Kedar Ray

Ruins of the Palace of Kedar Dey in Bikrampur

Kedar Dey was zomidar of Bikrampur and one of the renowned Baro-Bhuyans of Bengal. He was the son of Jadob Dey. His capital was at Shripur on the bank of the Kaliganga River.[2]

In the later half of the 15th century, the rich fertile soil of Bengal faced invasions from 4 major world powers, Mogol-Rajputs, Pathans, the Portuguese Conquistadors who were at the peak of their piracy spree and the Burmese invaders of Arakan.

Little do people know about that the Portuguese, who plundered the whole world, were not just defeated in Bay of Bengal, as a result of successful night-time raids to their Armada (was called Harmad by local Bengali villagers). They also fought as mercenaries. Dreaded Portuguese leader Antonio Carvalho, Domingo Carvalho are some of them.

There is an island Called Sandwip which was in the midst of two front battle because it had salt in abundance.

In a battle with Mughals in that Island, Mughals lay siege but were beaten back by Kedar Ray.[3][4][5]

following another battle in which the King of Arakan Salim Shah sent 150 Ships but they too were defeated by Kedar Ray and 140 of their Ships were captured intact.

But the 3rd battle was gigantic, in which 1000 ships were sent, badly outnumbered by the enemies, Kedar Ray used his Portuguese reinforcements and once again. With these reinforcements and Kedar Ray's skillful handling of the situation alongside Domingo Carvalho, the Arakanese King Salim Shah faced a massive defeat.

This naval battle was the biggest and bloodiest in the history of Bengal and definitely one of the biggest in the history of India.[4][5][3]

After their defeat near Sandwip Island, Mirza Man Singh invaded Shripur again with a vast army. A battle took place near Kalindi River in which the Mughal army lay crushed and Man Singh retreaded with the survivors.

Heros of that battle were Kalidas Dhali and Raghunandan Das.[3][4][5]

In the next battle, Man Singh assembled a Mughal army under Kilmaq Khan and threw them to battle but the result was same as the two previous battles, disastrous defeat of Mughals.

Kilmaq Khan was captured in that battle.[3][4][5]

Facing 3 straight humiliating defeats, Man Singh resorted to trickery. He struck an alliance with the ruler of Sushunga Kingdom, Roghunath Singho and invaded Shripur again with fresh reinforcements from central command. While it seemed Mughals again would fail to achieve any breakthrough, Roghunath Singho attacked Kedar Ray's flank. Battle raged for 9 days as both sides suffered losses.[3][4][5]

Kedar Rai maintained friendly relations with Isa Khan Masnad-i-Ala and fought against the Mughals in alliance with him. Ralph Fitch, an Elizabethan envoy to Akbar's court, mentions that when he visited the city of Sripur (1586) the king was in rebellion against Akbar. Kedar Rai allied himself with the Afghan chiefs of the family of Qutlu Khan Lohani who had carved out a state in Orissa. He in cooperation with Khwaja Sulaiman Khan Lohani captured the fort of Bhusana (1593) from its imperial commandant and kept it under his control till at least 1596 when an imperial force under Mirja Durjan Singh invaded the fort. A sudden gun burst inside the fort during the siege killed Sulaiman Lohani and wounded Kedar Rai who fled and took shelter with Isa Khan at Sonargaon (June 1596).[4]

Ruins of Fatehjangpur Fort, Shariyatpur, Bangladesh

In 1602, the imperial general (Mirza) Man Singh sent a detachment against Kedar Rai who was, however, induced to promise loyalty to Emperor Akbar. In 1603, a large fleet of the Maghs of Arakan invaded the Dhaka waters, and launched a severe attack on the Mughal fort at Trimohoni. But they were chased by a Mughal force with heavy casualties. Kedar Rai now joined the Maghs with his own fleet and attacked the Mughal outpost of Srinagar.[4][5]

The ancestral home of the family of Kedar Rai at Ara Phulbaria can still be located at an elevated landmass known as Kedar Bari. There still exists a dighi excavated by Kedar Rai, and another dighi of the time of his elder brother Chand Rai known as 'Keshava Ma ka Dighi' named after a maiden of Chand Rai. The most outstanding relic of the Sripur Raj is the lofty Rajbari Math, a prominent landmark for miles around on the left bank of the river Padma, situated at a short distance from where the city of Sripur formerly began.[6][7][3]