Holwell describes the circumstances that led to the demand of Chauth by the Marathas and then goes on to describe the events after Nadir Shah’s invasion, “The Chauth or tribute was continued to be received by the Marathas from the Mughals even long after the revenues of the Deccan provinces had ceased to be paid into the royal treasury at Delhi; for in the year 1740, when the deputies of Shahuraja arrived as usual in Delhi to receive the Chauth, they were told by the Mughal’s ministry that Nadir Shah had lately so exhausted their treasury, that ‘the Badshah was rendered utterly incapable of satisfying their demands, the more especially as the revenues of the Bengal provinces had been withheld from the year 1738 by the rebellion of Aliwardi Khan, who in conjunction with his brother Haji Ahmed, had usurped the Government of that Subedari, they requesting at the same time that the deputies would entreat their master (Shahu), in the Badshah’s name, to send any army of sufficient force to exact the amount of the Chauth that was due to them, and also to take the heads of Aliwardi and his brother and restore the family of Shuja Khan to the Suba; as the distracted state of the Empire put it out of its power to send a force strong enough to reduce the two rebels.”
Whether Mohammedshah ever sent a Firman granting Aliwardi the Suba of Bengal has been questioned by Holwell in his book on ‘Historical Events’ published in 1765, much before the Persian Siyar was written. Holwell continues, “With this answer, and actual powers from the Badshah, the Shahu’s deputies departed for Satara – a fact that fully confutes the assertion of Aliwardi’s having received a Firman, confirming him in the Government.”
Holwell adds how Aliwardi only pretended to receive a Firman, which was actually fake, “Aliwardi sitting in state a whole day to receive the sham Firman, with the usual ceremonials on such occasions; but this is a fare that has been since played in some parts of the province of Bengal, and laughed at, as much as it was then. For the Seths could always cook up a Firman from court whenever it was wanted. That Aliwardi was never confirmed in the Government by a real Firman, is a fact that admits of no doubt.”
To buttress this, Holwell cites an invasion of Bengal against Aliwardi in 1750, which was to be led by Badshah Ahmedshah and Safdarjung the Vazir, “but differences arising between the young Badshah Ahmedshah and Raja Jeet Singh – the Vazir was recalled from this service – his retreat was bought off by Aliwardi, at the price of fifty lakh rupees.”
The sum of Holwell’s assertions is that Mohammedshah, and later his son Ahmedshah, had never quite accepted the usurpation of Bengal by Aliwardi Khan and no Firman had ever been issued to formalise his appointment. It was not dissimilar to the Nizam-ul-Mulk’s assumption of autonomy in Hyderabad with mere lip service to the Badshah at Delhi. It is also not very clear whether Mir Habib’s embassy to Nagpur resulted immediately in a Maratha invasion of Bengal and Odisha, nor whether he accompanied their armies – as we shall see later. However, the Badshah’s admission of weakness and his inability to pay dues to Shahu’s representatives would be cause enough to plan an expedition to Bengal at just such a time. When Raghuji returned to Satara, victorious from the Carnatic campaign, Shahu found Raghuji to be the man who could lead his armies into Bengal, not only to chastise Aliwardi, but also to obtain the tribute directly from the invasion.
There are a few Bengali sources describing the Maratha invasion of the time. They are often peppered heavily with mythological references and not complete. The first, titled ‘Anandamangala’ is a contemporary reference written by Bharatachandra, a Brahmin who was the court poet of a Zamindar patron named Raja Krishna Chandra of Nadia, who was once imprisoned by Aliwardi Khan for not paying him an offering.
Bharatachandra begins by describing Aliwardi’s attack on the temples at Bhubaneshwar in Odisha and describes the deities Shiva and Durga to be angry as a result. Shiva’s attendant Nandi is enraged and decides to destroy the universe. Shiva then appears in his dream and orders him to go to Shahuraja. The poet quotes Lord Shiva telling Nandi, “There is at Satara the King of the Bargis (a term for Maratha horsemen from the Persian ‘Bargir’, meaning a rider with a horse) who is a great devotee of mine. Do thou appear in his dreams and he will come here to subdue the Yavanas. On hearing this Nandi revealed everything to the King of the Bargis in his dream, which enraged him highly. So, Raghuraja sent Bhaskar Pandit to Bengal…”
In the prologue of the same work Bharatachandra writes, “The dream which the Maratha king saw, made him angry, Raghuji Bhosale sent Bhaskar Pandit, and with him an army of men – ugly and fierce, troopers from Maharashtra, Saurashtra and other places, they robbed the people of Bengal and made them beggars, and making bridges of boats crossed the Ganga.”
To be continued…
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