| Battle of Kandarpi Ghat | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| File:Darbhanga-insignia-aumkarthakur.jpg Raj Darbhanga |
.svg){kind=small} Bengal Subah | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Maharaja Narendra Singh | Alivardi Khan | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 5,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Low | Heavy | ||||||
| Alivardi Khan's Army got defeated by Mithila Naresh. | |||||||
The Battle of Kandarpi Ghat occurred between the Nawab of Bengal and Raj Darbhanga in October 1753.[1] Many nearby kings were jealous of the wealth of Kings of Raj Darbhanga so they invaded it multiple times throughout history, but they stayed guarded and soon the later King, Maharaja Narendra Singh of Raj Darbhanga refused to submit to such invasions and one such was from the Mughal Bengal Subah of Alivardi Khan.[2]
Backgound[edit | edit source]
Mahesh Thakur's descendants of Raj Darbhanga and Kings before him of this region often engaged in military operations to subjugate neighboring chiefs and powerful rulers. Nawab Alivardi Khan, always in need of money had attacked Hindu Rulers of Northern-Eastern India including Bihar, Bengal and Orissa, and finally moved towards Kings of Mithila i.e., Raj Darbhanga who had no choice but to fight him.[3]
With the help of Afghans, Alivardi Khan advanced with his forces against the Rulers of Bettiah and Bhawara of Mithila. These rulers often held pride for themselves and never paid taxes but, they were defeated here by Alivardi's forces and agreed to pay a sum.[4]
War with Raj Darbhanga[edit | edit source]
Maharaja Raghava Singh of Raj Darbhanga defeated Bhup Singh, a Ruler of Nepal who had previously captured a palace in Muzaffarpur of Mithila. Bhup Singh was defeated in a battle and killed. Maharaja Raghava Singh had fought three more battles in his lifetime.
His descendant, Maharaja Narendra Singh soon engaged in the battle better known as the "Battle of Kandarpi Ghat" between the 4th and 7th October due to an invasion. The battle was fought between Raj Darbhanga led by Maharaja Narendra Singh himself and Alivardi's Mughal Bengal Subah's forces which was commanded by "Bhikari Mahtha" who was sent with an army of 5,000 by the Subahdar, "Ram Narayana" of Bihar under Alivardi Khan.[5] Both sides used firearms for the first time ever in Mithila. The battle was started on 5th of October 1753. Initially, Bhikhari Mehtha was getting an upper hand but soon on 7th of October 1753, Maharaja Narendra Singh himself came to the battlefield with his Elephant who was known as "Gajendra". The people of Mithila regardless of classes and differences also joined Maharaja after they saw him engaging with an outsider. Even though his elephant was killed in the battle Maharaja still succeeded. One of his commanders, "Umrao Singh" was killed but he still defeated another commander of Alivardi Khan also known as Salawat Roy and few others. There was a confusion in forces which were led by Bhikari Mehtha due to this sudden attack from Maharaj's army so he along with his forces fled away from Mithila as quickly as possible. Thus, Raj Darbhanga finally made Mithila free from Alivardi's Bengal Subah.[6]
A contemporary source and family historian called "Gopala Kavi" had included in his writings that "Maharaja Narendra Singh" of Raj Darbhanga was asked a favour by the Emperor Muhammad Shah of Mughal Empire to help him subjugate two Islamic rulers on the Northern-Western Frontier of India which they successfully did so. All the Rulers of Raj Darbhanga up to the time of Maharaja Madho Singh were always depicted in their official documents as "ever victorious and undefeated in battle".
Victory Pillar[edit | edit source]
A Vijaya Stambh i.e.,a victory pillar has been erected and constructed to commemorate this event by the efforts of Dr. Rangnath Diwaker in Kandarpi Ghat, Mahrail, Mithila.
It is also observed that Alivardi's Army could even give trouble to the Marathas as they had done so in Battle of Burdwan so they were not easy to deal with.[7]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Choudhary, Rabindra Nath (1987). Political History of Khandavala Dynasity [sic] in Mithila, 1556-1793. Capital Publishing House.
- ↑ Henningham, Stephen (1983). "Bureaucracy and Control in India's Great Landed Estates: The Raj Darbhanga of Bihar, 1879 to 1950". Modern Asian Studies. 17 (1): 35–55. ISSN 0026-749X.
- ↑ "History of Muslim Rule in Tirhut (1206-1765 A.D.)". INDIAN CULTURE. Retrieved 2023-09-22.
- ↑ Thakur, Upendra (1958). "Alivardi and the Afghans of Tirhut". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 21: 376–392. ISSN 2249-1937.
- ↑ Jha, Pankaj Kumar (2006). "Feudalism from Above: The Culture of Sotipura and the Problem of Identity — Formation in Mithila". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 67: 571–581. ISSN 2249-1937.
- ↑ Salim, Ghulam Husain (2015-02-13). Riyazu-S-Salatin; a History of Bengal. Translated from the Original Persian by Maulavi Abdus Salam - Scholar's Choice Edition. Bibliolife DBA of Bibilio Bazaar II LLC. ISBN 978-1-297-00064-5.
- ↑ Jacques, Tony (2015-06-26). "Dictionary of Battles and Sieges". web.archive.org. Greenwood Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5. Retrieved 2023-09-22.