Islamic Background of the History of Bangladesh II ; The Debacle of Plassey

Islamic Background of the History of Bangladesh II ;
The Debacle of Plassey

Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan

The debacle of Plassey brought darkest misfortune to the people of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The defeat of Sirajuddowlah’s army was the result of English intrigue and Mir Jafar’s treachery; but more importantly Nawab Sirajuddowlah’s mishandling of war tactics at the lost moment was more responsible for this mishap.

The army of Siraj outnumbered the English troops by times (35,000 to 8000). Siraj acted in host without collecting accurate information about the activities of the adversary. He did not keep a reserve force to fall back if necessity arises. He did not take the command of the troops as he had successfully done in his earlier campaigns to Calcutta (June 1756) and to Persia (October 1756). Instead he had given chief command to the general of his slain adversary Shawkat Jang of Purnia, to Mir jafer, who had initiated hostility against Siraj by taking the side of his arch - foe, Mohar Ali his aunt Ghaseti Begum, the eldest daughter of Alivardy Khan. One of the most renowned historians of Bengal, Dr. R. C. Majumder comments: - “The battle took place on 23 June 1757 C.E. Only a small part of the Nawab’s army actually took part, while the bulk of the army, under Mir Jafer held aloof. But even the small army of the Nawab bravely advanced against the British and made the position very hot for them. Although Mir Madam, one of the two generals of the Nawab, was killed, the other, Mahan Lal, continued to advance and the situation of the British became precarious. At this juncture Mir Jafer advised the Nawab to stop the fighting for the day; so That, he might engage the English with his whole force the next morning. The Nawab accepted the advice and ordered Mohan Lal retreat. Mohan Lal at first protested and refused to obey the order, but the Nawab persisted and ultimately Mohan Lal turned his back. This was a signal for the advance of the British as well as disorderly retreat of the try force of the Nawab who took part in the fight. The day was lost and the Majumder II, Nawab fled from the battlefield.’’

Prof. Mohar Ali says that the English won the battle “not by bravery but by the treachery of Mir Jafer.” We may further add that at the back of Mir Jafar’s treachery was the long pursued deep laid intrigues of the English Company’s agents and their underhand wire - pulling with the treacherous Marwari Seth Family, which duped of Mohar 674 ff. Sirajuddowlah almost blind - folded.

The combined treachery and intrigues of Mir Jafer Khan and Seth family were not, however, the starting point of the cunning game of treason rather it marked the beginning of the end. In fact, the only and deceptive game of such corporate intrigue and treachery were first latched up by Sirajuddowlah’s grandfather Alivardy Khan in collusion with the ancestral Seth family for the purpose of toppling erstwhile nominee of Murshid Quli khan and also nominee of his successor Shujauddin khan , namely the latter’s son Nawab Moh.Sarfaraj Khan about seventeen years ago.

As we have stated above, on the death of Shujauddin Khan, his son Sarfaraj Khan ascended the Masned of the Subah Bangalah in 1739. Murshid Quli had raised the Marwari Jagat Seth family to the high status of Court dignitary and Shujauddin had given shelter to impoverished Mirja Muhammad and raised his two sons Haji Ahmad and Mirja Muhammad Ali (later Aleverdi khan) to the status of his councillers. Moher 578 Shujauddin had taken into confidence Haji Ahmed, Rai Rayan Alam Chaud and Jagat Seth and formed a sort of a council of triumvirate. In the later part of his rule, he entrusted the entire p. 595 management of affairs to them. On his death bed Shujauddin
“recommended to his son to regard Haji Ahmed , The Rai Rayan Alam Chand and the Jagat Seth Fateh Chand as the representatives of his father and implicitly (to carry on) their advice 589 all affaires of moment .” Sayyid Ghulam Hussain Khan Tabataba’i, the author of Siyar-al-Muta ekhkherin comments that “in obedience to his father’s commands, he entrusted management of affairs to the triumvirate”.

Yet taking the advantage of Sarfaraj’s goodwill and simplicity, the three stalwarts spread a net of conspiracy to topple him and to install Alivardy khan to the Masnad. At one point, they eked out a conspiracy by advising Sarfaraj to send the revenues of Bangalah to the Persian invader Nadir shah at Delhi and when the latter left, they secretly represented to Emperor Muhammad Shah that Sarfaraj Khan was a traitor. They duped him by advising to reduce the size of his large army for saving expenses and when he disbanded half of his army, Haji Ahmad secretly entertained the retrenched soldiers for Alivardy khan and sent them a large sum of twenty - four lacs (24, 00,000) of rupees from himself, his relations and others as advances to be repaid when the 600 Subahdari would be gained. Their ulterior motive and high ambition for grabbing power is thus obvious.

Before long Sarfaraj came to know about their plot and decided to take action against Alivardy Khan and his relatives; but he desisted to do so on solemn protestation of Haji Ahmad, who on his part lost no time to ask Alivardy Khan to march on Bengal from Bihar (where he was Deputy Governor) with all his supporters in full force. Besides, Rai Rayan and Jagat Seth were urged by the Haji to do everything possible for creating dissensions in the ranks of Sarfaraj khan’s supporters. Alivardy marched accompanied by a large and well - equipped army consisting of his Afghan recruits commanded by Mustafa khan and other Afghan leaders, and also a considerable number of Hindu soldiers recruited from Bihar. Some Hindu Zaminders also joined hands and accompanied them with their retinues.