History

There are conflicting accounts of how the name Medinipur came to be. One account claims that Medinipur was named after a local deity “Medinimata” (literally “mother of the world”, a Shakti incarnation). A number of prehistoric sites of great interest are being excavated throughout the West Midnapore district. In ancient times the region seems to be highly influenced by Jainism and Buddhism. Coins issued by Samudragupta have been found in the near vicinity of the town.The kingdom of Shashanka and Harshavardhana also included part of undivided Midnapore in their kingdom. However, the most significant archaeological site in the region is the bustling port of Tamralipta  near Tamluk, a site noted in the travelogues of Faxian and  Xuanzang . Later Chaitanya Mahaprabhu passed through the area on his way from Puri to Varanasi as documented in the Chaitanya Charitamrita. After the fall of last independent Hindu dynasty of Kalinga Utkala, Gajapati Mukunda Deva in the 16th century, this region came under one of the five Sarkars of Mughalbandi Odisha i.e.  Jaleswar  Sarkar which was ruled by the Subehdar of Odisha . The north boundary of Jalshwar was Tamluk and south was Soro and Dhalbhumgarh in the west to the Bay of Bengal  in the east. Bahadur Khan was the ruler of Jaleshwar Sarkar or Hijli  (including Midnapore) during the time of  Shah Jehan . He was defeated by  Shah Shuja , the second son of Shah Jehan, then the  subshdar  of Bengal .

During the era of the Muslim rulers of Bengal  nawab ,  Alivardi Khan’s general Mir Jafar  fought successfully against Mir Habib’s lieutenant  Sayyid Nur  near Midnapore town in 1746. This was part of his campaign to regain Odisha and thwart the Maratha attacks on Bengal. Mir Habib came up from Balasore and was joined by the Marathas, but Mir Jafar fled to Burdwan, leaving Mir Habib to retake Midnapore with ease. Alivardi defeated Janoji Bhosle, a Maratha chieftain, in a severely contested battle near Burdwan in 1747 and Janoji fled to Midnapore. The Marathas held on to Odisha including Midnapore until 1749 when it was reconquered by Alivardi. The Marathas continued to raid Midnapore, which proved disastrous for the residents.

In 1756, Alivardi died and his successor wasSiraj-ud-daulah. On 20 June 1757, he was betrayed by Mir Jafar to the East India Company under the command of Lord Robert Clive at Plassey. This consolidated the company’s hold on Bengal and Odisha (along with Midnapore). The district of Midnapore which included Dhalbhum or Ghatshila, now in Singhbhum, Jharkhand was annexed in 1760 along with Burdwan and Chittagong both handed over to the East India Company by Mir Qasim. The last free king of Dhalbhum was imprisoned in Midnapore town.

Some of the Malla kings of Mallabhum  in the Bankura  district held land in northern Midnapore district, while the Raj rules of Narajole, Jhargram,Lalgarh, Jamboni, and Chandrakona held sway in their local areas. The Raj rulers in Rajasthan  would pay homage to Jagannath but carves out their own territories under the supremacy of the Hindu empires of Odisha.