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The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v2.c46: Chapter XXII. Shujā-ud-din Muhammad Khān

The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v2.c46

Language
English

Contents

Chapter XXII. Shujā-ud-din Muhammad Khān

I. Early Career and Rise of Shujā-ud-din

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Murshid Quli Khān died without any male issue on the 30th June, 1727, when his son-in-law Shujā‘-ud-din Muhammad Khan (surnamed Shujā‘-ud-daullah, Āsad Jung) succeeded him to the government of the two provinces of Bengal and Orissā. Shujā‘-ud-din was an Afshar Turk by descent. One of his ancestors named ‘Ali Yār Sultān was governor of Farah, a province of Khurāsān, when Tahmasp was ruler of Persia, and his father held an important post at Burhānpur under the Mughal government.¹ It was at Burhānpur, to which place Murshid Quli Ja‘far also originally belonged, that Shujā‘-ud-din came into close contact with him. He married the latter’s daughter, Zinat-un-nisā, and had a son through her, named Sarfarāz.

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¹ Walsh, *History of Murshidabad*, 138.

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On the appointment of Murshid Quli as the Diwān and Nāzim of Bengal and Orissā, his son-in-law, Shujā‘-ud-din, was made the Deputy Governor of Orissa. But the relation between them soon ceased to be cordial. This was due not only to their differences in temperament but also to the dissatisfaction of Zinat-un-nisā, a lady of pious disposition, with her husband for his profligate habits.² Thus when Murshid Quli felt that his end was drawing near, he tried earnestly to obtain imperial consent to the succession of his grandson, Sarfarāz, to the government of Bengal and Orissā. Sarfarāz had been already declared diwān of Bengal by Emperor Farrukhsiyar, at the request of his grandfather, who had also purchased for him, out of the income of his personal jāgīr, the zamindāri of Qismat Chunākhāli in parganā Kulharia in the Murshidābād district.

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² *Siyar*, Eng. tr., i. 273-’5, 254.

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But Shujā‘-ud-din naturally coveted the government of Bengal. On the advice of the two brothers, Hāji Ahmad and ‘Alivardi, he took all possible measures for gaining timely information of what happened at Murshidābād and also tried his best to obtain support for his cause at the imperial Court. On hearing from a reliable source that Murshid Quli’s days were numbered, he at once marched from Orissā for Bengal with a large army, leaving his son, Muhammad Taqi Khān (born of a wife different from the daughter of Murshid Quli), in charge of the government of the former province. On the way he heard of Murshid Quli's demise, and, arriving in the vicinity of Midnapur, received the imperial patent appointing him to the government of Bengal, which had been secured for him through the influence of Samsām-ud-daulah Khān-i-Daurān, a prominent noble of the Delhi Court then in the highest confidence of the Emperor. After halting at that place for a while and naming it Mubārak-Manzil (the auspicious halting place), he marched expeditiously towards Murshidabad and reached there within a few days. He entered straight into the Chihil Satun (the palace of forty pillars raised by Murshid Quli) and formally proclaimed his accession to the masnad of Bengal. His son, Sarfarāz, taken unawares at this turn of events, was persuaded by his friends and relatives, chiefly his grand-mother, to relinquish the idea of opposing his father any more. He quietly submitted to him and retired to his private residence at Nuktākhāli.

II. Early Measures of Shujā-ud-din's Government

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Shujā-ud-din distributed the principal offices of the government among his kinsmen and friends. His son, Sarfarāz, was retained as the nominal diwān of Bengal; his second son, Muhammad Taqi Khān, was appointed Deputy Governor of Orissā; and his son in-law, Murshid Quli II, was made Deputy Governor of Jahāngirnagar (Dacca). ‘Alivardi and his three nephews were elevated to high posts. Ālamchānd, previously Shujā-ud-din's diwān in the Orissa government, was now appointed diwān of the Khalsā at Murshidābād and received from the imperial court a personal mansab of 1000 with the title of Rāy-i-rāyān, which had not been conferred so long on any officer of the Bengal government. In the administration of all important matters of State, Shujā-ud-din was guided by the counsel of ‘Alivardi and his brother, Hāji Ahmad, who had rendered him valuable services since their first acquaintance with him in Orissā, of Rāy-i-rāyān Ālamchānd, an able financier and devoted officer, and of Jagat Seth Fatehchānd, the famous banker of Murshidābād, who being the owner of vast riches naturally exerted profound influence over the Bengal Nawābs. As a matter of fact, the Seths of Murshidābād henceforth played an important part in the history of Bengal and were active participators in the mid-eighteenth century political revolutions in the province.

