Nawab of Bengal
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Gangaridai Kingdom, Vanga Kingdom, Pundra Kingdom, Suhma Kingdom, Anga Kingdom, Harikela Kingdom |
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Pala Empire, Sena Empire |
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Sultanate of Bengal, Deva Kingdom Bakhtiyar Khilji, Raja Ganesha |
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Pratap Aditya, Raja Sitaram Ray Nawab of Bengal, Baro-Bhuyans |
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Zamindari system, Bengal famine of 1770 |
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Bengal Renaissance Brahmo Samaj Swami Vivekananda, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose |
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1947 Partition of Bengal, Bangladesh Liberation War Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Jyoti Basu |
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The Nawabs of Bengal were the hereditary nazims or subadars (provincial governors) of the subah (province) of Bengal during the Mughal rule and the de-facto rulers of the province.
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[edit] History
From 1717 until 1880, three successive Islamic dynasties — the Nasiri, Afshar and Najafi — ruled Bengal:
The first dynasty, the Nasiri, ruled from 1717 until 1740. The founder of the Nasiri, Murshid Quli Jafar Khan, was born a poor Deccani Oriya Brahmin before being sold into slavery and bought by one Haji Shafi Isfahani, a Persian merchant from Isfahan who converted him to Islam. He entered the service of the Emperor Aurangzeb and rose through the ranks before becoming Nazim of Bengal in 1717, a post he held until his death in 1727. He in turn was succeeded by his grandson and son-in law until his grandson was killed in battle and succeeded by Alivardi Khan of the Afshar Dynasty in 1740.
The second dynasty, the Afshar, ruled from 1740 to 1757. They were succeeded by the third and final dynasty to rule Bengal, the Najafi, when Siraj Ud Daula, the last of the Afshar rulers was killed at the Battle of Plassey in 1757.
[edit] Under the Mughals
Bengal subah was one of the wealthiest parts of the Mughal empire. As the Mughal empire began to decline, the Nawabs grew in power, although nominally sub-ordinate to the Mughal emperor. They wielded great power in their own right and ruled the subah as independent rulers for all practical purposes by the 1600s.
[edit] Under the Marathas
Marathas undertook six expeditions in Bengal from 1741-1748. Maratha general Raghunathrao was able to annex Orissa to his kingdom permanently as he successfully exploited the chaotic conditions prevailing in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa after the death of their Governor Murshid Quli Khan in 1727. Constantly harassed by the Bhonsles, Orissa or Katak, Bengal and parts of Bihar were economically ruined. Alivardi Khan, Nawab of Bengal made peace with Raghuji in 1751 ceding in perpetuity Katak up to the river Suvarnarekha, and agreeing to pay Rs. 12 lacs annually in lieu of the Chauth of Bengal and Bihar..[1]
The treaty includes 20 lacs as chauth for Bengal (includes both west Bengal and Bangladesh) and 12 lacs for Bihar(including Jharkhand) after this Maratha promised never to cross the Boundary of Nawab of Bengal territory.[2] Baji Rao thus is hailed as the greatest Maratha chief after Shivaji because of his success in subjecting Muslim rulers of east India in states such as Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the Maratha rule.[3]
[edit] Under British Rule
After the Nawab Siraj Ud Daulah (the last independent ruler of Bengal) was defeated by the British forces of Sir Robert Clive at Palashi in 1757, the Nawabs became puppet rulers dependent on the British. The Nawab who replaced Siraj-ud-daula was Mir Jafar. He was personally led to the throne by Robert Clive after triumph of the British in battle. He briefly tried to re-assert his power by allying with the Dutch, but this plan was ended by the Battle of Chinsurah. After the grant of the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa by the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II to the British East India Company in 1765 and the appointment of Hastings by the East India Company as their first Governor General of Bengal in 1771, the Nawabs were deprived of any real power, and finally in 1793, when the nizamat (governorship) was also taken away from them, they remained as the mere pensioners of the British East India Company. In 1880, Mansur Ali Khan, the last Nawab of Bengal was forced to relinquish his title. His son, Nawab Sayyid Hassan Ali Mirza Khan Bahadur, who succeeded him, was given the lesser title of Nawab of Murshidabad by the British. Hassan's descendants continued the title until 1969 when the last Nawab of the dynasty died; since then the title has been in dispute.
[edit] The Nawabs of Bengal (1717-1880)
| Lineage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nawab | Reign | ||||
| Nasiri dynasty | 1717–1740 | ||||
| Murshid Quli Jafar Khan | 1717–1727 | ||||
| Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan | 1727–1739 | ||||
| Sarfaraz Khan | 1739–1740 | ||||
| Afshar dynasty | 1740–1757 | ||||
| Alivardi Khan | 1740–1756 | ||||
| Siraj-ud-Daula | 1756–1757 | ||||
| Najafi dynasty | 1757–1880 | ||||
| Mir Jafar Ali Khan | 1757–1760 | ||||
| Mir Qasim | 1760–1763 | ||||
| Mir Jafar Ali Khan | 1763–1765 | ||||
| Najimuddin Ali Khan | 1765–1766 | ||||
| Najabut Ali Khan | 1766–1770 | ||||
| Ashraf Ali Khan | 1770–1770 | ||||
| Mubaraq Ali Khan | 1770–1793 | ||||
| Baber Ali Khan | 1793–1810 | ||||
| Zainul Abedin Ali Khan | 1810–1821 | ||||
| Ahmad Ali Khan | 1821–1824 | ||||
| Mubarak Ali Khan II | 1824–1838 | ||||
| Mansur Ali Khan | 1838–1880 (abdicated) | ||||
[edit] Nawabs of Murshidabad (Najafi) 1880-1969
| Lineage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nawab | Reign | ||||
| Nawab Sayyid Hassan Ali Mirza Khan Bahadur | 1880–1906 | ||||
| Nawab Sayyid Wasif Ali Mirza Khan | 1906–1959 | ||||
| Nawab Sayyid Waris Ali Mirza Khan Bahadur | 1959–1969 | ||||
[edit] References
- ^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=1BY9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA555&dq=MARATHA+INVASION+ON+BENGAL&hl=en&ei=nsRITuGPHMvjrAeRvulY&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=MARATHA%20INVASION%20ON%20BENGAL&f=false
- ^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=gKOqA9lgtbwC&pg=PA64&dq=MARATHA+chauth+from+bihar&hl=en&ei=qMdITqPwJcP4rQePn5HYCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=MARATHA%20chauth%20from%20bihar&f=false
- ^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=aHcfv6zkJgQC&pg=PA21&dq=MARATHA+raids+in+bihar&hl=en&ei=FcpITubrJ4XtrQedwrTXAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=MARATHA%20raids%20in%20bihar&f=false
