The common story we read in school history textbooks is that Siraj ud-doula was betrayed by Mir Jaffer enabling the British to defeat the former at the battle of Plassey. This usually is taken to be start of British rule in India. But, as is usually the case with history, the truth seems a bit more complicated than is depicted in school books.
The seeds of destruction of the Mughal dynasty were laid during Aurangzeb's reign and after his death, the empire disintegrated rapidly. Succession disputes and devastating Maratha raids led to several Mughal regional governors behaving as if they were independent rulers. They still used the name of the Mughal state, and the name of the Emperor to invoke authority, but in practice they began to feel more and more independent.
The one partial exception to this pattern was Bengal, where the Governor, Murshid Quli Khan, remained fiercely loyal to the Emperor, and continued annually to send bounty to Delhi. By the 1720s, Bengal was providing most of the revenues of the central government, and to maintain the flow of funds, Murshid Quli Khan used increasingly harsh methods to collect axes. As the country grew increasingly anarchic, Murshid Quli Khan found innovative ways to get the annual tribute to Delhi since the roads were now not safe enough to transport bullion.
Instead, he used the credit networks of a family of Marwari Oswal Jain financiers called the Jagat Seths, the Bankers of the World. They exercised influence and power that were second only to the Governor himself, and they soon came to achieve a reputation akin to that of the Rothschilds. East India Company (EIC) officials realised that the Jagat Seths were their natural allies and that their interests in most matters coincided. They also took liberal advantage of the Jagat Seths’ credit facilities. This access of EIC to streams of Indian finance would have a big influence on subsequent events.
In 1740, Aliverdi Khan came to the throne in Bengal in a military coup financed and masterminded by the Jagat Seth bankers, who now controlled the finances of Bengal. The Jagat Seths could make or break anyone in Bengal, including the ruler. Aliverdi proved to be a popular, cultured and capable ruler. His bravery, persistence and military genius kept the Maratha invasions at bay, something few other Mughal generals had ever succeeded in doing.
Aliverdi Khan created a strong and stable political, economic and political centre in Murshidabad. Under his rule, Bengal was a rare island of calm and prosperity amid the anarchy of Mughal decline. Bengalis came to remember the last years of Aliverdi Khan as a golden age. There was only one cloud on the horizon: Aliverdi Khan’s grandson and heir apparent, Siraj ud-Daula. William Dalrymple writes in The Anarchy:
Not one of the many sources for the period – Persian, Bengali, Mughal, French, Dutch or English – has a good word to say about Siraj: according to Jean Law, who was his political ally, ‘His reputation was the worst imaginable.’ The most damning portrait of him, however, was painted by his own cousin, Ghulam Hussain Khan, who had been part of his staff and was profoundly shocked by the man he depicts as a serial bisexual rapist and psychopath: ‘His character was a mix of ignorance and profligacy,’ he wrote.
Siraj was known for all kinds of debauchery and for his revolting cruelty. An example was that when women were bathing in the Ganges, he would send his henchmen in small boats to carry them off. Sometimes, he would intentionally ram the ferry boats to jolt them, or make them spring a leak, in order to experience the cruel pleasure of frightening a hundred or more people. He had no real talent for government, ruling only by inspiring fear. He was by nature rash, but lacking in courage, was stubborn and irresolute, quick to take offense, was treacherous at heart, without faith or trust in anyone.
The nobles and commanders, who had served Alivardi loyally, had conceived a dislike to the prince because of his levity, his harsh language and the hardness of his heart. His most serious error was to alienate the great bankers of Bengal, the Jagat Seths. Anyone who wanted to operate in the region did well to cultivate their favour; but Siraj did the opposite. Jagat Seth was often used with slight and derision, and Siraj had mortally affronted him by sometimes threatening him with circumcision. The Jagat Seth was in his heart totally alienated and lost to Siraj’s regime.