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Shujā-ud-din took also other necessary steps to stengthen his newly acquired position. He tried to undo the wrongs of the previous regime and adopted a conciliatory attitude towards the zamindārs. After having carefully investigated into the conduct of Nāzir Ahmad and Murād Farrāsh, the two oppressive agents of Murshid Quli Ja'far Khān, he found them guilty of highhandedness, confiscated their properties, and condemned them to death. Of the zamindārs, who had been kept in confinement since the time of his predecessor, he immediately released those whom he found to be guiltless The rest, who had been actually defaulters in the payment of revenue, were made to execute written bonds promising to be henceforth obedient to the Nawāb's government and punctual in remitting its dues through the Banking Agency of Jagat Seth Fatehchand. They were allowed to return to this respective homes after being presented with costly khilāts. He realised nazars from them worth one kror and fifty lakhs of rupees, and sent the amount to the Emperor's treasury at Delhi through the Banking Agency of Fatehchānd. He conciliated the Emperor, further by occasionally sending him various presents in elephants, horses and fine Bengal cloths and by the timely remittance of the imperial tribute due from the Bengal government. The Emperor rewarded him with the title of Mutāman-ul-mulk Shujā'-ud-daulah Asad Jang.

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In the early part of his regime, Shujā'-ud-din by being properly attentive to the affairs of his government and solicitous for the welfare of his subjects, "evinced to the world that he was deserving of his good fortune". He was kind and bountiful towards his officers, civil and military, benevolent and hospitable towards those who happened to visit Murshidābād, and extended his charity to his old friends. A God-fearing man, he had a scrupulous regard for justice and dispensed it impartially. Ghulām Husain, the author of the Siyar, observes that "the poorest suitor was sure of being in his presence upon a footing with his very son; and the fearful sparrow, certain of finding in his bosom a shelter against the hawk, fled towards him with a perfect reliance on his goodness. People acquainted with history thought they lived in Naushirvān's reign". (Trans. 1. 325.) He was respectful and generous towards men of learning and piety. In fact, peace and prosperity then prevailed in Bengal as the result of his wise and beneficial measures.

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Fond of pomp and splendour, Shujā'-ud-din considered the buildings erected in the time of his predecessor, unsuitable for State-offices. So having demolished these, he caused some magnificent edifices to be constructed at Murshidābād, such as a Palace, an Arsenal, a high gateway, Revenue-court (diwān-khānā), a Public Audience-Hall, a Private chamber (khilwat khānā), a Farmān-bāri, and a Court of Exchequer (Khālsā-Kāchāri.) In the village of Dāhāpārā, on the west bank of the river Bhāgirathi, Nāzir Ahmad, an agent of Murshid Quli Ja'far Khān, had left unfinished the building of a mosque in the compound of an extensive garden. After his execution, Shujā'-ud-din completed the mosque in a superb style, and laid out the garden most beautifully with a large reservoir of water, running canals, artificial springs, flower-beds and fruit-trees. He gave the garden the name of Farahbāgh or the Garden of Joy. The strength of the army was raised by him to 250,000 men, consisting of equal numbers of cavalry and infantry.

