King Suheldev & The Battle of Bahraich – Victory over Jihadi Invader Salar Masood

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Maharaja Suhel Dev is also addressed sometimes as (Shuherdhwaj/Suhriddev/Shualdev/Suhail dev/). According to historical sources,  Shravasti King Prasenjit founded the Baharaich kingdom, whose initial name was Bharvaich(भरवाइच ). That is why he was also addressed by the name of Baharaich King.

Maharaja Prasenjit was blessed a son on the 5th day of of Magh Hindu LunaMonth, on the occasion of Basant Panchami , 990 AD. The new born was named Suheldev. According to the Awadh Gazetteer, their rule has been accepted from 1027 AD to 1077. Maharaja Suheldev shines like a jewel in the history of Bahraich. There are many claims from different castes namely, Rajbhar,Pasi, Bains Rajpoot etc. However we shall remember him here as the warrior son of mother India only.

Maharaja Suheldev’s empire stretched from Gorakhpur in  East and to Sitapur in the west. Gonda, Baharaich, Lucknow, Barabanki, Unnao and Lakhimpur were covered under this state border. King Suhel Dev’s associate rulers Kings ruled the in all these districts. There were total 21 associate Kings in this alliance. Their names are as follows:

1. Rai Sayab
2. Rai Rayab
3. Arjun
4. Bhaggan
5. Gang
6. Makran
7. Shankar
8. Karan
9. Birbal
10. Jaipal
11. Sripal
12. Harpal
13. Har Karan
14. Harakhu
15. Narhar
16. Bhallar
17. Judhari
18. Narayan
19. Bhalla
20. Narasimha and
21. Kalyan

All these 21 brave kings had very strong association. They were supremely brave and were always ready to give ultimate sacrifice for the protection of religion &  nation under the leadership of  Suhail Dev. Apart from these, King Suhel Dev had two brothers, Bahardev and Malladev, who were just as brave as their brother. The respected King Suheldev like a father.

After the death of Mahmud Ghajnavi, his nephew (Sister’s son- Bhnj)Syed Salar Masood(Masud) Ghazi moved towards India with his father Syed Salar Sahu Ghazi, along with a large jehadi army in 1031 A.D.. Mehmood Ghaznavi used to attack Somnath temple repeatedly, just to rob and return, but this time Saiyyad Salar Masood had brought a huge army in India with  purpose  to make this land “Darul Islam” and to forcibly the propagate Islam to all Hindus.(Obviously on the strength of the sword).

Syed Salar Masood crossed the “Hindukush” ranges in afghanistan with his army and reached Punjab in present day , where he first encountered the Hindu King Anand Pal Shahi, which he easily wiped out. Raja Arjan Singh of Sialkot also helped Anand Pal to stop Masood’s growing steps, but he was helpless before such a huge army of Masood. Masood gradually reached Rajputana and Malwa province, where he met with King Mahipal Tomar of Delhi. He attacked Delhi.

This war  lasted for one month broke the morale of Salar Masood, and he was about to lose the battle. But suddenly he received  big reinforcement from Ghazni. Bakhtiar Sahu, Salar Saifuddin, Amir Syed Azazuddin, Malik Daulat Miya, Rajav Salar and Amir Syed Nasrullah arrived with big cavalry forces from Ghazni. Sadly there were no reinforcements arranged for King Mahipal and his ally Rai Hargopal.

Again the fierce battle started in which there were heavy casualties from both sides. During this fight, Rai Mahipal and Rai Hargopal rode their horses and hit Masood with a mace, causing severe injuries to his eyes and broke his two teeth. Though these two heroes were martyred in  this war, but the showed supreme bravery and immense valour.

When Masood advanced further, Haridutt , the King of Meerut made a treaty with Masood and became a Muslim . Same was also the case with the rulers of Bulandshahr and Badayun. The ruler of Kannauj also became a companion of Masood.

