Tandah

Tandah a sixteenth century city and the capital of the Karranis, was about 24.14 km southeast of Maldah town and 19.31 km west of the teliagarhi Pass. It was situated on the west bank of the Ganges, nearly opposite to the famous city of gaur (lakhnauti). It was just at the point where the Ganges in those days separated into two branches.

Tandah means high ground. Numismatic evidences show that the city got the status of a mint town in 1544 during the time of sher shah. sulaiman karrani (1563-1572) after the death of his brother Taj Khan Karrani established himself with full independence as king of Bengal and Bihar and, abandoning the city of Gaur, established his capital at Tandah. During the time of his successors, bayazid karrani and daud khan karrani, the city retained its status as the capital of Bengal. The city was then also called Khwaspur Tandah. It was a mint town during the Karrani period and maintained this position up to 984 AH/ 1576 AD.

munim khan, the Mughal general, however, made Gaur his headquarters. But he himself together with thousands of troops perished in a pestilence and the Mughal headquarters in Bengal was shifted to Tandah in 1576. But the city did not long retain this distinction. mansingh, shifted the seat of government to rajmahal, which was subsequently named Akbarnagar. From the account of ralph fitch (1586 AD) it appears that Tandah was a big prosperous city which was decaying on account of the change in the course of the Ganges. In about 1826 the city was destroyed by floods, and disappeared into the river. Nowadays it lies as a heap of dusts about 1.60 km from Lakshipur. [Md Akhtaruzzaman]