Bengal under the Mughals

After the fall of the Karrani power in 1576, Bengal was under the Mughal rule. But the establishment of effective rule took some time. On 19th December, 1578, Khan-i-jahan died & Muzaffar Khan became the governor of Bengal. Akbar's brother Mirza Hakim declared himself independent in Kabul & Muzaffar Khan was defeated by rebels sympathetic to him, and Bengal and Bihar was declared to be his. He sent a subedar to Bengal, but lots of Afghans took control of parts of Bengal & all of Orissa. In April 1582, Akbar sent Khan-i-Azam as the subedar of Bengal, who won partial victory; but parts of the region remained under Masum Kabuli & Isha Khan, even under the next subedar Shahbaz Khan. In June 1584, Kutlu Khan of Orissa, who had revolted & took over parts of Bengal, was defeated. In 1586, both Isha Khan & Masum Kabuli accepted mughal over ordship. A new administrative system headed by a sipahsalar (later called subedar) started: Wazib Khan was the first sipahsalar, but he died in August 1587. He was followed by Sayyid Khan (15871594). Raja Mansingh (15941605) was the next governor of Bengal. He shifted the capital from Tanda to a new town of Akbarnagar. There were again revolts headed by Isha Khan & Raghudeva, ruler of Coochbehar. Mughals suffered heavy losses, but the revolt was suppressed. In 1598, Mansingh took temporary retirement & his eldest son Jagatsingh took over. When he died, the younger Mahasingh took over. Because of revolts, Mansingh had to return to Bengal & defeat them in February, 1601. He also defeated the Mags of Arakan. The Mughal Empire passed on to Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir (16051627) who replaced Mansingh by Qutb-ud-din Khan Koka (16051607). He & Sher Afghan Istalaju, a Turk Jaigirdar in Bengal, quarreled & both died in 1607. Sher Afghan's wife finally married Jahangir & was called Nur Jahan. The next subedar was shah Quli Khan (16071608) & when he died, Islam Khan (died on Aug, 1613). Even at this time large parts of Bengal, under the zamindars known as Baro Bhuiya. Examples of zamindars who often revolted are Musa Khan, son of Isha Khan, Bahadur Gazi of Bhaoal, Suna Gazi of Sarail, Mirza Mumin of Chatmohar,Madhu Ray of Khalsi, inod Ray of handpratap, Mazlis Qutb of Fatehabad =Faridpur & aloan of Matanga. Satrajit of Bhusana & Raja Raghunath of Susanga sided with the Mughals. Raja Pratapaditya was the zamindar who ruled from Dhumghat & controlled Jessor, Khulna and Bakharganj; and was father in law to Ramchandra of Bakla. (Bakla or Bakherganj including modern Barisal was probably same as the old Chandradvip. Ramchandra was son of Kandarpanarayan, one of the Barobhuyians who ruled from 1584 to 1598 and was the son of the daughter of Paramananda whose mother Kamaladevi was 5th generation from Danujamardan. He married Bindumati, daughter of Pratapaditya, established his capital in Husainpur, and defeated Laksmanmanikya of Bhulua. He was succeeded by his son Kirtinarayan, who was succeeded by his half brother Pratapnarayan Ray.)

