MEDIEVALTIMES

• The word Jharkhand was first used for the tribal areas of Chotanagpur during the medieval

times. It

was first mentioned on a copper plate in the 13th century.

• During those times, this region was organized as a distinct and separate geographical unit.

• In the beginning of medieval times, there were many small Hindu and semi-Hindu states in

Chotanagpur. Kokra's Nagvanshis, Singhbhum's Singhvansh and Manbhum's Man dynasty were

prominent among them.

• Many tribal states were constituted in Chotanagpur during the medieval times, of whom Chero

tribe's

state was the most prominent one. The Cheros dislodged the Raxails and established their

regime in

Palamau. Kharwar, Oraon, Bhar etc. were the other tribes to form states during those times.

Apart

from them, there were smaller states of Suryapura, Palamau, Sonpura, Kund etc.

• I3th century was important for the Chotanagpur region because Bakhtiar Khilji had attacked

Nadia

(Bengal) in 1204 passing through Jharkhand.

• The Oraon tribe entered .Jharkhand region along with the forces of Bakhtiar.

• The Arabic, Persian and Turkish words found in the Oraon and Munda lan¬guages indicate (lie

interaction that had taken place between the local tribes, mainly Oraon, and the forces of Bakhtiar

Khilji.

• Jharkhand's king Shivakaran and Venukaran had accepted the suzerainty of Allauddin Khilji.

• Even today words like Choudhury and Khut (Khutkatti land) are used from the times of Khilji.

• During the regime of IItutmish and Balban, no specific impact was made on Jharkhand because

Nagvanshi king Harikarn was influential and powerful during that tirne.

• Tuglak dynasty's ruler Mohammad Bin Tuglak's commander of armed forces Malik had

reached

up to

'Chai Champa' in the Hazaribagh region. According to the Santhals, this attack took place in 1340 AD

under the leadership of Ibrahim Ali. He captured the fort of Bigha, as a result of which Santhals of this

area fled with their leader.

• Delhi's Tuglak dynasty and Lodi dynasty's rulers could not advance beyond Satgawan

because

they

had to confront powerful kings of the Nag dynasty.

• In 1538 AD, Khwas Khan general of Shershah defeated the Chero king. Mah:rrath Chero

tihrrsh;rh

acquired a white elephant named `Shyam Sunder' along with the booty.

• Shershah used this region during many of his campaigns against Humayun.

• Shershah had used the route of Teliagarhi (situated in the midst of the Rajmahal hills) during

the

course of his rule over Bengal.

• During conflicts between the Mughals and the Afghans, Afghan rebels like Hajibandhu, Junaid

and

Bayajid had settled in this region. So Jharkhand drew the attention of Mughal rulers, Akbar and

Jahangir.

• After conquering Bihar and Bengal, Akbar sent his army to conquer Kokra's Nagvanshi ruler in

1585

AD under the command of Shahbaj Khan. Nagvanshi ruler 'Madhukaran Shah' was defeated in this

battle and he accepted the domination of Mughals.

• It was during the time of Akbar that Mughals came in touch with Singhbhum, another region of

Jharkhand. At that time, Singh dynasty's rulers Raj lakshmi Narayan Singh, Narpat Singh first,

Kameswar Singh and Ranjit Singh were the kings Porahat.

• During the rule of Akbar, Mughal regime's borders were spread upto Chotanagpur.

• Akbar had sent Shahbaz Khan to attack Khukhra (Jharkhand) to suppress the Afgan Sardars.

• Mughal commander Raja Man Singh had suppressed Cheros in the Palamau region in 1589

AD.

• Jharkhand's king Madhu Singh (contemporary of Akbar) had helped Man Singh during his

campaign

in Orissa.

• Man Singh (Akbar's commander) had made Rajmahal his capital for Bengal and Bihar in 1592.

• Around the same time, Akbar came in touch with Hazaribagh and Dhanbad (Manbhum).

According to

Aine-e-Akbari, Hazaribagh's two places 'Chhai'

• and `Champa' were included as parganas in the Bihar Province.

• According to Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri, Ibrahim Khan had attacked Jharkhand area and had taken the

Shankh river in his control in 1615-16.

• Shankh river was famous in those days for diamonds.

• During this aggression, Durjansal, king of this region (an expert on diamonds), was arrested

and

imprisoned in the Gwaliar fort.

• 2 years later, Jahangir released Durjansal and returned his kingdom on lease for a rent of Rs

6000

and gave him Jhe title Shahi.

• Durjansal's arrest is considered to be an important event in the history of Jharkhand because

hereafter the Muslims came here on a large scale and settled here.

• During the regime of Jahangir, Mughals had control over the Khukhra region.

• During the time of Shahjahan, relations between Mughals and Nagvanshis were cordial. Their

relations remained cordial during the entire 17th century, i.e.during the rule of Shahjahan and

Aurangzeb. In this peaceful atmosphere, Nagvanshi king Raghunath Shah got beautiful temples built

in Doisa, Chutia, Jagannathpur and Bodia.

• During the time of Shahjahan, Chero king Pratap Roy accepted the dominance of Mughals and

return for the same Shahjahan accorded him 1000 Mansab.

• Information is not available regarding the relations between the Mughals and the Singh dynasty

(Singhbhum) and Man dynasty(Manbhum) during the reign of Shahjahan.

• During the time ofAurangzeb, Mughals fought mainly the Cheros of Palamau.

• According to Padshahnama and Alamgirnama, the forces of Daud Khan (General of

Aurangazeb)

and Chero king Saheb Roy had battled on the banks of Auranga river on 17th December, 1660, in

which Saheb Roy was defeated.

• Aurangzeb had no influence on the districts of Hazaribagh, Singhbhum and Manbhum.

• Mughal rulers' main objective of attacking this region was to collect taxes or nazrana.

• Taking the advantage of the anarchic situation during the post – Mughal times, all the

kingdoms

Jharkhand became independent.

• Saint Chaitanya had visited Jharkhand during the medieval times.