Raja Ganesha

Raja Ganesha
A sketch of Raja Ganesha on the cover of a late 19th-century Bengali work, Raja Ganesh
King of Bengal
Reign	1414–1415
Predecessor	Ala-ud-din Firuz Shah
Successor	Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah
King of Bengal (2nd time)
Reign	1416–1418
Predecessor	Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah
Successor	Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah
Spouse	unknown
Issue	Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah
House	House of Ganesha

Raja Ganesha (Bengali: রাজা গণেশ) (reigned 1415) was a Hindu ruler of Bengal, who took advantage of the weakness of the first Ilyas Shahi dynasty and seized power in Bengal. Contemporary historians of the medieval period considered him as an usurper. The dynasty founded by him ruled over Bengal from 1415−1435. His name mentioned in the coins of his son, sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah as Kans Rao or Kans Shah. The Indo-Persian historians mentioned his name as Raja Kans or Kansi. A number of modern scholars identified him with Danujamardanadeva, but this idenitification is not universally accepted.

According to the Riaz-us-Salatin (a chronicle written in 1788), Raja Ganesha was a landlord of Bhaturia and according to Francis Buchanan Hamilton he was the Hakim (Governor) of Dinajpur in the northern Bengal. In a contemporary letter, he was described as a member of a landholder family of 400 years' standing. Later, he became an officer of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty rulers in Pandua. According to a very late authority, the Riaz-us-Salatin, he killed Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah (reigned 1390–1410), but the earlier authorities like Firishta and Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad do not refer to any such event and probably he died a natural death. Ghiyas-ud-Din Azam Shah was succeeded by his son Saifuddin Hamza Shah (reigned 1410–12) and the latter by Shihabuddin Bayazid Shah (reigned 1413–14). Firishta says that he became very powerful during the rule of Shihabuddin Bayazid Shah. While the earlier authorities like Firishta and Nizam-ud-Din say that Ganesha ascended to the throne after the death of Shihabuddin but again the Riaz-us-Salatin says that he killed Shihabuddin and seized the throne. Shihabuddin was succeeded by his son Ala-ud-din Firuz Shah (reigned 1414–15) but he was soon deposed by Raja Ganesha.