Independence from Tripura According to historian
Achyut Charan Choudhury, Turani's great-great-grandson Malik Pratap was the ruler of the region in the late 15th century AD. By this point, Pratap had gained the former lands and palace of Pratap Singh in
Patharkandi by marrying the daughter of the then-current owner, Amir Ajfar. In 1489, Maharaja
Pratap Manikya of Tripura was engaged in a war against his elder brother,
Dhanya, after taking the throne with the help of his army generals. While the Maharaja was distracted and lacked the means to intervene, Malik Pratap was said to have seceded Pratapgarh from Tripura's control (an area roughly equivalent to what is now Karimganj district) and declared himself its independent ruler. Malik Pratap later aided the Maharaja in his war and earned his friendship through this assistance. In gratitude, Manikya recognised Pratapgarh's independence and awarded Malik Pratap the title of
Raja. Further to this, the Maharaja gave his daughter Ratnavati Devi in marriage to Malik Pratap's grandson, Bazid. However, in 1490, Pratap Manikya was assassinated by his generals, with Malik Pratap dying soon afterwards.
War against Sultanate of Bengal seated beside, 1900s After ascending the throne, Bazid repulsed an invasion by the powerful neighbouring kingdom of the
Kachari of
Maibong. In light of this achievement, he took the new title of
Sultan, placing himself on the same level as the
Sultan of Bengal. His capital became associated with outposts and forts and developed into an important trade centre, with the floral stonework produced in the region being considered noteworthy. It was during this zenith of Bazid's power that Gouhar Khan, the Bengali governor of Sylhet, died. Khan's assistants, Subid Ram and Ramdas, took advantage of his death and embezzled a large amount of money from the state government. Then, fearing the wrath of the Sultan of Bengal,
Alauddin Husain Shah, they fled to Pratapgarh. Bazid gave his protection to the two fugitives and, seeing the disunity in Sylhet, also seized control of the district and added it to his own domain. Hussain Shah, wishing to avoid war, sent one of his nobles, a recently converted Muslim from Sylhet named
Surwar Khan, to negotiate with the Sultan of Pratapgarh. Surwar Khan was unsuccessful in this and was forced to face Bazid in battle, with the latter's forces being bolstered by his allies Shri Shikdar and Islam Roy (the
zamindars of Ita and Kanihati respectively), as well as the zamindar of
Jangalbari. Though the rebels reportedly fought well, with Bazid's son Marhamat Khan in particular fighting with distinction, they were eventually defeated. Hussain Shah agreed to allow Bazid to continue as ruler of Pratapgarh with relative independence, but he was required to surrender his control of Sylhet and give up the title of Sultan. A tribute of money and elephants was given to show Bazid's loyalty and the two fugitives, Subid Ram and Ramdas, were sent to Hussain Shah to face punishment. Finally, Surwar Khan was named the new governor of Sylhet, with Bazid's daughter Lavanyavati being given in marriage to Surwar's son and eventual successor, Mir Khan. The elderly Bazid died soon after the defeat. The dating of this event, as well as that of the reign of Bazid himself, has been a matter of dispute among academics. Choudhury, who sourced the above account, has the sultan who Bazid angered be Alauddin Husain Shah, whose reign began at the end of the 15th century AD. However, Subir Kar, a professor at
Assam University, identified the ruler as being the similarly-named
Hussain Shah Sharqi of
Jaunpur, with the described conflict instead taking place in 1464 AD. This dating is mirrored by Basil Copleston Allen, an
Indian Civil Service commissioner, in his
Assam District Gazetteers. Alternatively,
Syed Murtaza Ali placed the lifetimes of both Malik Pratap and Bazid as being over a century later, with the latter ruler instead being a contemporary of the
Mughal emperor
Jahangir. Ali suggests that Bazid was identical to
Bayazid of Sylhet, who was not subjugated by a reigning monarch, but rather by the Mughal governor of
Bengal,
Islam Khan I, in 1612 AD.
Kachari invasion By the early 18th century AD, Aftab Uddin, the grandson of Marhamat Khan and great-grandson of Bazid, was the Raja of Pratapgarh. During this time, he entered a dispute with the king of Kachar. It escalated to the point where Kachar launched an invasion, the second in Pratapgarh's history, led by the Kachari king himself. Aftab Uddin and his soldiers met the invading army before it had entered too far into his territory and in the ensuing battle, the Kachari king was killed. The Kachari queen, Kamala of
Jaintia, was angered by her husband's death and led a second, much larger army against Pratapgarh. Aftab Uddin's weaker forces were defeated, with the Raja himself and many of his brothers being killed; Choudhury described the defeated army as being like "floating grass in the face of a flood." Kamala then had the royal palace in Patharkandi looted in revenge. The surviving members of the royal family were forced to flee to their relatives in
Jangalbari, located in modern-day
Kishoreganj, while Pratapgarh was incorporated into the Kachari Kingdom. ==Zamindars of Pratapgarh==