At the battle of Plassey in 1757, the forces of the English East India Company were victorious, and they were able to overthrow Siraj-ud-Daulah, who was the Nawab of Bengal at the time. This marked the beginning of British governmental sway over India. The previous conflict between the British and the French in south India had been nothing more than a dress rehearsal. The knowledge gained from the experience was put to good use in Bengal.
The Indian region of Bengal was renowned for its abundance of natural resources and agricultural productivity. Both its manufacturing and commercial sectors were quite advanced. The East India Company and its servants had trading interests in the province that were extremely profitable for them.
The Company had been granted great rights in 1717 by the Mughal emperor in the form of a royal Farman. This Farman had granted the Company the freedom to export and import their commodities in Bengal without paying taxes, as well as the ability to issue passes or dastaks for the movement of such goods. In addition, the Company had been granted the power to issue passes or dastaks for the movement of such goods.
The farman did not apply to the employees of the Company, therefore they were free to engage in commercial activities. They were subject to the same levies as Indian traders were expected to pay. This Farman was a never-ending cause of contention between the Nawabs of Bengal and the Company that ruled Bengal.
To start, it meant that the government of Bengal would be losing money as a result. Second, the Company’s servants took advantage of their ability to issue dastaks for the Company’s commodities in order to avoid paying taxes on their own business dealings.
All of the Nawabs of Bengal, beginning with Murshid Quli Khan and continuing all the way to Alivardi Khan, were opposed to the way the English interpreted the Farman of 1717. They had forced the Company to make one-time payments into their treasury, and they had vigorously put a stop to any improper usage of dastaks. The Company had been obligated to acknowledge the Nawabs’ authority in the matter; yet, its servants had taken advantage of every opportunity to reject and circumvent this authority.
When Siraj-ud-Daulah, a young man with a short temper, succeeded his grandfather, Alivardi Khan, in 1756, things came to a climax. He requested of the English that they conduct business on the same terms as those that were in place under the reign of Murshid Quli Khan. After their triumph over the French in southern India, the English refused to comply with the demand because they felt confident in their position.
Instead of reaching an agreement with the Nawab to pay taxes on their wares, they imposed significant tariffs on Indian wares that entered Calcutta, which was under their jurisdiction at the time. All of this naturally irritated and infuriated the young Nawab, who also had the sneaking suspicion that the Company was unfriendly towards him and was encouraging his competitors for the throne of Bengal.
The breaking point occurred when the Company began to fortify Calcutta in anticipation of the upcoming conflict with the French, who were stationed in Chandernagore at the time. The Company did not ask the Nawab for permission to begin these preparations.
Siraj correctly saw this behaviour as a challenge to the authority he has over his domain. How is it even possible for an independent ruler to provide permission for a private corporation of merchants to construct forts or wage private wars on his territory?
To put it another way, Siraj was happy to allow Europeans to remain in the region in the capacity of traders but not as masters. He issued an order for both the English and the French to destroy the fortifications they had constructed at Calcutta and Chandernagore and to stop fighting with one another.
While the French Company complied with his instruction, the English Company declined to do so because its ambition had been aroused and its self-assurance had been bolstered by its triumphs in the Carnatic. It had come to the conclusion that it would stay in Bengal regardless of the Nawab’s intentions in order to continue trading there on its own terms.
It had quietly accepted restrictions on its trade and power that were imposed in Britain by the British government; its right to trade with the East had been extinguished by the Parliament in 1693 when its Charter was withdrawn; and it had paid enormous bribes to the King, the Parliament, and the politicians of Britain (in just one year, it was required to pay £80,000 in bribes).
In spite of this, the English Company insisted on having the unrestricted ability to conduct business in Bengal without regard to the Nawab of Bengal’s directives. This amounted to an open challenge to the Nawab’s right to rule over his domain. There is no way that a king could ever accept this viewpoint. The great politician Siraj ud-Daulah was able to comprehend the long-term repercussions of the English designs. He made the decision to ensure that they complied with the laws of the land.
Siraj-ud-Daulah seized the English factory at Kasimbazar, marched on to Calcutta, and occupied Fort William on June 20, 1756. His actions were marked by remarkable vigour and initiative, but they were also marked by excessive haste and insufficient preparedness. After that, he left Calcutta to celebrate the easy victory he had just achieved, allowing the English to flee the area with their ships. This was a miscalculation on his part because he had incorrectly judged the power of his adversary.
The English authorities found safety in Fulta, which is located close to the water, thanks to the naval dominance of the English. In this location, they awaited assistance from Madras while also weaving a web of deceit and treachery with the most powerful members of the Nawab’s court.
