[Arnab]

Mughal period

Upto 1757 Mughal rule was established in Bengal after the defeat of the Karrani Afghan Sultan Daud Khan in the battle of Rajmahal, 12 July 1576 at the hands of Khan Jahan. With Khan Jahan's victory over Daud Khan, the Mughals made determined and sustained efforts to establish their authority over Bengal, till ultimately in 1612, Islam Khan Chishti, the subahdar of jahangir, brought the whole of Bengal (except Chittagong) under the Mughal control.

With Daud Khan's defeat ended the Sultanate rule in Bengal, but this in no way meant the end of Bengali resistance to the imperial power. Different military chieftains and bhuiyans, some of whom were powerful enough to be styled as rajas (kings), controlled different pockets of Bengal. They tried to resist the Mughal aggression as independent or semi-independent chieftains. Among those who resisted the Mughals, some bhuiyans, known as bara-bhuiyans (twelve territorial landholders) stand out prominent.

The rajas, bhuiyans and the zamindars who put up stubborn resistance to the Mughals were many, about 36. The bara-bhuiyans resisted the Mughal aggresion for several decades. The chief of the bara-bhuiyans was Isa Khan who assumed the title of Masnad-i-Ala. He combined with other bhuiyans and led them in the struggle against the Mughals till his death in 1599. Isa Khan's son musa khan took the leadership of the bara-bhuiyans and put up a stubborn resistance to the Mughals. But they were at last forced to submit to the imperial armies led by Subahdar Islam Khan Chishti in the reign of Emperor Jahangir.

After Jahangir's accession, Islam Khan took up the task of subjugating the remnant resisting elements. For political reason, he transferred the capital from Rajmahal to Dhaka. The bara-bhuiyans were then finally defeated. As a political strategy, the defeated bhuiyans and chiefs were not allowed to retain their principalities under their control. Instead, they were motivated to work under the Mughals. After conquering Bhulua and driving its ruler, Raja Ananta Manikya across the Feni River towards Arakan, Islam Khan sent a large army against Khwaja Usman Khan Afghan of Sylhet who was defeated and killed. With that ended Bengal's resistance to Mughal expansion.

During the last two years of Jahangir's reign, the Bengal administration had to face the Arakanese Magh raids into coastal Bengal. The first subahdar of Emperor Shahjahan, qasim khan jwini (husband of Manija Begum, Nurjahan's sister), recovered Hughli from Portuguese occupation in 1632. Later, they were allowed to return, but with the condition of respecting the Mughal authority. Subahdar islam khan mashhadi met the challenge of the Ahom king in the Kamarupa frontier and forced him to sign a treaty of non-aggression in 1639. Then came Prince shah shuja, who was a subahdar for twenty years (1639-1658), when the province enjoyed uninterrupted peace. But towards the end of Shahjahan's reign, a war of succession flared up among his four sons—Dara, Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad. Each of them wanted the throne by denying the claim of others. Shuja enthroned himself, but after long struggles, first against Dara and then against Aurangzeb, was defeated in 1660, fled from Bengal and took shelter with the king of Arakan. The king of Arakan brutally murdered him in 1661 to seize the treasure in his possession.

Mir Jumla, who had come to Bengal at the heels of Shah Shuja, was appointed subahdar. Taking his position in Dhaka, Mir Jumla went to suppress the rebellion of Raja of Kuchbihar and punish the king of Assam, who had grabbed a part of Kamarupa during the war of succession. He occupied the Kuch capital Kamtapur, and drove out the Raja Pran Narayan and then proceeded to Assam. The Ahom king could not resist him. The subahdar occupied his capital, Garhgaon and pressed forward. He stayed at Garhgaon during the rains, but due to damp climate, he fell seriously ill. The Mughals suffered due to shortage of ration, many soldiers and horses were lost and during the rains the Ahom army also harassed them. Mir Jumla thought it wise to make a treaty with the enemy. The treaty was to his advantage, the Ahom king agreeing to surrender gold and silver and portion of his territory. But Mir Jumla died on his way back, a little away from Khizrpur (near Narayanganj) on 30 March 1663.

