176
1116–1274/1704–1858
Bengal
|
1116/1704 |
Murshid Qulī Khān, Ja‘far Khān ‘Alā’ al-Dawla |
|
1138/1725 |
Shujā‘ Khān, Shujā‘ al-Dawla, Murshid Qulī Khān‘s son-in-law |
|
1151/1739 |
Sarfarāz Khān b. Shujā‘ al-Dawla, ‘Alā’ al-Dawla |
|
1153/1740 |
‘Alīwirdī Khān, Mīrzā Muḥammad ‘Alī Mahābat Jang Hāshim al-Dawla |
|
1169/1756 |
Mīrzā Maḥmūd b. Zayn al-Dīn Aḥmad, Sirāj al-Dawla, grandson of ‘Alīwirdī Khān |
|
1170/1757 |
Mīr Ja‘far Muḥammad Khān b. Sayyid Aḥmad Najafī, Hāshim al-Dawla, nephew by marriage of ‘Alīwirdī Khān, first reign |
|
1174/1760 |
Mīr Qāsim ‘Alī, son-in-law of Mīr Ja‘far, d. 1191/1777 |
|
1177–8/1763–5 |
Mīr Ja‘far ‘Alī, second reign |
|
1178/1765 |
Incorporation of Bengal into British India; continuation of the line of Nawwabs in Murshidābād as local figures until the present day |
The Nawwāb-Nāẓims of Bengal arose, like the Niẓāms of Hyderabad (see below, no. 178) and the Nawwāb-Viziers of Oudh (see below, no. 177), out of the Mughal empire, and, until Britain formally took over Bengal (see below), ruled theoretically as governors for the Emperors in Delhi. Murshid Qulī Khān became dīwān or governor for Bengal under Awrangzīb, making his capital at Makhsūsābād in West Bengal, which was now named after him Murshidābād; and his descendants, Shī‘ī like himself, held on to the governorship of Bengal with the title Nawwāb. They managed to repel several Marāt́hā raids and incursions, but lost Orissa to them.
The middle years of the eighteenth century were, however, the time of transition from the East India Company‘s trading posts in Bengal to the acquisition of actual territory there. At the Battle of Plassey in 1170/1757, Clive defeated Sirāj al-Dawla and placed his own candidate, Mīr Ja‘far, on the throne of Bengal. A final attempt by Mīr Qaṣim and his allies, the Mughal Emperor Shāh ‘Ālam II and the Nawwāb-Vizier of Oudh Shujā‘ al-Dawla, to overthrow British power failed at the Battle of Buxar (Baksar) in 1178/1764. After the battle, Shāh ‘Ālam was compelled to make a formal grant of the revenues of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the British, and there was then constituted out of them a Presidency with supreme powers of superintendence over the other two Presidencies of British India, Bombay and Madras. Mīr Ja‘far’s son Mahābat Jang Najm al-Dawla and his descendants accordingly ruled only as petty local chiefs at Murshidābād in British Bengal. They became pensioners, first of the British Government of India, and then, after Partition, of the Government of the Indian Union.
Zambaur, 301.
Purna Ch. Majumdar, The Musnud of Murshidabad (1704–1904). A Synopsis of the History of Murshidabad for the Last Two Centuries, Murshidabad 1905, with a genealogical table at p. 13 and a list of the rulers, including the post-1178/1765 Nawwābs, 13–20.
R. C. Majumdar (ed.), The History and Culture of the Indian People. VIII. The Maratha Supremacy, ch. 10.
idem (ed.), IX. British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Part I, Bombay 1963, ch. 4 E.6.
P. J. Marshall, The New Cambridge History of India. II. 2. Bengal the British Bridgehead. Eastern India 1740–1828, Cambridge 1987.