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But some failings in Shujā'-ud-din's private character soon got the better of his prudence. Though advanced in years, he could not control his passions and became gradually addicted to luxury and profligacy. As a natural effect of this he became more and more neglectful of the affairs of the State, the management of which consequently passed entirely into the hands of Hāji Ahmad, Ālamchānd, and Jagat Seth Fatehchānd. This body of advisers, acting without any restraint from the supreme authority, soon degenerated into a clique of self-seekers, eager to serve their own interests even by fomenting intrigues and conspiracies which began to eat into the vitals of the Bengal government and made the downfall of the Nawabship only a question of time. The authors of Riyāz as well as Tārikh-i-Bangālah state how these men caused a temporary estrangement of feeling between Shujā'-ud-din and Sarfarāz and brought about an open rupture between Sarfarāz and Muhammad Taqi Khān, when the latter come to see his father at Murshidābād. The two brothers were prevented from resorting to arms only by the intervention of the Nawāb and Sarfarāz's mother. Muhammad Taqi Khān was permitted to return to Orissā, but died there in 1734 A. D.

III. Divisions of the Bengal Subah and Their Administration

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Shujā'-ud-din's deputy-governors did their best to secure the obedience of the recalcitrant zamindārs and chiefs to the authority of the Nawāb's government. Bihār was added to the Bengal Subah by Emperor Muhammad Shah about 1733 A. D. Thus Shujā'-ud-din became the subahdār of the three provinces of Bengal, Bihār and Orissā, for the administration of which he created four divisions. The central division comprised Western, Central and a portion of Northern Bengal; another, that is, the Dacca division, of Eastern and Southern Bengal, a small portion of Northern Bengal, Sylhet and Chittagong; the third was the Bihār division, and the fourth the Orissā division. The first division was directly administered by the Nawāb through his Council of Advisers, and each of the other divisions was placed under a Nāib Nāzim or Deputy Governor, subject to the general control of the subahdār. Bihār was efficiently governed by its newly appointed nāib nāzim, ‘Alivardi. The government of Jahāngirnagar or Dacca had been entrusted by the late Nawāb, Murshid Quli Ja‘far Khān, to Shujā‘-ud-din’s son-in-law, Murshid Quli II, who possessed a fine taste for poetical composition and calligraphy. Murshid Quli II (poetically surnamed Makhmur) received considerable assistance in his administration from his able and faithful deputy (nāib), Mir Habib.¹ By carefully attending to minute details and enforcing strict economy, Mir Habib reduced the expenses of the state flotilla (nawāra), artillery and military departments. He enriched his master as well as himself by reviving the practice of granting monopolies in certain articles of trade, and is said to have seized the wealth of Nurullah, zamindār of parganā Jālālpur², after treacherously assassinating him.

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¹ For details about Mir Habib’s early career, vide Yusuf, f. 33 and RS (transl), 299.

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² Within the area of Sarkār Fathābād (Ain, trans, II, 132-33) and now situated in the Brāhmanbaria subdivision of the Tipperah district.

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Mir Habib also led an incursion into the kingdom of Tipperah in alliance with Āqā Sādiq, zamindār of Patpasār. Fortunately for himself he was also able to secure the friendship of the discontented nephew of the Rājah of Tipperah, who had been expelled by his uncle outside the kingdom. Prompted by feelings of revenge, the youth guided Mir Habib’s troops by the proper route so that they advanced suddenly into the heart of the kingdom near its capital. Absolutely unprepared for such an attack, the Rājah fled to the neighbouring hills, whereupon the fort of Chandigarh, which had been his residence, was stormed by the invaders and the whole of his kingdom fell under the latter’s control. It was given to the Rājah’s nephew; Āqā Sādiq was appointed its faujdār; and Mir Habib went back to Dacca with a rich booty and many elephants. When Murshid Quli II informed Shujā‘-ud-din of the conquest of Tipperah and sent him a large share of the plunder, the latter changed its name to Raushanābād, procured for his deputy the title of Bahādur and elevated Mir Habib to the peerage.

