Conquest of Sylhet

The Conquest of Sylhet refers to three battles which took place in the Kingdom of Srihatta ruled by Raja Gaur Govinda.

Background
Raja Gour Govinda was a firm Hindu ruler of the Kingdom of Srihatta. Although majority of the population was Hindu, there was a small minority of Muslims in the country. The region also bordered the independent Bengal region ruled by the Muslim Sultan Shamsuddin Firoz Shah of the Balban dynasty. The war is said to have began when Burhanuddin, a Muslim living in Srihatta sacrificed a cow for his newborn son's aqiqah or celebration of birth. Govinda, in a fury for what he saw as sacrilege due to his Hindu beliefs, had the newborn killed as well as having Burhanuddin's right hand cut off. At the same time, a Sufi missionary by the name of Shah Jalal was due to arrive in the region of Bengal. After being commanded by his uncle Shaykh Kabir before his journey to reside and propagate Islam in a region in which the soil matches the one that was given to him in his home country, Shah Jalal knew that it is in Sylhet where he shall reside in for the rest of his life. Shah Jalal journeyed eastward and reached India in c. 1300, where he met many great scholars and Sufi mystics. It is said that prior to the conquest, Shah Jalal was a guest of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi and that he was summoned by Firoz Shah for aid after the initial failed attacks against Gour Govinda. Alternatively he may already have been present in Sylhet, fighting against the Hindu king independently prior to being approached by the Sultan.

First and Second Battles of Srihatta
When word of this reached Shamsuddin Firoz Shah, he commanded his nephew Sikander Khan Ghazi to lead an army against the Raja. The Bengali army however were inexperienced in the foreign terrain which consisted of tea gardens and low-lying hills. The army had no option but to retreat back to Bengal to avoid casualties. Sikander Khan Ghazi's army later returned for another battle but it ended in failure due to Govinda's superior military strategy.

Third Battle of Srihatta
Firoz Shah then turned to his Sipah Salar (commander-in-chief) Syed Nasiruddin as he realised that this undertaking was much bigger than he anticipated and he would need a larger and more skilled army. This force was joined by the arrival of Shah Jalal and his companions who at this point numbered 360.

The army was then guided through Sylhet by Burhanuddin, ultimately arriving at the banks of the Barak River. Here the third battle was fought between Gour Govinda and the combined armies of Shah Jalal and Syed Nasiruddin, with the latter forces ultimately claiming victory. Govinda was forced to retreat and Srihatta was brought under Muslim control. According to tradition, Shah Jalal at this point compared the soil in Srihatta with that which was previously given to him by his uncle, finding them to be identical. In any case, following the battle, Shah Jalal along with his followers permanently settled in Sylhet.



Aftermath
The Srihatta Kingdom was then incorporated into the Sultanate of Shamsuddin Firoz Shah, which later became known as the Bengal Sultanate. The region of Srihatta was also renamed to Jalalabad after Shah Jalal for his aid in delivering Islam to the population. To this day, Gour Govinda's fort still remains in Bishwanath Upazila, Sylhet District.