Maratha invasions of Bengal
The Maratha invasions of Bengal (1741-1751),[10][11] also known as the Maratha expeditions in Bengal, refers to the frequent invasions by the Maratha invaders in the Bengal Subah (Bengal, Bihar, parts of modern Orissa), after their successful campaign in the Carnatic region at the Battle of Trichinopoly. The leader of the expedition was Maratha Maharaja Raghoji Bhonsle of Nagpur.[12] The Marathas invaded Bengal five times from August 1741 to May 1751, causing widespread economic losses in the Bengal Subah.[13]
| Maratha invasions of Bengal | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Battles involving the Maratha Empire | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Nawab of Bengal | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Raghoji I Bhaskar Pandit † Janoji Bhonsle Sabaji Bhonsle |
Alivardi Khan Gopal Singha Dev[7] Mir Jafar Chitrasen Rai [8] Rai Durlabh Ghulam Mustafa Khan Ataullah Khan Zainuddin Ahmed Abdus Salam Sheikh Masum Syed Ahmed Khan | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
40,000[3] (in 1742) 12,000[9] (in 1748) |
15,000 Cavalry and 8,000 Musketeers[9] (in 1748) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
Unknown |
400,000 civilians deaths | ||||||||
During their occupation, the Bargi mercenaries of the Marathas perpetrated massacres against the local population. According to one memoir, perhaps close to 400,000 Hindu people in western Bengal and Bihar were killed. Contemporary accounts of the invasions report mass gang rapes of women and children, and mutilation of victims, which included cutting off their hands and noses, by the Marathas. According to the Bengali text Maharashtra Purana, "Durga ordered her followers to be gracious to the Muslim Nawab and oppose the Marathas, because the evil-minded ones had killed Brahmans and Vaisnavas." The Marathas intended to establish their rule in western Bengal by attracting the local Hindu zamindars against the Muslim Nawab, but the atrocities against the Hindu population diminished the possibilities of such an alliance.
The Nawab of Bengal handed over Orissa and agreed to pay Rs. 1.2 million of chauth from the revenue of Bengal and Bihar, and the Marathas agreed not to invade Bengal again.[1][4][14] The Nawab of Bengal also paid Rs. 3.2 million to the Marathas, towards the arrears of chauth for the preceding years.[5] The chauth was paid annually by the Nawab of Bengal up to 1758, until the British occupation of Bengal.[15]
Invasions of Bengal
From 1741 to 1751, the Marathas under Raghuji Bhonsle invaded Bengal six times. The first one in 1741, as also the third in 1744, was led by Raghuji's general Pandit Bhaskar Ram Kolhatkar or Bhaskar Pandit. The second in 1742 and the fourth in 1745 were led by Raghuji himself. The fifth in 1747 and the sixth in 1748 were undertaken by Janoji and Sabaji respectively. These invasions caused heavy destruction in the armies of the Nawab of Bengal. Nawab Alivardi Khan was successful in repelling all the invasions. In 1743 two Maratha Armies invaded - one belonged to Raghuji Bhosle, the other to Balaji Rao. Alivardi Khan was obliged to pay him a subsidy, promising to pay him Chauth tax.[16] The continuous conflict took a heavy toll on the population of Bengal.[3][17]
First invasion (1741)
After the inauguration of Alivardi Khan as the Nawab of Bengal, the provincial governor of Orissa, Lutfullah Tabrizi Rustam Jung, more commonly known as Murshid Quli II, revolted against him. The revolt was crushed by Alivardi in March 1741, but Murshid Quli II escaped with his family and took shelter of Raghuji Bhonsle, the Maratha ruler of Nagpur. Raghuji agreed to assist Murshid Quli II in regaining Orissa. Murshid Quli II's son-in-law Mirza Baker, assisted by Maratha troops and the rebel forces of Orissa (who were dissatisfied with the governor of Orissa), invaded Orissa in August 1741. Orissa's governor, Syed Ahmed Khan (a nephew of Alivardi Khan), was defeated and captured along with his family.[3]
Hearing of this, Alivardi rushed to Orissa and Alivardi's commander Mir Jafar freed Syed Ahmed and his family.[3] Alivardi regained control of Orissa and returned to Murshidabad. The Marathas retook Orissa in 1749.[18]
Bargi atrocities
The Hindu Maratha warriors invaded and occupied western Bengal up to the Hooghly River.[19] During that period of invasion by the Marathas, warriors called as "Bargis", perpetrated atrocities against the local Hindu Bengalis.[19][14] As reported in Burdwan Kingdom's and European sources, the Bargis are said to have plundered villages.[20] The resulting casualties of Bargi onslaught against in Bengal are considered to be among the deadliest massacres in Indian history.[20] According to the 18th-century Bengali text Maharashtra Purana written by Gangaram:[19]
They shouted over and over again, 'Give us money', and when they got no money they filled peoples' nostrils with water, and some they seized and drowned in tanks, and many died of suffocation. In this way they did all manner of foul and evil deeds. When they demanded money and it was not given to them, they would put the man to death. Those who had money gave it, those who had none were killed.