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On the transfer of Murshid Quli II to Orissā after the death of Muhammad Taqi Khān, the deputy governorship of Dacca was formally conferred on Sarfarāz Khān. Sarfarāz did not personally go to the seat of his government, but sent there, as his deputy, Sayyid Ghālib ‘Ali Khān. Jaswant Rāy, formerly a munshī in the government of Murshid Quli Ja‘far Khān and guardian-tutor of Sarfarāz, was appointed his dīwān; and Murād Khān, a son of Nafisā Begam, an uterine sister of Sarfarāz, was made the superintendent (dārogha) of the flotilla (nawāra). Trained in the art of government under Murshid Quli Ja‘far Khān, Jaswant Rāy, by the steady and conscientious discharge of his duties, succeeded in contributing to the peace and prosperity of the people of Dacca as well as in securing an increased revenue for the state. The various monopolies, introduced by Mir Habib, and the duties upon grain, were abolished. The prices of articles became consequently as low as in the days of Shāistā Khān, that is, 8 mounds of rice per rupee, and the western gate of the city of Dacca, which had been closed by Shāistā Khān with the injunction that no governor should open it till he had reduced the price of grain to that level, was now reopened for the first time.

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But this happy state of things was not destined to continue long. Through the influence of Nafisā Begam, her son Murād ‘Ali Khān, married subsequently to Sarfarāz’s daughter, was promoted to the office of Deputy-Governor of Dacca in supersesion of Ghālib ‘Ali Khān. Murād ‘Ali promoted Rājballabh, a Vaidya by caste and so long a clerk in the Admiralty department, to the post of his peshkār. These were indeed unfortunate changes, as the new Deputy-Governor, devoid of tact and the softer feelings, proved to be so oppressive that the chakla of Dacca was soon reduced to poverty and desolation, and Jaswant Rāy resigned his office in disgust. Similarly, Mirzā Sayyid Ahmad, the second son of Hāji Ahmad and nāib faujdār of Ghorāghāt and Rangpur on behalf of Sarfarāz Khan, “desolated those five districts by his oppression”. Strengthened by a body of troops, lent to him by the Nawāb, he reduced to submission the Rājahs of Dinājpur and Kuch Vihār, who had so long evaded obedience to the Nawāb’s government, and seized their enormous wealth.

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Bad‘i-uz-Zamān, the Afghan zamindār of Birbhum, had also to feel the weight of the Nawāb’s authority. Emboldened by the natural defences of hillocks and jungles surrounding his territory, the Birbhum zamindār had ceased to send to the Nawāb the revenue of 1,400,000 bighās of cultivated lands and rose in insurrection against him in 1736 A. D.¹ Sarfarāz under orders of the Nawab sent a large army into Birbhum under the command of Mir Sharf-ud-din, the second Paymaster-General, and Khwāja Basant, a eunuch of his seraglio. ‘Alivardi, the nāib nāzim of Bihār, also marched from Patna against that zamindār at the head of a large force. Bad‘i-uz-Zamān readily tendered his submission, and accompanied the Bengal troops to Murshidābād to show his respect to Sarfarāz and the Nawāb. ‘Alivardi soon returned to Patna. Through the intercession of Mir Sharf-ud-din, Badi‘-us-Zamān was granted an interview by Shujā‘-ud-din, who pardoned his offences and permitted him to return to Birbhum on his promising an annual remittance of three lakhs of rupees to the Nawāb, besides the standard revenue due from him and also proper obedience to his orders.

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¹ Inshā-i-Gharib,—a collection of Persian letters compiled in 1738 A. D. and discovered at Patna. For further details about it vide Hindusthan Review, November 1938.

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Orissā flourished under its new Deputy Governor, Murshid Quli Khān II. He received much valuable assistance from his deputy, Mir Habib, who had accompanied him there from Dacca. The local zamindārs were tactfully brought under control, and the financial condition of the government was improved, partly by curtailment of unnecessary expenses and partly by the introduction of more efficient arrangements for the realisation of revenue. During the administration of Muhammad Taqi Khan, Rāmchandra Deva II¹ of Khurdāh had removed the idol of Jagannāth from Puri to a place situated beyond the Chilkā Lake, which deprived the government of revenue amounting to nine lakhs of rupees a year, collected from the pilgrims. But Murshid Quli II conciliated him and brought back the idol to Puri, the restoration of whose worship stopped a source of heavy financial loss to the Orissā government.