Shaista khan was appointed the next subahdar of Bengal who belonged to the family of Nur Jahan. He was a son of Asaf Khan and a brother of Mumtaz Mahal, queen of Shahjahan, i. e. he was a maternal uncle of the Emperor Aurangzeb. He was not only of noble birth, but also an accomplished Persian poet and scholar and a great general. He served in various parts of the empire before taking the assignment in Bengal. Shaista Khan ruled Bengal for twenty-two years with a break for a little more than one year during which time azam khan koka (Fidai Khan) and Prince muhammad azam became subahdar one after another. Shaista Khan first reached Bengal in March 1664 and completed his first term of office in early 1678. His second term of office began on 13 October 1679 and ended in June 1688. Shaista Khan was already 63 when he first came to Bengal, after 24 years when he left Bengal for good he was 87. Though past 60, he ruled Bengal with vigour, but the English merchant William Hadges who saw him in 1683 reports that he was very old and feeble. He was accompanied by a few grown up and gifted sons who helped him in administering the country. His sons were Buzurg Umed Khan, Aqidat Khan, Jafar Khan, Abu Nasr Khan and Iradat Khan. They held charge of different sarkars or divisions, the father and the children sharing the administration and they ruled the country worthily.

Shaista Kahn's greatest fame in Bengal lay in his conquest of Chittagong. The Magh king of Arakan with the aid of Portuguese pirates attacked the Mughal province of Bengal whenever he found an opportunity. Moreover, the Portuguese pirates used to attack the coastal regions, looted property and enslaved men, women and children. The Portuguese piracy was a regular menace. So Shaista Khan's policy was to make the area safe by wresting Chittagong from the king of Arakan and also to save the coastal area from the menace of the pirates and making it a part of the empire. Soon he conquered Chittagong and made the whole region free from the Arakanese raids

Shaista Khan was succeeded by Mir Malik Husain entitled Khan Jahan Bahadur, a foster brother of Aurangzeb. He was a man of weak character and was not equal to the dignity of a subahdar. His tenure was less than a year and he was replaced by ibrahim khan, son of the celebrated Amir-ul-Umara Ali Mardan Khan, the grand noble of the time of Shahjahan. In his time shobha singh of Benares revolted and began plundering raids to the neighboring districts. In his plundering Shobha Singh was joined by rahim khan, an Afghan chief of Orissa and both plundered and looted an extensive area in Burdwan, Hugli and Murshidabad districts up to Rajmahal. They attacked the Hugli fort and the faujdar of the place fled for life. Ibrahim Khan was a man of mild disposition. He could do little to subdue the rebels. However, the dutch company from Chinsura first blocked the path of the rebels and drove them away from Hughli. Zabardast Khan, son of Ibrahim Khan took the field on the side of the Mughals. He cleared the whole area up to Burdwan. The rebels fled towards the hills and jungles of Midnapore and Chandrakona.

Aurangzeb removed Ibrahim Khan and appointed in his place Prince Muhammad Azimuddin, his grandson. Azimuddin, later entitled azim-us-shan, was a son of Prince Muhammad Muazzam, later emperor Shah Alam Bahadur Shah (1707-1712). Azim-ush-Shan, on his way to Dhaka first visited Burdwan, completely destroyed the rebels, consoled the affected people and rehabilitated the displaced zamindars. Azim-ush-Shan utilised his tenure in Bengal in amassing money, by whatever means he could, because he was sure about a war of succession after the death of Auranzeb. In lieu of cash gift, he first permitted the English east india company to purchase from the owners, the three villages of Sutanuti, Govindpur and Kalikata in 1698 and thus paving the way to the ultimate establishment of British rule in India within half a century.

