kirmak Khan, a clever general of the Mughal Empire, knew of Kedar Ray's expertise and his military techniques so instead of staging a direct attack on the Bikrampur Capital he attacked at the small city of Srinagar. A massive battle started between the Bikrampur forces and the Mughal army at Srinagar. General Francisco, General Philip, and General Cavaldro fought bravely for Bikrampur on the battlefield, which resulted in the huge defeat of Mughal army at Srinagar, where Kirmak Khan was taken prisoner and half of the Mughal army fled the battlefield. Bikrampur army laid siege to the Mughal Camps and Cannons, and the Bikrampur Kingdom advanced towards north West Bengal and captured many territories.[3]
Kalinga-Bikrampur War
[edit]When the Kalinga king Isa Khan broke off his friendship with Kedar Ray, he sent a 20,000 strong Bikrampur army to attack Isha Khan, and the battle turned to victory for Bikrampur, and the Kalinga army retreated.[2]
Bikrampur-Mughal War
[edit]Emperor Jahangir sent a letter to Kedar Ray, which was about vassalisation of Kedar Ray's Sripur Kingdom to Mughal Empire but after reading the message, Maharaja Kedar Ray was furious with Jahangir and prepared for the battle, Emperor Jahangir on the other hand sent Mughal vassal of Jaipur Man Singh himself, with 300,000 troops of the Mughal Army,20,000 War Elephants,90,000 Cavalry and 15,000 gunners to march towards Bengal. Kedar Ray was ready with his entire army of a lakh troops, five thousand cavalry, ninety thousand War elephants and seventy thousand gunners. At the start of the battle, Kedar Ray and his great generals, including Philip, Cavaldro, fought for nine days but, due to a sudden cannon shot that hit Kedar Ray's body directly, he died on the battlefield. After this the army of the Bikrampur Kingdom sustained heavy casualties and the capital was besieged by the Mughal Army. The mighty Bikrampur Kingdom fell and declined, but still its descendants live in India .[3][2][4]
References
[edit]- ^ "Kedar Ray by Jagendranath Gupta". 1914. p. 183.
- ^ a b c Sen, Dineshchandra (1988). The Ballads of Bengal. Mittal Publications.
- ^ a b c d Ray, Aniruddha (1998). Adventurers, Landowners, and Rebels: Bengal C. 1575-c. 1715. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN 978-81-215-0743-1.
- ^ a b c Rahim, Muhammad Abdur (1963). Social and Cultural History of Bengal: 1576-1757. Pakistan Historical Society.
- ^ Sen, Dineshchandra (1988). The Ballads of Bengal. Mittal Publications.