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¹ According to Stirling, Rājah Ramchandra Deva II ruled from 1727 to 1743 (Asiatick Researches, Vol. XV, 294) but according to Hunter from 1725 to 1736 (History of Orissa, Vol. II, Appendix, 190).

IV. The European Trading Companies and the Bengal Government

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The English, the French and the Dutch were then the chief European trading nations in Bengal, besides a number of minor European traders of diverse nationalities like Austrian, Polish, Portuguese, Danish and Swedish². The trade of the first three was, on the whole, flourishing in spite of occasional disturbances. Thus the Council in Calcutta wrote to the Court of Directors in England on the 16th January, 1733: "Have a prospect of despatching the ships in good Time notwithstanding there has been a greater Demand for Goods this year than ever was known, the French sending home five ships directly for Europe". The English maintained strict control over their *dālāls* (brokers) and merchants, took all possible care to stop the abuse of *dastaks* so that everybody having a *dastak* had to sign a "Note that the goods are for his own account" as well as to prevent "any private traders interfering with the Company's trade", and sometimes co-operated with the French and the Dutch "in all Legal Measures to prevent Interlopers from Trading". They had often to meet with difficulties due to currency-troubles, particularly when the Nawāb's government prohibited the circulation of Madras and Arcot Rupees in Bengal or permitted it at a high rate of *batta* (discount)¹. The Council in Calcutta wrote to the Court of Directors on the 29th January, 1738: "Strenuously solicited for the currency of Madras Rupees, but it could not be granted, the duty on foreign rupees being ordered from Court to make up the deficiency in Mint Revenues". To obviate this inconvenience, the English borrowed coins from Fatehchānd, the leading banker of Bengal, in exchange for bullion, which the latter liked to have because of his control over the mint at Murshidābād. The selfish conduct of some of their own officers (as for example of Mr. Barker at Qāsimbāzār), and the attempts of some of their *dālāls* and *baniāns* to bargain as much as they could, occasionally put the English to great inconvenience. But they always adopted a strict attitude in such cases.

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² Letter to Court, 26th December, 1733, paras 27-29; Ibid, 29 January, 1736.

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¹ Letter to Court, 14th February, 1738, para 17; Ibid, 31st December, 1737, para 38.

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The English as well as the Dutch soon became very jealous of the gradual improvement of the trade of the Ostend Company, which had been permitted by Murshid Quli Ja'far Khān to establish a factory at Bānkibāzār, situated on the eastern side of the Hugli river at a distance of fifteen miles above Calcutta. In 1730 the English sent a squadron under the command of Captain Gosfright to blockade the Hugli river. Of the two German ships, anchored between Calcutta and Bānkibāzār, one was captured by the English, but the other escaped to Bānkibāzār. Soon after this, the Dutch and the English combined and by bribing the faujdār of Hugli, succeeded in persuading the Nawāb to prohibit the Ostenders "from trading to Bengal". A body of troops, sent against them by the faujdār of Hugli under the command of an officer named Mir Ja'far, besieged their factory and chastised them. It is stated in the letter from the Council in Calcutta to the Court of Directors, dated the 16th January, 1733, that the English "agreed with the Dutch to send a sloop each to give notice to the Guard-ships in case of any Ostender's arrival". They, "in conjunction with the Dutch", then paid two lacs of rupees to the Nawāb for his "connivance at their taking the Ostend Ships". The expedition against the Ostenders cost the English Rs. 14,212.

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Stewart writes that the factory of the Ostend Company was now levelled to the ground and its last ships left Bengal in 1733. But a close study of some contemporary records of the English East India Company clearly shows that the Ostenders still traded in Bengal in their 'licensed ships' and the English remained jealous of them. Thus the Council in Calcutta wrote to the Court of Directors on the 26th December, 1733: "Shall prevent any Dealings being carryed on with them (Ostenders) or other new traders by those under their protection"; in May 1734 the Dutch and the English had a conference "to consider about Mr. Schonemil's hoisting the imperial Flag at the Ostend Factory". It was in 1744 A. D. that Alivardi, "on some contempt of his authority, attacked and drove the factors of the Ostend Company out" of the Hugli river.