According to the Bengali text Maharashtra Purana:[19]
Durga ordered her followers to be gracious to the Muslim Nawab and oppose the Marathas, because the evil-minded ones had killed Brahmans and Vaisnavas.
The Bargi atrocities were corroborated by contemporary Dutch and British accounts.[14] Jan Kersseboom, chief of the Dutch East India Company factory in Bengal, estimated that perhaps around 400,000 people in Bihar and western Bengal were killed in the raids by the Bargis.[21] This devastated Bengal's economy, as many of the people killed included merchants, textile weavers, silk winders, and mulberry cultivators.[17][21] The Cossimbazar factory reported in 1742, for example, that the Bargis burnt down many houses along with weavers' looms.[21]
British writer Robert Orme reported that the Marathas caused so much distress to the local population that many of them "were continually taking flight" in large numbers to Calcutta whenever they heard rumours of the Marathas coming.[17] Many people in western Bengal also fled to take shelter in East Bengal, fearing for their lives in the wake of the Maratha attacks.[22]
Treaty
In 1751, an agreement was made between Alivardi Khan and the Marathas that gave Bengal protection from more incursions.[16]
The territories beyond the Subarnarekha River were now ceded to the Marathas,[1] according to which, Mir Habib (a former courtier of Alivardi Khan, who had defected to the Marathas) was made provincial governor of Orissa under nominal control of the Nawab of Bengal.[3] It made The Nawab of Bengal a tributary to the Marathas who agreed to pay Rs. 1.2 million annually as the chauth of Bengal and Bihar, and the Marathas agreed not to invade Bengal again.[4] The Nawab of Bengal also paid Rs. 3.2 million to the Marathas, towards the arrears of chauth for the preceding years.[5]
The chauth was paid annually by the Nawab of Bengal up to 1758, until the East India Company seized control of Bengal.[15]
References
- Sengupta, N. (2011). Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib. Penguin Books Limited. p. 156. ISBN 978-81-8475-530-5.
- Nitish K. Sengupta (2011). Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib. pp. 158–163. ISBN 9780143416784.
Alivardi showed exemplary courage and military skill in every frontal battle that took place between his forces and the Marathas, in each of which, almost without exception, he had the upper hand.
- ড. মুহম্মদ আব্দুর রহিম. "মারাঠা আক্রমণ". বাংলাদেশের ইতিহাস. ২৯৩–২৯৯.
- OUM. pp. 16, 17
- Jaswant Lal Mehta (2005). Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813. ISBN 9781932705546.
- Sen, Sailendra Nath (2010). An Advanced History of Modern India. Macmillan India. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-230-32885-3.
In 1751,...promising cession of the province of Orissa...Orissa came under the Bhonsle's control.
- Buddhadev Nandi (19 January 2019). "Bishnupur — when myth transcends history". The Statesman.
- McLane, John R. Land and local kinship in eighteenth-century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 0521410746.
- Jadunath Sarkar, Fall of Mughal Empire Volume 1, Pg.90
- McLane, John R. (2002). Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. p. 166. ISBN 9780521526548.
- Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: F-O. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 516. ISBN 9780313335389.
- SNHM. Vol. II, pp. 209, 224.
- Mahajan, VD (2020). Modern Indian History. S. Chand Limited. p. 42. ISBN 978-93-5283-619-2.
However, the Marathas were the greatest menace to Ali Vardi Khan. There were as many as five Maratha invasions in 1742, 1743, 1744, 1745 and 1748.
- P. J. Marshall (2006). Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740-1828. Cambridge University Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 9780521028226.
- Jadunath Sarkar (1997) [First published 1932]. Fall of the Mughal Empire (4th ed.). ISBN 9788125011491.
- Marshall, P. J. (2 November 2006). Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740-1828. Cambridge University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-521-02822-6.
- P. J. Marshall (2006). Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740-1828. Cambridge University Press. p. 73. ISBN 9780521028226.
- Jadunath Sarkar, Fall of the Mughal Empire Volume 1, Pg. 97
- P. J. Marshall (2006). Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740-1828. Cambridge University Press. p. 72. ISBN 9780521028226.
- C. C. Davies (1957). "Chapter XXIII: Rivalries in India". In J. O. Lindsay (ed.). The New Cambridge Modern History. Vol. VII: The Old Regime 1713–63. Cambridge University Press. p. 555. ISBN 978-0-521-04545-2.
- Kirti N. Chaudhuri (2006) [First published 1978]. The Trading World of Asia and the English East India Company: 1660-1760. Cambridge University Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-521-03159-2.
- Aklam Hussain (1997). History of Bangladesh, 1704-1971. Vol. 2. University of Michigan, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. p. 80. ISBN 9789845123372.