The most important of these individuals were Mir Jafar, the Mir Bakshi, Manick Chand, the Officer-in-Charge of Calcutta, Amichand, a wealthy trader, Jagat Seth, the most powerful banker in Bengal, and Khadim Khan, who commanded a significant portion of the Nawab’s forces.
Under the command of Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive, a powerful naval and military force was dispatched from Madras. At the beginning of the year 1757, Clive successfully retook control of Calcutta and forced the Nawab to give in to all of the English government’s demands.
The English, on the other hand, were not content; they had great expectations for themselves. They had reached the conclusion that Siraj-ud-Daulah should be replaced with a tool that was more adaptable to their needs. After participating in a plot to put Mir Jafar on the throne of Bengal that was orchestrated by the young Nawab’s adversaries, they presented the young Nawab with a series of demands that were impossible to fulfil. Both sides came to the conclusion that the only way to resolve their conflict was to fight it to the very end.
On June 23, 1757, they engaged in combat on the field of Plassey, which was located approximately 30 km from Murshidabad. The disastrous battle of Plassey was not really a battle in the traditional sense. In the end, the English side suffered casualties totaling 29, while the Nawab side lost about 500 troops.
The majority of the Nawab’s army, which was led by the betrayers Mir Jafar and Rai Durlabh, remained on the sidelines during the conflict. There was only a small detachment of the Nawab’s soldiers that fought fiercely and effectively, and they were led by Mir Madan and Mohan Lai. The Nawab was pursued after being ordered to run, and after being apprehended by Mir Jafar’s son Miran, he was put to death.
The Bengali poet Nabin Chandra Sen described what happened after the battle of Plassey as “a night of eternal gloom for India.” This was the aftermath of the fight. Soon after, the English anointed Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Bengal and sent him on his way to collect the award. The Company was given the uncontested right to engage in free trade in the states of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa.
In addition to this, the zamindari of the twenty-four parganas that are located close to Kolkata was granted to it. In order to make up for the damage caused by the attack on Calcutta, Mir Jafar compensated the Company and the merchants of the city with the sum of Rs 17,700,000. In addition to this, he sent substantial quantities of money to the upper executives of the Company in the form of bribes or “gifts.”
For instance, Clive was given more than two million rupees, and Watts was given more than one million. Clive later claimed that more than 30 million rupees had been collected by the Company and its servants from the puppet Nawab. It was also agreed upon that British merchants and officials would no longer be required to pay taxes on whatever private trade they conducted in the future.
The battle of Plassey was an event of tremendous significance in historical context. It was the incident that prepared the way for the British to eventually take control of all of India, beginning with Bengal. It was a boon to British prestige and, all at once, catapulted them to the position of a significant rival for the Indian empire.
They were able to put together a powerful army and cover the costs of their conquest of the remainder of the country thanks to the abundant profits that Bengal provided. The struggle between the English and the French for control of Bengal was a deciding factor in the outcome. Lastly, the victory at Plassey allowed the Company and its servants to collect unimaginable wealth at the expense of the powerless people of Bengal. This occurred throughout the time that the people of Bengal were under the rule of the Company.
Edward Thompson and G.T. Garrett, both of whom are British historians, have made the following observations:
It was recently discovered that the most lucrative game in the world is to try to engineer a revolution. The minds of the English were consumed by a desire for gold that had not been seen since the mania that had gripped the Spaniards during the time of Cortes and Pizarro. In particular, Bengal was not going to experience peace ever again until it had been completely wiped clean.
Mir Jafar quickly came to regret the deal he had made with the Company, despite the fact that the Company was responsible for his position. His coffers was swiftly depleted as a result of the requests made by the Company’s officers for gifts and bribes, with Clive himself taking the initiative to make these requests.
According to Colonel Malleson, the sole objective of the Company’s officials was “to grasp all they could; to use Mir Jafar as a golden sack into which they could dip their hands at pleasure.” This was the phrase that Colonel Malleson used to describe the goal.
Greed to an unimaginable degree has taken hold of the company itself. The directors of the Company believed that the kamdhenu had been located and that Bengal’s riches was limitless. As a result, they gave the order that Bengal should cover the costs of the Bombay and Madras Presidencies and purchase, using its money, all of the Company’s exports from India.
It was no longer enough for the Company to just engage in commerce with India; instead, it was to utilise its influence over the Nawab of Bengal to strip the province of its wealth.
Soon after, Mir Jafar came to the realisation that it was impossible to complete all of the requirements set forth by the Company and its officials. These officials, in turn, started to criticise the Nawab for his inability to live up to their requirements and expectations.
As a result, in October 1760, they coerced him into abdicating in favour of his son-in-law, Mir Qasim. Mir Qasim, in turn, thanked his patrons by granting the Company the zamindari of the districts of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong. He also gave handsome presents to the high English officials that totaled 29 lakhs of rupees.