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Though the Dutch and French Companies sometimes co-operated with the English against the other European nations, each of them was the jealous commercial rival of the other two. Both the Dutch and the French "gave great encouragement" to the merchants of Bengal with a view to forestalling the English in procuring investments, and the merchants of the English Company sometimes complained that "they have not so much encouragement as the French and Dutch give theirs". The Council in Calcutta wrote to the Court of Directors on the 26th December, 1733: "Can not but see with much concern the French extending their traffick as they do . . . the great increase of the French private trade makes theirs hardly answer to the Risque (risk) of sending out ships". In 1735, apprehending a war with France, they decided to be "well on their Guard and not to suffer the least affront from the French ships to pass by unresented". But on getting "no further news of a war" they endeavoured "to keep on good terms with them". Their competition, however, became gradually keener than before. The Council in Calcutta informed the Court of Directors on the 29th November, 1735: "Have made some vigorous pushes to defeat the French in their trade to one of the most considerable Ports, who seem resolved to keep up their number of private ships; the French are less burthened with Duties than they and fear in the end will get the better of them". In fact, English investment, particularly in coarse goods, was then "affected by the Dutch and the French".

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The authority of Shujā‘-ud-din’s government was strictly asserted over the European traders in Bengal. The English described him as a “rash and powerful subah,” and did not think it proper to risk an “open rupture with him, which, as the Council in Calcutta apprehended, “will be a great advantage to their neighbours, who would push their trade with the more vigour, and not unlikely underhand assist the Government in order to supplant them, unless the Dutch and French Companys would enter into an agreement to resent all insults offered to either nation”. Very often they had to conciliate the Nawāb by the payment of large sums of money, and their trade was sometimes interrupted by what they described as the “avaricious temper of this Government”. They were also subject to occasional interferences and impositions at the hands of the Nawāb’s officers in different parts of the province. Thus Shujā‘ Quli Khān, an intimate companion of Shujā‘-ud-din since his early days at Burhānpur and subsequently appointed by him faujdār of Hugli, once demanded high duties from the English, the Dutch and the French. On being resisted by the Europeans, he decided to chastise them. He seized some bales of raw silk and cloths belonging to the English, which were, however, recovered by a body of troops sent from Calcutta to Hugli. But the faujdār soon persuaded the Nawāb to believe in the necessity of punishing the English, for which he secured from him a party of soldiers and soon stopped all supplies to the English settlements in Calcutta and at Qāsimbāzār. In this extreme situation the chief of the English factory at Qāsimbāzār was constrained to conciliate the Nawāb by promising him the payment of three lakhs of rupees as nazars. In 1733 the Nawab’s officers at Dacca and Jagdiā proved “very troublesome” to the local English factors and “impeded their affairs”. When in 1735 the faujdār of Balasore became “very insolent”, the Council in Calcutta sent a sergeant and eight men “to maintain the Company’s privileges”. Gradually however, the Council in Calcutta avoided “engaging in dispute with the Government when their privileges were attacked”. They expressed the opinion that “in relation to the impositions of the Government . . . it will be most advisable to submit to the expenses by making presents now and then to the under officers of the Durbar and those that have authority in several other places (to prevent them) from doing them ill offices”.