Now Salar Masood made Kannauj as his center and started sending his armies to destroy all major Hindus’ pilgrimage sites. In this order Malik Faisal was sent to Varanasi and Salar Masood himself turned towards Saptashishi (Sitarikh). Satrikh (in Barabanki) was a very big pilgrimage place for Hindus. According to a legend, Lord Rama and Lakshman received education at this place. It was a place for seven Rishis, that is why this place had was named Saptarishi initially, which gradually became Satrikh.

Salar Masood reached Satrikh via Masarg, Vizagram, Mallawa, Hardoi, Sandila, Mallihabad, Amethi and Lucknow. He sent his Ustad , Sayyid Ibrahim, to Dhundhgarh fort , because his friend Mohammed Sardar was surrounded by King Raideen Dayal and Ajay Pal, in the fort of Dhundhgarh. Ustad Ibrahim Barahajari  was a huge fanatic jihadi. He used to kill no muslims wherever he went. Only those  who accepted Islam could survive. According to the book ‘Aine- Masoodi’:

“निशान सतरिख से लहराता हुआ बाराहजारी का। चला है धुंधगढ़ को काकिला बाराहजारी का मिला जो राह में मुनकिर उसे दे उसे दोजख में पहुचाया। बचा वह जिसने कलमा पढ़ लिया बारा हजारी का। “

Means: Ustad Barahajari started from Satarikh and is headed towards Dundhgarh fort. Wherever he found non muslims he sent them to hell , Only those survived who became muslims.

King Deendayal and Tejasingh fought bravely in this battle but lost were martyred. But evil Ibrahim Barahajari was killed by the Rai Karanpal, who was brother of Deendayal .

King of Kada Dev Narayan Pasi  and King  Bhojpatra Pasi of Manikpur sent a barber to Syed Salar Masood, to finishchim by cutting his nails from the poisonous Nahanni(a Nail cutter), but he survived after serious treatment.But his mother Khutur Mualla died due to shock and worry because of his life threatening incident .

Now Salar Masood was left damaged eyes, broken teeth and left feeble by the poisonous attack and lost his mother an his Ustad in the bloody war. He had to pay the heavy price for his dream of making India Darul Islam.

Although conspiracy of poisonous nail cutter did not kill Masood but left him weak and baffled. After this Kings of Manikpur sent a message to the Kings of Bahraich that they would attack the Islamic army from both sides simultaneously and eliminate the Islamic army. But the messenger was detained by the detectives of Syed Salar. There were two Brahmans and a Barber in these messengers. The Brahmans were left but the Barber was hanged. Seems the Barber who carried out poisonous conspiracy on Masood made quite a damage to Masood. which made Syed bitter towards barbers.

Once the plot of two pronged attack was revealed , Masood’s father, Salar Sahu, rushed to Manikpur with a large army. Both King Devnarayan and Bhojpatra fought with great heroism but were defeated. These kings were taken captive and were sent to Sartikh. At the order of Syed Salar Masood, these kings were sent to Bahraich near Salar Saifuddin. He must have thought of using them as shield or to break the morals of his Baharaich Kings . When Bahraich kings came to know of this, they laid a siege on Saifuddin. Hearing this news Salar Masood advanced towards  Baharaich to help Saifuddin. Meanwhile, our father Salar Sahu was also died due to injuries sustained in battle.

The Pasi King of Bahraich were devotees of the Sun. They used to worship Lord Surya idol situated on the Suryakund in Bahraich. A big fair was held at the place on the first Sunday (had to be after a first Thursday in month), of Jyestha Month. The fair was also held on the occasion of  the solar eclipse, lunar eclipse and every Sunday. This tradition was practised from very ancient times. Dues the tapas of Balark Rishis who did penance here and Lord Sun grace people used to get rid of the leprosy after taking  bath in the Suryakund pool. Baharaich was previously known as Bhararaich earlier.