One very important event of Azim-us-Shan's subadari was his quarrel with the diwan, murshid quli khan. To avoid his presence, Murshid Quli Khan shifted his diwani to Murshidabad, and the subahdar later shifted his nizamat to Patna. Dhaka thus lost the glory of being the capital of Mughal Bengal. It is asserted by many scholars that the prosperity of Dhaka and its hinterland Eastern Bengal began to decline since the transfer of the government agencies to Murshidabad and Patna.

Murshid Quli Khan, blessed by the support of Auranzeb, became the virtual ruler of Bengal subah. He was appointed subahdar of Orissa, diwan of three provinces, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and faujdar of five districts Murshidabad, Sylhet, Midnapur, Burdwan and Katak. After the death of Aurangzeb during the reign of Shah Alam Bahadur Shah, he was transferred to south India, but he was appointed diwan of Bengal again in 1710. From this time onward he remained in Bengal till his death in 1727. He made the Bengal economy dynamic and paid imperial dues regularly. So, in 1716, Murshid Quli Khan became the subahdar of Bengal. During his subahdari Bengal flourished economically. The foreigners who came to participate in Bengal export trade were forced to observe the law of the land.

Murshid Quli Khan, though he paid tributes to the centre regularly, became practically an independent nawab. So at the time of his death he nominated his grandson (from daughter's side) sarfaraz khan to succeed him. And accordingly he became the nawab of Bengal in 1727. But soon he was ousted by his father, shujauddin muhammad khan, who became the nawab of Bengal in the same year. Shujauddin Khan, at the time of his death, nominated his son Sharfaraz Khan to the masnad in 1739. But Sarfaraz was a weak ruler and alivardi khan ousted him in 1740.

Alivardi Khan's rule was marked by annual Maratha raids. He had to buy peace with the Marathas, by practically ceding Orissa to Mir Habib who was under the influence of the Marathas and paying 12 lakhs of rupees to the Marathas annually as chauth. Alivardi was a kind man and skilful ruler, he developed a puritanical temperament and unlike others of the time he was not addicted to debauchery or drunkenness. The rise of the banking family, the jagat sheth, was a remarkable feature of his regime. It was the Seths who were mainly responsible for the political change that occurred through the staged battle of palashi in 1757. Alivardi Khan died on 10 April 1756 at the age of 80. Earlier he nominated sirajuddaula, his grandson from daughter's side, to the throne.

Sirajuddaula, the new nawab was only 23 when he ascended the throne of Bengal. Soon he found himself surrounded by enemies, local and foreign. In his own house his greatest enemy was ghaseti begum (Meherun-Nisa), the eldest sister of his mother. shawkat jang, his cousin, living in Purnia, was another great rival. Then there was mir jafar ali khan who was the commander-in-chief of Alivardi's army. He also was the husband of a half-sister of Alivardi Khan. Most dangerous was the Jagath Seth family which controlled the Bengal money market and who had many sympathisers in the Durbar. The greatest enemy was the English East India Company, which was quite openly ignoring the nawab. Without taking any permission from the nawab they were fortifying the fort william of Calcutta and taking other military preparations. The Fort William was made a safe haven for the criminals and violators of the law of the land.

To bring the English under law, Nawab Sirajuddaula attacked Calcutta. The English left the city for Fulta wherefrom they came back being reinforced from Madras. Colonel Robert clive entered into a conspiracy with the disaffected officials of the nawab, Mir Jafar, Jagat Sheth, Rajballabh and others. The Fort William Council agreed to a secret treaty with Mir Jafar promising to place him on the throne, and the latter agreeing to grant territorial, financial and trade facilities to the English. Armed with this treaty and the treachery of Mir Jafar and others, Clive arrived at Palashi and took position on 23 June 1757. Siraj also came to the place to encounter the company's army. But to his dismay he found that the larger part of his own army defied his command and stood silent. Siraj fled from the field, but was captured and brought back to the capital and killed. Clive, in accordance with the terms of the secret pact, placed Mir Jafar on the throne. The Mughal sovereignty was virtually over with the event of Palashi though the English took a decade more to assert real power.

