Iliyas was succeeded by his son, Sikandar Shah, early in whose reign the Delhi Sultan made a second attempt to recover Bengal but had to return disappointed. After a prosperous reign of about thirty-three years, Sikandar died, most probably in October, 1390, in the course of a fight with his son, Ghiyas-ud-din A’zam, at Goalpara near Pandua. That his reign was prosperous is well attested by his building of the magnificent mosque at Adina and by the large number, variety, and richness of the designs of his coins. He had great regard for Muslim saints. The next ruler, Ghiyas-ud-din A`zam, was a correspondent of the famous poet Hafiz. He was an accomplished and able prince, having a profound regard for law and Muslim saints. He sent embassies with some presents to Emperor Yung-lo of the Ming dynasty of China in 1405, 1408 and 1409. The Emperor of China also sent, in return, embassies and presents to him. Ghiyas-ud-din A’zam Shah died in A.D. 1410-11 after a reign of about twenty years and was succeeded by his son, Saif-ud-din Hamza Shah. But about this time taking advantage of the growing weakness of the Illyas Shahi rule, as a result of some unsuccessful military campaigns, Raja Ganesh (misread as ‘Kans’ in Persian manuscripts), a Hindu Zamindar of Bhaturia in North Bengal and an influential officer of the lliyas Shahi rulers of Bengal, rose to power and made himself a virtual dictator during the reigns of the puppet rulers like Saif-ud-din Hamza Shah, who ruled for about two to three years, Shihab-ud-din Bayazid Shah, adopted son or slave of Saif-ud-din Hamza Shah, whose rule also lasted from A.D. 1412-13 to A.D. 1414-15, and the latter’s son and successor, Ala-ud-din Firuz Shah nominally ruled for a few months only, and when he died Raja Ganesh seized the throne of Bengal for himself (beginning of A.D. 1415). This usurpation of authority and restoration of Hindu rule by Ganesh were not liked by a section of the Muslims in Bengal. They opposed him along with the local Muslim theologians under the leadership of Nur Kutab Alam, who wrote a highly exciting letter to Ibrahim Sharqi, ruler of Jaunpur, inviting him to invade Bengal for extirpating the authority of Ganesh. On his way to Bengal, lbrahim Sharqi proceeded through Mithila, where Shiva Sinha, had made himself an independent ruler by shaking off his allegiance to Jaunpur and by removing his father, Devi Sinha, from the throne. Shiva Sinha, also a friend and ally of Ganesh, offered resistance to the Jaunpur army but was overpowered by its superior numerical strength and his father was restored as ruler of Mithila on acknowledging the overlordship of the Sultan of Jaunpur. In Bengal, Raja Ganesh could not long stand against the vast Jaunpur army and he had to relinquish his throne. Out of lust for the throne his son, Jadusen, embraced Islam and Ibrahim Sharqi made him the Sultan of Bengal under the title of Jalal-ud-din probably towards the end of A.D. 1415.
But soon after the return of Ibrahim Sharqi from Bengal, Raja Ganesh recovered his authority as ruler of Bengal and assumed the title Danujamardana Deva (‘devoted to the feet of the Goddess Chandi’). Raja, Ganesh now ruled over an extensive kingdom covering practically the whole of Bengal with unassailable authority till the middle of the year 1418. Ganesh sought to reconvert his son into Hinduism through a purificatory process. But this suddhi does not seem to have been accepted by the Hindu society and Jadusen had to spend his days almost as an outcaste during the rest of his father’s reign.
Ganesh was a wise and able ruler. Beveridge remarked, “Raja Kans is the most interesting figure among the kings of Bengal. We feel that this obscure Hindu who rose to supreme power in Bengal, and who for a time broke the bonds of Islam, must have been a man of vigour and capacity.” Writers like Ferishta and some others have also praised his qualities as a ruler. He governed his kingdom “in the beat manner” and his treatment of the Muslim subjects in general was cordial, though he tried “to reduce the overgrown and unruly Muslim monastic orders to obedience”.
Ganesh died peacefully in A.D. 1418 and in the same year coins with Bengali letters were issued from Pandua and Chittagong by a king named “Mahendra Deva, devoted to the feet of the Goddess Chandi”. He was probably the younger son of Ganesh, whom some of his partisans, raised to the throne for a few months only before Jadusen, by re-embracing the Islamic faith, ascended the throne the same year with the title of Jalal-ud-din Muhammad. During his reign lbrahim Sharqi of Jaunpur invaded Bengal for the second time in A.D. 1420.
The rule of the dynasty of Ganesh did not last long. Jalal-ud-din Muhammad died in A.D. 1431 and was succeeded by his son Shams-ud-din Ahmad, who reigned probably until A.D. 1435-36. The tyranny of this monarch made him extremely unpopular, and he fell a prey to a conspiracy organised against him by two officers of his government, Shadi Khan and Nasir Khan. Nasir Khan and Shadi Khan soon became jealous of each other, as both of them aspired to the throne of Bengal, and the former put his rival to death. But he was destined to exercise sovereignty only for a few days as the nobles, who had been attached to Shams-ud-din Ahmad, soon opposed his authority and slew him. They then placed Nasir-ud-din, a grandson of Haji Iliyas, on the throne, who assumed the title of Nasir-ud-din ‘Abul Muzaffar Mahmud Shah, as appears on his coins. Thus was restored the rule of the lliyas Shahi dynasty.
