Battle of Tukaroi

Part of Mughal invasion of Bengal

Daud Khan receives a Kaftan from Munim Khan

Date

3 March 1575

Location

between Midnapore and Jalesar, Western Bengal
Coordinates: 21°58′23″N 87°17′02″E / 21.973°N 87.284°E

Result

Decisive Mughal victory

Treaty of Katak

Belligerents

Mughal Empire

Sultanate of Bengal

Commanders and leaders

Akbar

Munim Khan

Daud Khan

Raja Todar Mal

Daud Khan Karrani

Gujar Khan †

Strength

unknown, but larger than that of Bengal

40,000 cavalry
140,000 infantry
20,000 guns
3,600 elephants
several hundred war-boats

Casualties and losses

heavy

Decisive Mughal victory

The Battle of Tukaroi, also known as the Battle of Bajhaura or the Battle of Mughulmari, was fought on 3 March 1575 near the village of Tukaroi now in Balasore District of Odisha situated between Midnapore and Jalesar, Odisha. This battle was between The Mughal Empire and the Sultanate of Bangala and Bihar.

Ikhtiar uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate, defeated the Sena king Lakshman Sen at his capital, Nabadwip in 1203–1204 and conquered most of Bengal. The Deva family – the last Hindu dynasty to rule in Bengal – ruled briefly in East Bengal, although they were suppressed by the mid-fourteenth century.

During the early Muslim period, the former Sena Hindu kingdom became known as the Sultanate of Bangala and Bihar, ruled intermittently from the Sultanate of Delhi. The chaotic shifts in power between the Afghan and Turkish rulers of that sultanate came to an end when Mughal rule became established in Bengal during the sixteenth century.

During the reign of Mughal Emperor Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Akbar the Sultan of Bangala was Daud Khan Karrani, who had seized the Fort Zamania a frontier post of the Mughal Empire. This gave Akbar the cause for war.

Akbar who was in Gujarat when he received the news of Daud's audacity, at once dispatched orders to Munim Khan and the representative of the imperial power in Jaunpur to chastise the aggressor. Munim on receipt of his sovereign's instructions assembled a powerful force and marched on Patna where he was opposed by Lodi Khan an influential Afghan chief who had placed Daud on the throne and now served that prince as minister Munim Khan who was then very old had lost his energy and after some skirmishing was content to cease hostilities and grant Daud extremely lenient terms. Neither of the principal parties was pleased and Emperor Akbar thought that the Munim Khan had been too easy going whereas Daud was jealous of his minister Lodi Khan. The emperor accordingly deputed Raja Todar Mal to take the command in Bihar making over the Raja's civil duties as Diwan temporarily to Rai Ram Das. Daud treacherously killed his minister Lodi Khan and confiscated his property.Munim Khan stung by his master's censure returned rapidly to Patna and laid siege to the city. But he soon found the task of taking it to be beyond his powers and begged Mughal Emperor Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Akbar to come in person and assume charge of the campaign. Akbar who had just returned to the capital after paying his annual visit to Ajmer proceeded to Agra in March 1574 and prepared a fleet of elaborately equipped boats to proceed down the rivers.

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Wikipedia