Revenue administration

Mughal revenue administration in Bengal was elaborately chalked out. It was made separate from the general administration, the latter was called nizamat while the former was designated as diwani. While the general administration including defence and warfare and maintenance of peace was in the hands of Nazim or subahdar, the revenue administration was under the diwan. The latter was lower than the subahdar in rank, but he was completely independent in financial and revenue matters, being under the control of the Central diwan. The rule for separation of powers and duties was made to safeguard imperial interests and those of the raiyats, Zamindars, taluqdars, ie those who were connected with land. The emperor from time to time embodying these rules issued orders. The first example of revenue figures is found in what is known as Todar Mal's bandobast or settlement. But this was nothing more than paper for, in 1582, when Todar Mal made the settlement, the major portion of Bengal was outside Mughal control. It is therefore presumed that Todar Mal just copied the revenue figures prevailing in the pre-Mughal period.

Todar Mal divided Bengal (including Chittagong, which came under the Mughal control 84 years later) into 19 Sarkars, and each Sarkar was divided into a number of Parganas. The revenues were again divided into mal or land revenue and sair or sayer, which included all kinds of collection, like custom duty and other sundry duties, excluding the land revenue. In the Mughal system, lands were also divided into Khalsa and jagir. Khalsa lands were directly administered by the state through the diwan and his staff. Jagir lands were those which were assigned to the officers, civil or military, in lieu of their services, i.e. they were paid by jagirs. In the later period lands were assigned to establishments like the Nawwara (navy), kheda (catching elephants), Amla-i-Asham (or military establishment for guarding the eastern frontier). Lands were also endowed for maintenance of religious institutions and were granted to religious persons like saints, sufis etc as means of their subsistence. An important feature of the revenue administration was the existence of zamindars, who acted as middlemen between the rayats and the government.

The collection of revenues was no great problem for the government, the main problem was fixation of the rate of revenue to be collected from the rayats and the amount to be paid by the collectors/zamindars to the government exchequer. The diwan and his staff remained busy in settling this issue keeping in view the loss of crops due to weather condition, the land erosion caused by flood and change of river course, change of agricultural lands to fallow lands etc. They also decided cases where taqavi or agricultural loans had to be sanctioned. The Mughal revenue system was designed to achieve the double purpose of collecting as much revenue as possible and at the same time keeping the rayats happy and content so that they might prosper and bring more and more land under the plough.

In Todar Mal's settlement the total Bengal revenues was a little more than one crore rupees from both Khalsa and Jagir lands. In Jahangir's time the whole of Bengal (except Chittagong) and Kamarupa were brought under Mughal rule and Todar Mal's settlement actually worked and necessary adjustments were made determining the real worth of the land. In Shah Shuja's settlement of 1658, there was an increase of revenue by about 15.5% in 76 years after Todar Mal's time. Murshid Quli Khan made the next settlement in 1722, this time the increase was by another 10%. Murshid Quli's system was know as Mal-Jamini which probably meant that he made the zamindar stand security to realise and pay revenues regularly and in time.

In the collection of revenues, Murshid Quli Khan was harsh, at times to the extent of brutality. He divided Bengal into 13 Chaklas, but his chakla system did not survive long. He also established Punya, i.e. at the end of the Bengali year on a fixed day Punya was held and zamindars, taluqdars etc. were asked to clear their payments on that day. The punya system survived and continued until the abolition of zamindari in the early Pakistan days (1951). Murshid Quli Khan also introduced a new cess, abwab-i-khashnavisi. The Mughal emperors always prohibited the imposition of abwabs, because though they were imposed on the zamindars, the latter realised the same from the rayats. Later Nazims followed Murshid Quli Khan. Shujauddin, Alivardi and mir qasim, all imposed cesses and by the time of Mir Qusim the total receipt of the government almost doubled.

