Bakhtiyar Khilji, a well known barbaric and radical Islamist, who has descreated several parts of India and caused irreparable destruction to the Indian civilization by looting and vandalizes hundreds of Hindu temples etc. Remember, he is also known for the destruction of Nalanda, the largest ancient Indian university.

 

Of course, people know him because Indians are taught more about such radical invaders rather than the true heroes of cour country. But do you know about King Prithu of Assam, of the Khen dynasty, who defeated Khilji in such a devastating manner that the Afghan never fought another battle. Few years, he was depressed for getting defeated by an Hindu ruler and passed away.

 

So, let us dig into the story of the legendary battle of Kamrupa that took place in the present day Assam led by the Hindu ruler who saved North east from the Islamic invaders.

 

 

Prithu was the king of Kamrupa kingdom (Assam). On other hand, in 1203-1204 AD, Bakhtiyar Khilji attacked and conquered most of the Bengal and moved to invade Kamrupa and Tibet in 1206. With 12,000 Turkish cavalry, Khilji advanced to attack Assam and Tibet from Devkot, West Bengal.

 

At that time, Khilji converted a local tribal chief to Islam and gave a new name Ali the Mej. Ali helped the fanatic ruler ntil they reached a giant stone bridge over river Barandi in the outskirts of Kamrupa. Awaring of all these threats, King Prithu decided to use Scorched Earth Policy against the invading forces.

 

 

Scorched Earth Policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy all the possible resources that might be useful for enemy. Any assets that could be useful for the enemy may be destroyed which involves food resources, agricultural lands, water resources etc. To Starve and dehydrate the enemy soldiers is the main aim of this policy.

 

On other other hand, Khiliji did not stopped. He was marching towards Kamrupa which was densely populated area around a strong fort. He, then instructed his troops to raid the village. When came to know about this, King Prithu with his army along with tribal community of Bodo, Koch Rajbongshi, and Keot lauched a lethal charge towards Khilji’s army.

 

With the help of combined forces of tribal community, King Prithu’s army not only stopped Khilji’s armies, but wreaked havoc on them. After the Scorched Earth Policy was implemented, the supply line was disconnected. Khilji’s troops were exhausted and thirsty. The very next day, king Prithu’s bigger armies scared Khilji so much that his wounded men decided to retreat.

 

 

However, Prithu relentlessly attacked Khilji’s retreating army, and killed most of them. Those who were able to reach the bridge on the river to protect themselves found it to be destroyed. Finding no option, fleeing soldiers jumped to river. Some of them drowned, but somehow Khilji survived with few men to reach Bengal.

 

A big nightmare for the Turkish inavders!

 

 

After the humiliating defeat, Khilji suffered depression. The defeat affected him so much that he never led any battle or campaign. He was ultimately assassinated by his own general Ali Mardan.

 

When Khilji had totally vandalized Nalanda university, he killed almost all the monks and scholars of the university but King Prithu, huge worshipper of Kamatashwari( a form of Goddess Durga) followed the principle of dharmayudh even in victory. 1000’s of Khilji’s soldiers were captured by Prithu as prisoners of war but he gave them all the possible resources for living and allow them to settle in Assam which marked the beginning Islamic settlements in Assam.