Medini Ray

Medini Ray a.k.a. Madini Rai or Madini Rayruled from 1658 to 1674 in the Palamu region of Bihar, now in Jharkhand.

After consolidating his position, he started to expand his chieftency. He extended his sway over South Gaya and setup post in Kothi and Kunda in Chatra and Deogaon in Palamu. He invadedNavratangarh, defeated nagpuri raja Raghunath Shah 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; and a portion of Surguja who paid him tribute.

Upon accession of Aurangzeb to the Grant of Diwani jagirdars of Bihar, heplaced contingents at thecommand of Daud Khan. Daud Khan started expeditionagainst Palamu on 1660. He was accompanied by Mirza Khan, faujdar of Darbhanga,Tahawwur Khan, jagirdar of Chainpur, Raja Bahroz of Munger, also the Nagbanshi ruler ofKokrah. Orders were receivedfrom Emperor Aurangzeb that the Chero ruler had to embrace Islam. In battle, Medini Ray escaped to forest. Both the forts were occupied by the invaders and the regionwas brought under subjugation. The Chero capital was cleared of the Hindu population and the temples with their idols were destroyed. MediniRai, the Chero ruler of Palamau, had fled to Surguja after his defeatby Daud Khan. Once again he made his appearance and took possession of Palamu. He made sincere efforts to promote agriculture and tobetter the desolate state of Palamu which had been caused by therepeated Mughal invasions. The region became very prosperousand the people had ample food and other amenities of life.

Maharaja had rebuilt the old Palamu fort which was earlier build by kings of Raksel dynasty. 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 and Sanskrit inscription of Barnmali Mishra the Pandit of Maharaja Medini Rai. According to inscriptionthe construction work started in magh samwat 1680. He began building the fort for his heir Pratap Rai. After Maharaja Medini Rai's death, his son Pratap Rai took up the work of finishing the fort.