With the coming of the Mughals Bengal witnessed the working of certain new forces in her social, economic and cultural life. These forces transformed Bengal's life and thought and as has been nicely put by one scholar, "the outer world came to Bengal and Bengal went out of herself to the outer world." Unlike the previous period, when she enjoyed independence, free from outside control, Bengal now became a part, a province of the centralised Mughal government, under one administration, one law, one official language, a uniform official cadre and uniform currency. Muslims from various countries came to Bengal from the beginning, but with the introduction of Mughal rule and with the prospect of peace, prospect of employment opportunities also increased. So scholarly Muslims, i.e. those who pursued peaceful life, like the ulama, teachers, poets, physicians and merchants came to Bengal in larger number. There also came the Shia ulama and scholars in the train of Shia political leaders, subahdars, diwans and others.

Some very prominent Mughal subahdars were Shias. Murshid Quli Khan had practically established a Shia dynasty ever ready to welcome the talented and pious Shias. Names of many Persian poets are found who either made Bengal their permanent home or passed a part of their career in Bengal under the patronage of the subahdars and other high officers. Persian became the official language and not only Persian literature was produced in the country but also Persian language influenced local Bengali language. Bengali poets borrowed Persian themes and Persian words in large number have entered into the local language. State revenue service was more elaborate than before and so the zamindars, muqaddams, patwaris, i.e. all those locals connected with the revenue service had to learn Persian language in which the accounts were maintained. Unlike the Bengal sultans, Mughal subahdars came to Bengal for particular terms. So they had neither the aptitude nor the time to learn local language, and hence the agents of local zamindars stationed at the court had to be masters of Persian language.

During early Mughal rule, higher posts in the revenue department were reserved for Muslims and Hindus coming from upper India like the Khatirs, Lalas etc., but later, particularly from the time of Murshid Quli Khan, these high posts passed into the hands of the Hindus. In Murshid Quli's time the chief qanungos were Darpa Narayan and Krishna Narayan, the chief of the mint was Raghunandan; in the time of Shujauddin the diwan was Rai Raiyan Alam Chand, who was also a member of the advisory council; in the time of Alivardi prominent Hindu officers were Janakiram, Durlabhram, Ram Narain, Kirat Chand, Ummid Rai, Bira Dutta, Ramram Singh and Gokul Chand; in the time of Sirajuddaula, nanda kumar and Omi Chand etc. With the growth of trade and commerce came the Marwari Banking families like the family of Jagat Sheth; some zamindars, for example the zamindar of Burdwan also came from upper India. In trade and commerce also Bengal's isolation was broken, she now took greater part in inter-provincial trade, the inland trade carried Bengal goods to Patna, Agra, Delhi and to Multan, while the sea-borne trade carried the goods to Balasore, Katak, Madras and so on.

In trade and commerce, Bengal came to limelight in history by her international trade. During the early Muslim-period, Bengal's products could be sold for money to a small extent. The foreign merchants buying the goods were Chinese, Malayese, Arabs and Persians. Among the European traders, the Portuguese came first and opened trade in the first quarter of the 16th century. They first appeared at Chittagong, and after many vicissitudes, got permission to trade with Bengal. But they prospered when, with the permission from the Mughal emperor Akbar, they established a settlement at Hugli in 1580. The Portuguese established their supremacy in the sea, and being unrivalled got enormous profits out of their trade with Bengal. But soon the Portuguese degenerated, by the first quarter of the 17th century their power and trade began to decline. Their indulgence in piratical and proselytising activities invited retaliation from the Mughals, but the main cause of their decline was the competition with other European companies.