Mir Qasim, on the other hand, disproved the English expectations and very quickly became a danger to their position and their plans in Bengal. He was a capable, efficient, and powerful king who was determined to free his country from the influence of outsiders. He came to the conclusion that in order to preserve his independence, he required both a well-stocked treasury and an effective army.
As a result, he endeavoured to maintain public order, boost his income by rooting out corruption in the administration of taxation, and organise a modern, well-disciplined military that was modelled after European military structures. The English had a negative reaction to all of this information.
The Nawab’s attempts to curb the exploitation of the Farman of 1717 by the Company’s servants, who insisted that their commodities, regardless of whether they were headed for export or for internal use, should be exempt from duties, was the thing that they detested the Nawab for the most. Because of this, the Indian traders were harmed because they were had to pay taxes, but foreigners were excused from paying any taxes at all.
India in 1765
Additionally, the servants of the Company unlawfully supplied dastaks, also known as free passes, to loyal Indian merchants. As a result, these merchants were able to avoid paying the internal customs taxes. Because of these abuses, the honest Indian merchants were driven to bankruptcy by the unfair competition, and the Nawab was robbed of a very vital source of revenue. In addition to this, the Company and its servants compelled the Indian authorities and zamindars to offer gifts and bribes to the Company in order to maintain their favour.
They coerced the Indian artists, peasants, and merchants into selling their wares at low prices while forcing them to pay high prices for the things they purchased. People who refused were frequently punished by being lashed or put in jail. A contemporary British historian by the name of Percival Spear referred to these decades as “the period of open and unashamed plunder” in his writings. In point of fact, the affluence that made Bengal famous was in the process of being systematically eradicated.
Mir Qasim came to the realisation that he would never be able to hope to make Bengal powerful or free himself from the yoke of the Company as long as these atrocities persisted. He gave back to his own countrymen a concession that the English had taken by force, and as a result, he took the dramatic step of removing all duties that were imposed on trade within the country. However, the foreign merchants were unable to permit equality between themselves and the natives of the land they traded in.
They urged that duties be re-established for Indian merchants and traders. The fight was set to resume in its previous phase. The fact of the situation was that there could not be two masters in Bengal at the same time because it was impossible. Mir Qasim claimed that he was an autonomous ruler; nevertheless, the English insisted that he serve as a simple instrument in their hands because, after all, they were the ones who had put him in power.
After being beaten in a series of wars in 1763, Mir Qasim escaped to Awadh, where he made an alliance with Shuja-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Awadh, and Shah Alam II, the fugitive Mughal emperor. Together, they were able to destroy the Mughal Empire. On October 22, 1764, the three allies engaged in combat with the army of the Company at Buxar, where they suffered a crushing loss.
This was one of the most important fights in Indian history because it proved the superiority of English arms against the united force of two of the major Indian powers. As a result, it was one of the most decisive conflicts in Indian history. It firmly entrenched British control over Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, and it put Awadh at their mercy as a result.
Clive, who had returned to Bengal in 1765 in his capacity as its Governor, made the decision to seize the opportunity to gain control in Bengal and to gradually shift the authority of administration from the Nawab to the Company. He did this by establishing a series of administrative and legal precedents.
In the year 1763, the British had reinstated Mir Jafar to his position as Nawab and had amassed enormous quantities of money for the Company and its higher officers. They put his second son Nizam-ud-Daulah on the throne after Mir Jafar passed away, and as a gift to themselves, they had him sign a new contract on February 20, 1765.
Under the terms of this contract, the Nawab was required to disband the majority of his army and hand up administrative control of Bengal to a Deputy Subahdar who was to be appointed by the Company and could not be removed from office without the Company’s consent. As a result, the Company was able to seize complete authority over the nizamat, also known as the administration, of Bengal. Once more, the members of the Bengal Council of the Company were able to coerce the new Nawab into handing over close to 15 lakhs of rupees.
The Company was able to get the Diwani, also known as the power to collect income in Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa, from Shah Alam II, who was still the titular emperor of the Mughal Empire at the time. As a result, its dominance over Bengal was made lawful, and it was given command over the income of one of the most opulent provinces in all of India.
In exchange, the Company provided him with a subsidy in the amount of 26 lakhs of rupees and guaranteed that the districts of Kora and Allahabad would be his. For a period of six years, the Emperor of India was effectively held captive by the English inside the fort of Allahabad.
The Company demanded that the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, pay a war indemnity to the Company in the amount of five million rupees. In addition, the Nawab and the Company came to an agreement and signed a pact that stated the Company would support the Nawab in the event of an assault from the outside provided that the Nawab compensated the Company for the services rendered by the soldiers who came to his rescue. The Nawab became completely reliant on the Company as a result of this alliance.
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