After the news of the arrival of the Baharai of Salar Masood, the Kings of Bahraich mobilized their forces under the leadership of Kings Suheldev. The Kings joining there forces were Raja Ryab, Raja Sayab, Arjun, Bhikhan, Gang, Shankar, Karan, Birbal, Jaipal, Shripal, Harpal, Harakhu, Joodhari and Narasimha. All these kings gathered with their armies along the banks of the river Bhakala,in  about eight miles north of the city.

While they were still preparing for the war, Salar Masood attacked them at night. After the prayers of Magrib at night,Masood advanced with his huge army towards the river Bhakla and attacked the sleeping Hindu army. Many soldiers from both sides were killed in this unexpected attack. But in this first fight of Bahraich, Salar Masood was victorious. After the set back of the first fight, the Hindu army started to organize again for the next fight. Earlier they made a mistake of not paying attention to the possibility of night invasion.

Hindu army was left with ever lesser forces than earlier. King Suheldev plotted brilliant maneuver though. This time thousands of poisoned nails were buried in the ground of possible attack path of Masood’s forces. This was done overnight. The result was that when the jihadi army of of Masood attacked the night again, they were hit by them. Suheldev brilliantly maneuvered his  army and retreated to fight another day after inflicting deadly damage to Masood’ Muslim forces. A third of the Islamic army soldiers were killed in this tactical warfare.

This was a unique fight fought in Indian history in this way till that time. After being bitten twice, the Hindu army became very alert and got ready for decisive battle under the leadership of Maharaja Suheldev. It is said  that young Hindus from every Hindu family were involved in this war. Masood’s forces were still limping from that last tactical warfare.The  leadership  of Maharaja Suheldev had increased the morale of the Hindus. The area of ​​battle spread from the Chintaura lake to Hathila and Anarkali Lake.

In this battle of June 1034 AD, Salar Masood gave  the command of the right wing (Mamnah) to Mir Nasarulla and the command of the left wing (Masara) to Salar Rajab, and himself took the control of the center (Kalb). Seeing a Hindu army to face, first thousands of cows and oxen were released in front of the Islamic army so that the Hindu army could not effectively attack but it had no effect on the army of Maharaja Suheldev. They tore down the Islamic army,like hungry lions.

Mir Nasrullah Bahraich was killed near village Dikoli, located close to twelve miles north of Baharaich. Salar Masood’s nephew, Salar Miah Rajab  was killed in Village Shahapur jot,  3 kms before Bahraich.  He was butchered on June 8, 1034 AD.

Now the Hindu army wing, under the leadership of King Karan attacked the center of the Islamic army,which was led by Masood himself.He attacked on Masood from all sides.  Salar Saifuddin  reached out to help his leader Masood . A deadly battled ensued in which thousands of soldiers were killed. Salar Saifuddin could not do much for Masood and was himself killed. His grave is located near Bahraich-Nanpara railway line near Baharaich only. After the evening the war was stopped and the armies returned to their camps.

On the next day, June 10, 1034, under the leadership of Maharaja Suheldev Pasi, the Hindu army attacked the army of Salar Masood Ghazi at a tempestuous pace.They knew that Masood didn’t have anything left now.  In this war, Salar Masood fought on his horse but could not stay for a long time. Raja Suheldev immediately shot Masood in his neck, with his poisoned arrow. Masood died defaced and disheartened.

On very next day, Salar Ibrahim, the care taker  of Masood’s camp was also killed with rest of the survivors. The battle was so  ferocious that they did not leave a single jihadi Muslim soldier left.

After finishing Syed Salar Masood Ghazi with his 1.5 million Islamic forces, Maharaja Suhel Dev Pasi celebrated the victory and constructed several ponds in the celebration of this great victory. He also wanted to create the huge “Victory Tower” like Vijay Stambh in Chittor”  and located a place for it but they could not fulfill it in his life time. Probably this is the place which can be seen as a mound on the Ikona-Balrampur highway, a little  distance away from Shravasti .

According to historical sources, Shravasti King King Prasenjit Pasi founded the Bahraich State, whose initial name was Bharavaich.

Know your real History because Left Historians will never tell you this.