The Dutch East India Company started their trade with Bengal from their base at Masaulipatam in the Coromandel coast in the beginning of the 17th century, the English East India Company followed them. Both the companies prospered in their trade with the privileges received from the Mughal government. They established their factories near Hugli in the bank of river Bhagirathi, the Dutch at Chinsura and the English at Hughli. Later the English moved to Calcutta, and when the French company came, they established their factory at Chandernagar. During the rebellion of Shobha Singh, all the companies fortified themselves against possible attack, and with the permission of subahdar Azimuddin, the English purchased from their owners the three villages of Sutanuti, Govindpur and Kolkata and laid the foundation of the city of Calcutta. Later came the Ostend Company and from 17th to 18th centuries Bengal's overseas trade increased by leaps and bounds. The companies exported from Bengal salt-petre, ingredients of making gunpowder, abundantly available in Lalganj, North-Bihar. Other goods that were exported from Bengal were fine cotton goods, coarse cotton textiles, silk and silk-textiles, indigo, Lac, rice (for Asiatic countries and to be used as ballast).

Mughal rule thus saw enormous growth of Bengal's overseas trade. As against exports, the import of foreign companies was negligible, because except rarities, the imported goods of the foreign companies could not attract the local consumers. The foreign companies, therefore brought in huge quantity of bullion, thus giving coffers in the hands of Bengali producers and manufactures, and this had far-reaching effects in the country's economy. First, the money circulation rose to a great degree. Formerly, all over Orissa and in many parts of Bengal, the land revenue could be collected only in kind, i.e. in grain, and it was very difficult for the collectors to pay the government revenue in cash, because the conversion was difficult, vexatious and sometimes involved heavy losses. From now on, Bengal could purchase goods from other countries and other provinces of India to an extent inconceivable in former times. Money prices and money wages also rose sharply in Bengal. This did not mean increase in the real wage, but upper class people certainly grew richer and possessed more articles of luxury and government officials and revenue collecting middlemen made fortune.

And what is more important, as a result of greater export of local goods, there was great rise in the production of industrial and manufactured goods. A vast market was now opened for Bengal's cotton goods, silk and silk yarn, rice, sugar etc. The agents of foreign companies as well as the individual buyers stood ready with a hung amount of cash in hand for almost any quantity that Bengal producers and manufacturers could offer. The foreign exporters also helped organising industrial production in the country in an efficient manner and on economic basis. They stationed agents at every mart, made advances to workmen, and artisans; set up workshop at their factories where local labourers could work under European expert supervision. They imported dyers and twist-throwers from their home country to teach local artisans better methods and thus raised Bengal's industrial productions both in quality and quantity.

The Mughals had been in peaceful possession of Bengal after its conquest had been complete. Except the rebellion of Shobha Singh in the closing years of the reign of Aurangzeb, which was crushed in a short time, there was no great disturbance against the Mughal authority. The piratical activities of the Portuguese in collusion with the Maghs of Arakan were also stopped after Shaista Khan's conquest of Chittagong in 1666. Before the Mughals, however, Bengal was notoriously famous as a rebel province. The then rulers of Delhi tried to solve the problem by decentralising the administration but instead of following that policy, the Mughals appointed the emperor's sons and relatives and other very high and trusted civil servants. The emperors and central government attached much importance to the administration of this province and if the post of the governor fell vacant the governor of Bihar was sent to occupy the vacant office.

Mughal rule in Bengal opened an era of peace and prosperity. The overseas trade, the influx of gold and silver turned Bengal actually a Jannat-ul-Bilad, by which name she had been designated by the upcountry Muslims. The foreign travellers from Portugal, Italy, France, England and Holland started coming to Bengal from the time she became open to the European ships. To name a few, they were Duarte Barbosa, Varthema, Caesar Frederick, Sebastien Manrique, Ralph Fitch, Thomas Bowrey, Niccolao Manucci, Francois Bernier, Tavernier, Stavorinus etc. Almost all of them spoke very highly of Bengal's wealth, rich products and highly prized manufactured goods. The rich exuberance of the country, together with the beauty and amiable disposition of the native women, has given rise to a proverb in common use among the Portuguese, English and Dutch, that the Kingdom of Bengal has a hundred gates open for entrance, but not one for departure.


Bibliography

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