There were also other zamindars like Anantamanikya, son of Laksmanmanikya, of Bhulua and many Pathans, mainly in Sylhet, main among who was Bayazid Karrani and his associate Khaja Osman, nephew of Qutlu Khan, the last Pathan ruler of Orissa. Also, near Rajmahal, there were Vir Hambir of Mallabhuma and Bankura, Shams Khan in Panchet and Selim Khan in Hijli. Islam Khan, with his gunpowder, horses, and navy, overcame all these zamindars and also defeated Shatrudaman of Kachhar. In 1612, he moved the capital to Dhaka & called it Jahangirnagar. He then captured Kamrup. This was the beginning of true Mughal rule in Bengal, a fundamental change in the economic, religious, social & political structure of Bengal: it was now one of twelve imperial provinces, ruled by outsiders who did not feel native to Bengal but who felt the borders of the empire as economic & cultural frontiers; and which now had sunni ashrafs that did not intermarry with other Bengalis but rather claimed Iranian ancestry; and with the sufis that brought a pan-Indian religious outlook to the religion of the masses. The next Subedar was Qasim Khan (16141617). He saw revolts from different parts. The next subedar Ibrahim Khan (1617 1624) reconquered parts of Bengal, but he was defeated by Prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan), who had revolted against his father Jahangir. In 1624, Khurram started ruling independently over Bengal, Orissa Bihar & Oudh as well. He was defeated in October 1624, but when Jahangir died in 1627, after a confused period under Dawar Bakhsh (16271628), he started ruling over the Mughal Empire as Shah Jahan Khusraw (1628deposed in 1657). He defeated the portuguese & recovered hughli in 1632, and fought with Ahom. His son, Murad Baksh (1657) was defeated by subedar Shuja (16291658) was defeated by another of his sons, Dara, who in turn was defeated by Awrangzeb (16581707) on the Mughal throne. Shuja fled to Arakan & was assasinated. Mir Jumla (died in 1663) was the next subedar of Bengal. During his time, Coochbehar occupied Kamrup & Ahom, Gauhati. Then Ahom took over Kamrup. Mir Jumla took over both, but both became independent when he died. The next subedar Shaesta Khan (March 1664 June 1688) was known for his economic oppression, but popularity amongst common man, in Bengal. He reconquered Coochbehar, defeated the Arakan and portuguese pirates & conqueured chittagong. After this, Khan-i-jahan Bahadur was subedar for a year, followed by Ibrahim Khan. Zamindar Shobhasingh & Rahim Singh revolted during his time. In response Aurengzeb sent his grandson Azim-ud-din, known as Azim-us-san (16971712), as the subedar. He suppressed the revolt. He let the Europeans fortify their settlements & ushered in the modern era in the history of Bengal. 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 & the subahdar later shifted his nizamat to Patna. In this way Dhaka lost the glory of being the capital of Mughal Bengal. Murshid Quli Khan, blessed by the support of Auranzeb, became the virtual ruler of Bengal subah. He was appointed subahdar of Orissa, diwan of 3 provinces, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa & faujdar of 5 districts Murshidabad, Sylhet, Midnapur, Burdwan & 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 he remained in Bengal till his death in 1727. He made the Bengal economy dynamic & paid imperial dues regularly. In 1716, he became the subahdar of Bengal. During his subahdari Bengal flourished economically. The foreigners 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 & 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 paying 12 lacs of rupees to the Marathas annually as. Alivardi was a kind man and skilful ruler & he was not addicted to debauchery or drunkenness. The rise of the banking family, the Jagat Sheth, was a remarkable feature of his regime. Alivardi Khan died on 10 April 1756. Earlier he nominated Sirajuddaula, his grandson from daughter's side, to the throne. Siraj, the new nawab was only 23 when he ascended the throne of Bengal. Soon he found himself surrounded by enemies, local and foreign. Sirajs greatest enemies were Ghaseti Begum, Shawkat Jang, Mir Jafar Ali Khan & Jagath Seth. The greatest enemy was the English East India Company, which was quite openly fortifying the fort william & taking other military preparations. To bring the English under law, Nawab Sirajuddaula attacked Calcutta. Colonel Robert Clive entered into a conspiracy with Mir Jafar, Jagat Sheth, Raj Ballabh & others. The Fort William Council agreed to a secret treaty with Mir Jafar promising to place him on the throne & the latter agreeing to grant trade facilities to the English. Clive arrived at Palashi & Siraj found that his own army defied his command & stood silent. Sirajuddaula fled from the field, but was captured & killed. Clive placed Mir Jafar on the throne. The Mughal sovereignty was virtually over with the event of Palashi.