Murshid Quli Jafar Khan is said to have organised the revenue system of Bengal. However, this was not achieved without using force. The powerful Zamindars were tortured and forced to pay their dues. One of the methods used being “tormented with live cats and dragged through ponds of filth.”
In a phrase pregnant with sarcasm, the locals called these ponds ‘Vaikunth’. Zamindars and Rajas were made to stand in court and were prohibited the use of a palanquin.
Murshid Quli had no son, and his daughter Zebunnisa was married to a noble named Shuja-ud-Din, who he appointed as the deputy Governor of Odisha. Shuja-ud-Din, however, was fond of a life of luxury, with a fondness for ‘a variety of women’. A distraught Zebunnisa, therefore, left Shuja, and returned to Murshidabad with her only son Sarfaraz. The young Sarfaraz, from then on, became the ageing Murshid Quli’s favourite and was declared as his successor.
Around this time, two brothers named Mirza Mohammed Ali – the later Aliwardi Khan – and Haji Ahmed reached the court of Shuja-ud-Din at Cuttack seeking employment. Haji Ahmed had just returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca. Their family had once served Aurangzeb’s son Azamshah but had fallen on bad days when their patron was killed in the battle of succession. Shuja-ud-Din employed them in the army and the administration, and the two brothers soon proved their mettle. The former led armies into battle and helped the indolent Shuja in every way. On the other hand, Haji Ahmed’s rise in his master’s eyes was due to his talent in providing for his decadent tastes. Within a few years, Mirza Mohammed and Haji Ahmed had worked their way to become Shuja’s most trusted advisors.
In 1727, Shuja-ud-Din got the news that Murshid Quli Jafar Khan may be terminally ill. Since the Nawab had decided to appoint his grandson Sarfaraz in his place, Shuja began surreptitious moves to win the succession. He sent gifts to Shamsham-ud-Daulah Khan Dauran at Delhi canvassing for his own appointment. He also arranged a Dak by which he would get news about Jafar Khan’s health without delay. Soon, news came that it was but a matter of days before the Nawab died, and Shuja-ud-Din with Mirza Mohammed Ali began with a large army towards Bengal. The place where he received the ‘good’ news of Murshid Quli’s death, he named ‘Mubarak Manzil’. Khan Dauran’s Firman appointing him as the new Nawab followed.
On reaching Murshidabad with the imperial order in hand, Shuja-ud-Din sat on the Musnad and appointed his son Sarfaraz as his deputy. As a reward, Mirza Mohammed Ali was appointed as the Faujdar of Raajmahal district on the border of Bengal and given the title of Aliwardi Khan. at this time, Aliwardi’s half-sister was married to an Arab nobleman named Mir Mohammed Jafar Khan (Mir Jafar), a name that was to gain a prominent place in Indian history.
Meanwhile, Fakhr-ud-Daulah, the then Subedar of Bihar, grew unpopular, and was removed from his post. The Suba of Bihar was merged with Bengal and placed under Shuja-ud-Din. In this manner, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha came under the Subedar at Murshidabad. Shuja’s first instinct was to appoint his son Sarfaraz to Bihar, however, Zebunnisa, his mother, did not want her son to stay away from her. The choice then fell on Aliwardi Khan, his most faithful servant. Zebunnisa insisted on presenting the robes of office to Aliwardi, who came before her palace and was duly appointed the Deputy Governor of Bihar. This was the first independent appointment of Aliwardi, and just a few days earlier his youngest daughter, who was married to his brother Haji Ahmed’s son, gave birth to a grandson. This child was to gain fame in history by the name of Siraj-ud-Daulah.
Aliwardi Khan was punctilious in his duties. He visited Murshidabad every year and remitted the revenues of Bihar to Shuja-ud-Din, as well as to Delhi, making sure he remained in the good books of the Nawab. Over the next six years, he tuned the administration of Bihar and brought errant Zamindars to obey orders. He chastised the Hindu tribe of Chakwars, who levied their own charges on all traders passing their territory, thereby inconveniencing the Europeans in Bengal. Affairs in Bihar seemed to go well until an important Pathan Sardar named Abdul Karim Khan began to assert his own power and independence. Revealing the streak of ruthlessness he displayed in the future years, Aliwardi made an example of Abdul Karim, and had him murdered in open court.
To be continued…
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