Medini Rai Madini Rai or Madini Rao ruled from 1658 to 1674 in the Palamu region of Bengal, now in

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

Reign

After consolidating his position, he started to expand his chieftaincy. He extended his sway over South Gaya and setup post in Kothi and Kunda in Chatra and Deogaon in

Palamu Palamu may refer to: * Palamu division, a division of Jharkhand state, India * Palamu district, a district in Palamu division * Palamu Fort, forts in the forests of the Palamau Tiger Reserve * Palamu (Lok Sabha constituency) a parliamentary const ...

. He invaded

Navratangarh Navratangarh (Doisagarh) was one of the capitals of the Nagvanshi dynasty, who ruled parts of what is now the state of Jharkhand, India. It is located in Sisai block of Gumla district. It is said that king Durjan Shah shifted his capital from Kh ...

, defeated nagpuri raja

Raghunath Shah Raghunath Shah was a Nagvanshi king in the 17th century. He succeeded his father Ram Shah in 1663. His capital was at Navratangarh. He built several temples during his reign. According to Lal Pradumn Singh, writer of the book ''Nagvansh'' (19 ...

and ransacked his capital. He also conquered Raja of smaller kingdoms including Belunja siris, Jupla, Kutumba and Sherghati in Gaya; Kunda Karnapura and Ramgarh in

Hazaribagh Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is also the administrative headquarters of Hazaribagh district and divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is known ...

; and a portion of Surguja who paid him tribute. Upon accession of

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

to the Grant of Diwani jagirdars of Bihar, he placed contingents at the command of Daud Khan. Daud Khan started expedition against Palamu in 1660. He was accompanied by Mirza Khan, faujdar of Darbhanga, Tahawwur Khan, Jagirdar of Chainpur, Raja Bahroz of

Munger Munger, formerly spelt as Monghyr, is a twin city and a Municipal Corporation situated in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the administrative headquarters of Munger district and Munger Division. Munger was one of the major cities in Eastern ...

. Orders were received from Emperor Aurangzeb that the Chero ruler had to embrace Islam. In battle, many Mughal and chero soldiers were killed. Medini Ray escaped to forest. Both the forts were occupied by the invaders and the region was brought under subjugation. The Mughals killed civilians of the forts and the temples with their idols were destroyed. Daud Khan constructed a Mosque after the victory in 1662. Medini Rai, the Chero ruler of Palamau, had fled to Surguja. However later he decisively defeated Daud Khan and reclaimed the kingdom which was later never recovered by Mughals. He made sincere efforts to promote agriculture and to better the desolate state of Palamu which had been caused by the repeated Mughal invasions. The region became very prosperous and the people had ample food and other amenities of life. Palamau Fort

Maharaja had rebuilt the old Palamu fort which was earlier build by kings of

Raksel dynasty Raksel is a Rajput clan that claims descent from the Yaduvanshi lineage of the Chandravanshi The Lunar dynasty (IAST: Candravaṃśa) is a legendary principal house of the Kshatriyas varna, or warrior–ruling varna (Social Class) menti ...

. For defence he erected several turrets. In 1673, he had started constructing new fort on a hillock on the west of old fort. In the new fort, the gate is known as Nagpuri gate in which workmanship is in better quality. After victory over Nagpuri Raja, he built one of the Palamu Forts. He decided to build the gate in Nagpuria style. Beyond the Nagpuri gate, there is another small gate. On both outer side of the gate there is

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

inscription of Barnmali Mishra the Pandit of Maharaja Medini Rai. According to inscription the construction work started in magh samwat 1680. He began building the fort for his heir Pratap Rai. After Maharaja Medini Rai's death in 1674, his son Pratap Rai took up the work of finishing the fort.

References

People from Jharkhand Year of birth missing Year of death missing 17th-century Indian monarchs {{Asia-royal-stub