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Under instructions from the Court of Directors, the Council in Calcutta tried early in 1733 to secure orders from the Delhi Court favourable to their trade in Bengal. But the hasb-ul-hukm granted to them not being “so fully expressed as they would have it”, they sent the draft of another, better suited to their desire, to their vakil at Delhi directing him to obtain imperial consent to it by the payment of the amount demanded for it by the Court. But as the Council in Calcutta observed in November 1735, the Nawāb of Bengal was "too absolute to regard any orders from Court in their Favour". In fact, they had to spend much to get back "the currency of their business" by the beginning of 1735. Even after this the Nawāb demanded in the same year "arrears of rent of their towns", reckoning from the date when it had been paid last to Murshid Quli Ja'far Khān. The Dutch too were asked to pay the same for their settlement at Barānagar. Mr Barker, Chief of the English factory at Qāsimbāzār, informed the Council in Calcutta that the Nawāb was "determined to have the money at all events," and that he apprehended an "open rupture" if the Nawāb was not soon satisfied. The Nawāb's demands were made on the grounds of extension of English private trade and the abuse of their dastaks. He complained that the English were "screening immense quantitys of Merchant' Goods, thereby defrauding the King of his customs". As a matter of fact, the 'misapplication of dastaks' in the private trade of the English was already a growing evil, which could not be stopped fully in spite of some precautionary steps on the part of the Company. The Council in Calcutta itself was opposed to the abolition of private trade. It wrote to the Court of Directors on the 31st December, 1737:— "If with the Dutch the Company allowed no Private trade, their servants must starve, while the Dutch Live Great and Die Rich; if the Private Trade was forbid still the Government would want money sometimes, they annually having something coming from other European Nations and yet do often squeeze them too, they will not see them lade even the Company's ships only without some Acknowledgement, are not to be trusted by agreeing for an annual sum but might increase it. Confining the Dusticks to the Company's Investment would be giving up (never to be recalled though desired) a great article in the Phirmaund."

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The Nawāb did not drop his demand, but passed orders for the prevention of the saltpetre trade of the English at Patna and "stopped a great quantity of goods at Azimganj" (near Murshidābād). The Council in Calcutta thereupon decided on the 26th January, 1736, "to give Mr. Barker etc a discretional power to accommodate matters with the Nawāb," as the Dutch had already done. At last, through the mediation of Hāji Ahmad, the Qāsimbāzār factors were able to satisfy the Nawāb by the payment of 55,000 rupees, and on the 6th July, 1736, they obtained parwanahs for “ the currency of their trade ”. Since then the English remained “ on very good terms ” with Shujā-ud-din.

V. Abwābs

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Shujā-ud-din remitted Rs. 1,25,00,000 a year to the Delhi government¹, and thus the total amount of imperial tribute realised in Bengal and Bihār, during his administration of 11 years 8 months and 13 days, and sent to Delhi amounted to Rs. 14,62,78,538.² He retained the arrangements effected by his predecessor for the collection of revenue through the zamindārs. The ‘ standard assessment remained the same, that is, Rs. 1,42,45,561³. But a further amount of Rs. 19,14,095 was realised by Shujā‘-ud-din through the imposition of *abwābs* or additional imposts, in imitation of an old practice particularly followed by Murshid Quli. These *abwābs* were of four kinds,—(a) *Nazarānā Mokarrari*, that is, “ fixed pecuniary acknowledgements paid by the zamindārs as farmers-general of the King’s revenue virtually for improper remissions, indulgences, favour and protection; forbearance of *hustabood* investigations, or privilege of being freed from the immediate superintendence of *āmils*; but ostensibly and formally to defray the charge of *nazars* sent to court at the two principal yearly Mussalman festivals, and other great ceremonial days, in like manner as the jāgirdārs or holders of assigned territory were, as Mahomedans, with more propriety obliged to contribute their share of the whole demand”; (b) *Zar Māthoot* made up of four component *abwābs* such as *Nazar Pooniah* or presents exacted from the zamindārs by the officers of the Exchequer at the annual settlement . . . *Bahā-i-Khil‘at* or price of the robes bestowed at the same time, on the most considerable landholders, as tokens of yearly investiture in their offices of farmers-general of the King’s rent ”, *Pusta-bandi* “ for upholding the river banks ” in the vicinity of Lālbāgh and the port of Murshidābād, and *Russoom-nazārat* or “ commission of ten annas per mile exacted by the *nazir jamā‘dār* or head peon, on the treasure brought from the Mofussil ”; (c) *Māthoot Filkhānā*, “ a partial contribution . . . to defray the expense of feeding the elephants of both the *nāzim* and *diwān*, kept at Murshidābād, levied for the most part on the interior districts, in exclusion of Rokinpur and those to the frontiers on the east and west"; (d) Faujdārī abwābs or "limited permanent assessments on the land" levied by the faujdārs on the frontier districts.