As is proved by some coins, Nasir-ud-din Mahmud reigned for many years as a just and liberal ruler. He is credited with the construction of some buildings at Gaur and a mosque at Satgaon. On his death in A.D. 1459, his son, Rukn-ud-din Barbak Shah, ascended the throne of Bengal. According to Ferishta he was the first ruler in Hindustan to maintain a large number of Abyssinian slaves, some of whom were raised to high positions. Some historians have praised him as “a sagacious and law-abiding sovereign in whose kingdom the soldiers and citizens alike enjoyed contentment and security”. He died in A.D. 1474, and was succeeded by his son, Shams-ud-din Yasuf Shah, who is described in his inscriptions as Shams-ud-din Abul Muzaffar Yasuf Shah. He was a virtuous, learned and pious ruler and reigned till 1481. After his death, the nobles raised his son, Sikandar II, to the throne. But the new ruler, being found to be of defective intellect, was deposed almost immediately in favor of Jalal-ud-din Fath Shah, a son of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud. He has been described as an intelligent and liberal ruler “who maintained the usages of the past and in whose time the people enjoyed happiness and comfort”. Fath Shah was prudent enough to realise the danger that lay in the growing influence of the Abyssinians, but his attempt to check it cost him his life. The discontented Abyssinians formed a conspiracy against him under the leadership of a eunuch, who had him murdered in A.D. 1486 and usurped the throne of Bengal under the title of Barbak Shah, Sultan Shahzada. But Barbak was murdered in the course of a few months by lndil Khan, who, though an Abyssinian, was loyal to Fath Shah and was a military commander of proved ability. Pressed by the widow of Fath Shah, and the courtiers of Gaur, Indil Khan, after displaying some decent reluctance, ascended the throne of Bengal under the title of Saif-ud-din Firuz. If the author of the Riyaz is to be relied on, the confidence reposed in him as an able administrator and commander was justified by his measures, but he was indiscriminately charitable. He died in A.D. 1489, when the nobles placed on the throne a son of Saif-ud-din Firuz Shah, under the title of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah II. But this ruler was done away with in A.D. 1490 by an ambitious Abyssinian, known as Sidi Badr, who seized the throne under the title of Shams-ud-din Abu Nasar Mazaffar Shah. This Abyssinian’s reign of three years and a few months was marked by tyranny and disorder, which caused widespread discontent among the soldiers and the officers, including his wise minister, ‘Sayyid Husain, who was an Arab by descent. They besieged him in Gaur for four months, in the course of which he died. The nobles of Bengal then raised ‘Sayyid Husain to the throne (1493), under the title of Ali-ud-din Husain Shah in recogidtion of his merit and ability.
The accession of `Ala-ud-din Husain Shah marks the commencement of the rule of the rule of a new dynasty, which endured about half a century and the members of which have various useful measures to their credit. He shifted his capital to Ekdala. We have numerous inscriptions of Husain Shah, and his coins, as well as those of his son Nusrat Shah, are varied and abundant. An enlightened and wise man, and a contemporary of the great Vaishnava preacher Chaitanya Deva, Husain Shah was one of the most popular rulers that ascended the throne of Bengal. With a view to restoring order in the internal administration of his kingdom, he suppressed the power of the palace guards, who had, during the preceding reigns, established a position similar to that of the Praetorian Guards in Rome. He also expelled the Abyssinians from his kingdom, as their influence had become a serious menace to the throne. In A.D. 1494 he hospitably received Husain Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur, who, being driven from his kingdom by Sikandar Lodi of Delhi, had fled towards Bengal. The fugitive monarch was allowed to live at Colgong (in Bihar near Bhagalpur) till he died there in A.D. 1500. At this Sikandar Lodi immediately decided to take action against the Bengal Sultan and sent an army to Bihar early in 1495 under Mahmud Lodi and Mubarak Lohani. Husain Shah of Bengal also sent an army under his son, Daniyal, to intercept them. The contending armies stood face to face at Barh for some time till peace was concluded between the two parties, on Husain Shah giving an undertaking that in future he would not offer shelter to the enemies of the Delhi Sultan. Having established order near his capital, Husain Shah tried to recover the lost territorial possessions of Bengal. He extended the limits of his kingdom as far as the borders of Orissa to the south, though he was not successful in his military campaigns against Orissa, recovered Magadha from the control of the Sharqis of Jaunpur, occupied North Bihar, invaded the Ahom kingdom of Assam, and captured Kamatapur in Koch Bihar in 1498. Assam was soon recovered by its old king. Husain Shah also annexed a tract of Tipperah and recovered Chittagong from Arrakanese occupation. Husain Shah then applied himself to the security of the frontiers of his kingdom, and built mosques and alms-house in different parts of it, making suitable endowments for their maintenance. He died in 1519 and was succeeded by his oldest son, Nasib Khan, who assumed the title of Nasir-ud-din Nusarat Shah. Unlike many other Muslim rulers in India, Nusarat Shah proved generous towards his brothers and doubled their inheritance. He invaded Tirhut, slew its king Karsanarayan and placed there ‘Ala-ud-din and Makhdum-i-Alam, his own brothers-in-law, to look after its administration. Nusrat Shah’s diplomacy to organise an anti-Mughal coalition did not prove quite successful and there was an open conflict between Babur’s troops and Nusrat Shah’s army near the Ghoghra ferry in which the latter, after giving good account of themselves, were ultimately overpowered. This was followed by an agreement between Babur and Nusrat Shah in 1529 on certain terms. Nusrat Shah was a patron of art, architecture and literature. He caused two famous mosques, the Bara Sona Masjid (Large Golden Mosque) and Qadam Rasul (Foot of the Prophet), to be constructed at Gaur and a Bengali version of the Mahabharata was made under his orders. He was eventually assassinated by his palace eunuchs in 1532 end was succeeded by his son, ‘Ala-ud-din Firuz Shah, who, after a reign of not more than three months, was killed by his uncle, Ghiyas-ud-din Mahmud Shah. Ghiyas-ud-din Mahmud Shah was the last king of the Husain Shahi dynasty, whom Sher Khan Sur expelled from Bengal.
