Avisek Sil

BA(H) History
2019-22

Conditions of Bengal before

Battle of Plassey
• West Bengal, Bangladesh, Bihar and Orissa made “Bengal” that time
• Murshid Quli Khan, was Bengal’s first independent ruler. His successor, Shuja-ud-din
brought about great improvement and prosperity in Bengal. Bengal came to be known as
“The Paradise of India.”
• In 1633, the Britishers started setting up of factories in and around bengal, with the
first factory of the east setup in Orissa.
• In 1651, they were given permission to trade and setup factories at Hooghly in Bengal.
This permission was given by the nawab, Shuja-ud-din. The British mainly traded silk and
Resham along this routes.
• In1658, Mir Jumla(subedar) raised discourse against growing power of British and
their trade dominance.
• Shaista Khan the next subedar gave back the company all its trading rights.
• By1600-1700 permission of trade was given to English merchants who were called
“interlopers” and got strengthened during this period.
• In1686, the English and Mughals broke out after the former sacked Hooghly and
declared war. Not being able to withstand Aurangzeb's army the British returned to their
ways of flattery and petitions.
• In 1698, the East India Company purchased the zamindari of three villages, namely
Sutanuti, Govindpur and Kalikata and merged them to form the present day Calcutta. They
also built Fort William in Calcutta and fortified the whole area.
• By, 1705, Bengal’s population was only 15,000. By 1750, it rose to 1,00,000 with
Dhaka and Murshidabad having the most density of population.

CONDITIONS OF BENGAL 1
 • In 1717, Emperor Farukh Siyar gave them back their rights of 1691 and further
extended them to Gujarat and the Deccan.
• We can see Alivardi Khans trial to stop the growing activities on Britishers and
French in Calcutta and Chandannagar including the reconstruction of forts.
• His grandson, Shiraj-ud-Daulah ascended the throne in 1756. He established strict law
and order across the dominion and crushed the seeds of corruption. Siraj-Ud-Daulah was
alarmed at the activities of the Nawab of Purnia(Bihar), Shaukat Jung ; his aunt, Ghasiti
Begum and Mir Jafar, his commander-in-chief, also the son-in-law of Alivardi Khan.
• Due to growing hostility among these personalities, Siraj-Ud-Daulah enrolled Mir
Madan instead of Mir Jafar. Mir Madan proved his loyalty by going into the battle of
Manihari with Shaukat Jang and defeating him.
• A Kashmiri, Mohan Lal became quite popular during Siraj-Ud-Daulah’s court and
played an important role during the war as a diwan. It’s said that he saved Siraj-Ud-
Daulah’s child when he was going to be attacked by henchmen .
• Siraj-Ud-Daulah, received a Farman from the emperor where his subedarship had
been revoked. He was constantly a prey of conspiracy of the British. He wanted to
investigate Kasim Bazaar but was banned from it by the British. The free passes bestowed
upon the British by Farukh Siyar in 1717 increased Shiraj-ud-daullah’s hostility towards
them. These passes were also being sold to traders, which was later stopped by Lord
Cornwallis.
• In 1756, Kasim Bazaar was captured by Shiraj-ud-Daulah, performing a direct
attack on the British. Calcutta’s governor Drake fled and John Holwell surrendered on
20th June. The nawab deconstructed the fort and put 146 people in a single jail cell. On
21st morning only 23 of them survived along with Mr. Holwell. It was named as the
“Black Hole Tragedy.”
• The English sent troops from Madras to reconquer of Calcutta under Robert Clive.
By 1757, they captured Budge-Budge and then Calcutta.
• Shiraj-ud-Daulah signed “Treaty of Aligarh”with the Britishers which started that
nawab would give all the powers back to EIS and all the factories de-captured.
Compensation for the war would also be provided according to the treaty. The British got
permission to fortify Calcutta and establish minting factories. The nawab was also to
order the French to leave Chandernagore.

CONDITIONS OF BENGAL 2
 • Rai Durlabh, the chief of ministers, Jagat Seth, Mir Jafar worked with the British to
ensure the fall of the nawab in the battle of Plassey.

CONDITIONS OF BENGAL 3