This is post #183 sent by iajdani:
Senas (the ruler of bengal that time) became so disconnected from its own people that only 18 soldiers of Khilji could defeat the last Sena king. He ran away, even historians never looked for him means where he gone afterwards.
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I must straighten some historical facts. The story of 17 Muslim soldiers taking over Hindu Bengal that has remaind popular among the Muslims of Bengal is half-true. In those days in Hindustan, a country was usually known in the name of its Capital City. In case of Bengal, it was called Gaud (GOUR).
Raja Laxman Sen, because of old age, used to live much of his time in the temple town of Nadia and his eldest son Prince Biswarup Sen used to administer the country from Gaud on behalf of his King father. Instead of attacking a fortified Capital Gaud, Ikhtier Uddin Muhammed bin Bakhtier Khilji opted for attacking Nadia and capture the King.
In those days, Bengal/Bihar had hardly a population of more than 3 or 4 million. Most of the country was filled with jungles and marshes. Bakhtier hid his 10,000 to 12,000 horsemen somewhere in the jungles a little away from the City-palace with an instruction that they would move after receiving signals from the advance party.
Bakhtier took 17 of his horsemen with him, who camouflaged themselves as merchants. They entered the main gate without creating any doubts because the soldiers guarding the gates were accustomed to the sight of foreign traders.
But, grasping the absence of a large number of troops in the City, Bakhtier sent signals to the Turkic force who were hiding in the jungles and started fighting the guards. The palace was taken, and the old, but very respectable King Laxman, left the City hurriedly in a fast moving rowboat. Within seconds, the rowboat was out of reach of the Turkish archers.
I believe, there were many Turkic people who came and settled in Bengal after they built their kingdom here. But, this truth remains hidden underneath the story of 17 horsemen. Bakhtiar invaded Bengal from the nearby Bihar where many thousands of his Afghan Turkic countrymen had already migrated to work under him.
Moreover, the entire north India was under the control of Afghan Turkic Kutubuddin Aibek, who was ruling this land from Delhi. Caravans were always moving from Delhi to Ghor in Afghanistan, bringing in the spouses and children of those Khilji Turks who had decided to settle in their dreamland HINDUSTAN.
Only two years after he took over Bengal, Bakhtier took 10,000 horsemen to invade Tibet and simultaneously sent another 4000 to 5,000 troops under two brothers named Shihab and Shahab to invade Jajnagar of Orissa. Moreover, he kept more or less an equal number of troops to administer and protect his Kingdom in Bengal and Bihar during his absence. It means, he had at least 30,000 to 40,000 able-bodied troops with him in Bengal.
Considering that all the Muslims in those days were soldiers, it can be safely assumed that the number of Afghan Turkic population that came to Bengal was no less than 250,000 in number. It was a mass migration of people living in poor Afghanistan to a land of plenty. Many hundred thousands others chose to live in the northern India.
People wonder why suddenly, there are more Muslims in Bengal than it is in Delhi. I believe, conversion plus the reasons like that I have cited above are responsible for the increase of Muslim population in Bengal. Similar migration to Bengal happened during the entire Muslim period.
Please refer to 1) Taj-ul-Nasiri written by Minhaj Uddin Siraj and 2) History of Bengal by Charles Stewart, and many other history books.