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¹ Letter to Court, 29th November, 1735, para 71.

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² Grant would make this amount somewhat less, i. e. Rs. 11, 81, 40,388-14-8. Grant’s Analysis in Firminger’s Fifth Report, Vol. II, 209-12.

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³ Minute of Shore, dated 18th June, 1789, respecting the Permanent Settlement of the Lands in the Bengal Provinces in Ibid, p. 7. Abwabs in ibid, ii, 209-212.

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These abwābs were levied in general on the respective zamindārs in proportion to the standard assessment of each of them, but they too were authorised to collect these from their ryots in proportion to their respective quotas of rent. Further, nothing of this additional income was ever sent by Shujā‘-ud-din to the Emperor of Delhi. It is also doubtful if any portion of it was spent for productive purposes. Most probably, the whole amount was consumed to meet the charges of the Nawāb’s luxurious establishments.

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According to some eighteenth century Indian historians, Shujā‘-ud-din’s regime was marked by peace and prosperity. Shore too observed in 1789 that it was "moderate, firm and vigilant, and seems the only part of the whole period (from Murshid Quli to Mir Qāsim), with an exception perhaps of the last years of ‘Alivardi Khān, in which the conduct of the government was in any respect calculated for the improvement of the country".¹ But we have no sufficient data to enable us to determine accurately the immediate effect on the people in general of the impositions, levied on the zamindārs by the Nawābs, and the ‘increased exactions’ of the former from the ryots. These may not have been then felt to be very burdensome, and it may be that, due to the growth of commerce and increased imports of specie, "the resources of the country", as Mr. Shore points out, "were, at that period, adequate to the measure of exaction". But the same writer, who made a minute enquiry into the condition of land-tenures in Bengal for several years, prior to the introduction of the Permanent Settlement, aptly remarked that the "mode of imposition was fundamentally ruinous, both to the ryots and the zamindārs; and the direct tendency of it was, to force the latter into extortions, and all into fraud, concealment and distress". There is no doubt that it set a dangerous precedent, the imitation of which must have in future considerably strained the resources of the people during the second half of the 18th century, when Bengal had to pass through a very unhappy period due to acute economic troubles.

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¹ Shore's Minute, dated 18th June, in Firminger's Fifth Report, II, 9.

VI. Sarfarāz

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Shujā‘-ud-din died on the 13th March, 1739, and his body was interred in his favourite garden at Dāhāpārā. His son, Sarfarāz, entitled ‘Alā-ud-daulah Haidar Jang, soon ascended the masnad of Bengal without any dispute. Acting according to the death-bed instructions of his father, the new subahdār retained the old officers, like Hājī Ahmad, the chief dīwān, Rāy-i-rāyān Ālamchānd, dīwān of the Khālsā, and some others, in the important departments of his government. But he had not the capacity needed for keeping them under proper control.

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While observing merely the external formalities of religion, Sarfarāz was a man of low morals, too much addicted to the pleasures of the harem, and so he whiled away most of his hours in the company either of self-seeking and idle theologians or of the 1500 women of his harem. Not to speak of his want of strength of character and administrative genius, he lacked all the essential qualities needed for the ruler of a State and developed a foolish simple-mindedness, unbecoming of the position he held. The administration of the province consequently fell into confusion and disorder. This state of things emboldened the officials as well as the magnates of the province to augment their respective influence even at the cost of the Nawāb, who had ultimately to lose not only his throne but also his life as the price of his inefficiency.¹

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¹ Holwell, Interesting Historical Events, 75-77; Orme's Indostan, ii. 29. Yusuf ‘Ali (constantly present with the Nawab during his year of rule.)

Cites (1)