The Sultan Who Burned the Temples: Bakhtiyar Khilji in Bengal

The Hidden History of Bengal: Kingdoms, Empires, and Revolution — Fexingo History · Jun 25, 2026 · 8m · transcript

In 1202 CE, a Turkic general named Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji swept into the Bengal delta with just two hundred horsemen and toppled the Sena dynasty's capital, Nabadwip. But his most notorious act came a year later, when he marched on the great Buddhist monastery of Odantapuri and put its monks to the sword. This episode traces Khilji's lightning campaign, the fall of the Senas, and the enduring controversy over whether his invasion was a 'conquest' or a 'raid'. We examine the conflicting accounts in the Tabaqat-i Nasiri and later Persian chronicles, the fate of…