Person

Bakhtiyar Khalji

d. 1206 · 12th century · Also known as Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji

Bakhtiyar Khalji was a Turkic-Afghan commander of the Ghurids who conquered Bihar and western Bengal at the end of the 12th century. His raids in Bihar destroyed Buddhist monasteries such as Odantapuri, and around 1204 he surprised the Sena king Lakshmana Sena at Nadia. He made Lakhnauti his capital, founding the first Muslim regime in Bengal, but died in 1206 after a disastrous expedition towards Tibet.

Bakhtiyar Khalji
Image: Margaret Dovaston · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 3 profiles

Ghurid SultanateGovernance, ImpactPala EmpireDeclineBengal SultanateFoundation

Mentioned in 3 state histories

Sena dynastyDeva dynasty of BengalKhalji dynasty of Bengal

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Bakhtiyar Khalji. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bakhtiyar-khalji
MLA
“Bakhtiyar Khalji.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bakhtiyar-khalji. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Bakhtiyar Khalji.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bakhtiyar-khalji.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Bakhtiyar Khalji’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bakhtiyar-khalji (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