The History of Bengal (Part 11): The Nawabs of Bengal & the Catastrophe of Plassey — Murshid Quli to June 23, 1757

On June 23, 1757, in a rain-soaked mango grove beside the Bhagirathi River at Plassey (Palashi), the sovereignty of Bengal was extinguished through treason, deceit, and imperial conspiracy. Under Nawab Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi Khan, Bengal had flourished as an autonomous principality, warding off devastating Maratha invasions. Yet when the patriotic twenty-three-year-old Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah attempted to rein in the aggressive fortifications and trade abuses of the British East India Company, a treacherous cabal led by his commander-in-chief Mir Jafar and the powerful banking house of Jagat Seth conspired with Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive. The resulting betrayal at Plassey marked the sunset of native independence and the dawn of two centuries of British colonial subjugation.

1. The Autonomous Nawabs: Murshid Quli and Alivardi Khan

Following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire rapidly fragmented. In Bengal, the brilliant financial administrator Murshid Quli Khan consolidated both the executive (*Subahdari*) and revenue (*Diwani*) authorities in his own hands. In 1717, he shifted the provincial capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad, establishing de facto independence while sending an annual tribute to Delhi. He instituted the efficient Malguzari land revenue system, stabilizing the treasury and fostering domestic commerce.

After dynastic struggles, Nawab Alivardi Khan seized power in 1740. Alivardi’s sixteen-year reign was defined by relentless military struggle against the devastating Maratha Bargi raids (1741–1751). Led by Raghuji Bhonsle, thousands of light Maratha cavalry swept annually into western Bengal, burning villages, plundering granaries, and massacring civilians (immortalized in the Bengali lullaby: “Chhele ghumalo, pada judalo, bargi elo deshe…”). Alivardi fought back with tenacity, eventually ceding Orissa and agreeing to pay an annual tribute (*Chauth*) to protect Bengal’s heartland.

Critically, Alivardi Khan kept the burgeoning European trading companies under strict surveillance, famously comparing Europeans to bees: “They produce honey if left undisturbed, but sting you to death if you stir their hive.”

2. Accession of Siraj-ud-Daulah and Conflict with the British

In April 1756, Alivardi died, bequeathing his throne to his beloved twenty-three-year-old grandson, Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah. Siraj faced immediate encirclement by internal rivals, including his aunt Ghaseti Begum and his cousin Shaukat Jung of Purnia. Concurrently, the British East India Company began treating the young Nawab with overt insolence:

• Illegal Fortifications: In anticipation of war with France, the British illegally expanded the defensive battlements and artillery of Fort William in Calcutta without the Nawab’s permission.
• Abuse of Dastaks: Company servants abused the imperial duty-free trade permits (*Dastaks*) to run private contraband trade, cheating the state treasury of vast customs revenues.
• Sheltering Embezzlers: The British refused to extradite Krishna Das, son of royal governor Rajballabh, who had fled to Calcutta after embezzling immense fortunes from Dhaka’s treasury.

Determined to assert sovereign authority, Siraj marched on Calcutta in June 1756, capturing Fort William and expelling the Company. British propagandist J. Z. Holwell subsequently fabricated the infamous sensationalist account of the “Black Hole of Calcutta”, falsely alleging that 123 of 146 British prisoners suffocated in an eighteen-foot cell—a wartime myth thoroughly debunked by modern historians to justify imperial vengeance.

3. The Clive-Mir Jafar Conspiracy

In late 1756, an imperial retaliatory fleet commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive and Admiral Charles Watson arrived from Madras. Clive recaptured Calcutta and seized the French outpost at Chandannagar. Realizing that Siraj could not be defeated in open battle against Bengal’s army of 50,000 men, Clive engaged in clandestine diplomatic treason.

Clive formed a secret pact with the disaffected oligarchs of Murshidabad: Mir Jafar Ali Khan (the Nawab’s chief military commander), Jagat Seth Mahtab Rai (the billionaire financier whose banking empire controlled the subah’s money supply), Rai Durlabh, and the wealthy merchant Omichund (Amir Chand). Under the secret treaty signed on June 5, 1757, Mir Jafar agreed to betray the Nawab on the battlefield in exchange for the British placing him upon the throne as a puppet ruler, alongside astronomical financial reparations to the Company and personal fortunes for Clive.

4. The Fateful Battle of Plassey (June 23, 1757)

The two armies confronted each other on the morning of June 23, 1757, in the mango grove of Lakshmanbagh at Plassey, thirty miles south of Murshidabad. Siraj-ud-Daulah commanded 35,000 infantry, 15,000 cavalry, and 53 field cannons directed by French artillerymen under St. Frais. Clive commanded just 950 European soldiers, 2,100 Indian sepoys, and 10 light field guns.

The battle commenced with heavy reciprocal cannon fire. The Nawab’s loyal generals, Mir Madan and Mohan Lal, launched a ferocious attack, driving Clive’s troops into retreat behind the mango trees. But at noon, disaster struck: a sudden tropical torrential monsoon downpour drenched the battlefield. The British covered their gunpowder and cartridges with waterproof tarpaulins; the Nawab’s forces neglected to do so.

Assuming the British artillery was equally disabled, Mir Madan led a gallant cavalry charge, only to be struck down and mortally wounded by British grapeshot. Devastated by the death of his loyal general, Siraj summoned Mir Jafar, placed his royal turban at his commander’s feet, and pleaded for his loyalty to Bengal:

“Clasping his hands before Mir Jafar, the young Nawab exclaimed: ‘I lay my turban and my honor at your feet. You are the companion of my grandfather Alivardi Khan; it is your duty to defend the throne!’ Mir Jafar swore upon the Holy Quran to fight, but immediately sent a secret messenger to Clive, advising him to attack, while counseling the Nawab to recall his advancing troops and suspend the battle.”
— Ghulam Husain Salim, Riyaz-us-Salatin (1788)

The moment Mohan Lal’s advancing vanguard received the order to retreat, panic and confusion rippled through the ranks. Mir Jafar and Rai Durlabh stood motionless with their 40,000 troops, refusing to fire a single musket. Clive launched a general assault against the disorganized, retreating soldiers. Seeing that his army had dissolved into chaos and realizing he had been betrayed, Siraj fled to Murshidabad to raise fresh levies.

Captured days later near Rajmahal, Siraj-ud-Daulah was brought to Murshidabad and brutally assassinated on the night of July 2, 1757, by Muhammadi Beg on the orders of Mir Jafar’s son, Miran. His mutilated body was paraded through the streets on an elephant. With Siraj’s death, the sovereignty of Bengal was extinguished, inaugurating the plunder of the subcontinent by the British East India Company.

Shakil Mahmud Shazal

Senior Software Engineer based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Building scalable web architectures and writing at the intersection of computer science, physical systems, history, and ideas.