Hearing that the Marathas had attacked Murshidabad, the Nawab too arrived at his capital behind them the next day on 7 May 1742. Since the Bhagirathi was in a flood, Pant could not chase him. This way, Pant’s enterprise was wholly successful due to Mir Habib’s help and he set up a permanent camp at Khatwa. From here, he brought under his control the whole region up to the Bhagirathi (Ganga) in West Bengal, i.e. from Raajmahal up to Burdwan, Medinipur, and Jaleshwar. He set up his outposts at various places there and secured the country. All the big renowned people went east of the Bhagirathi and stayed there. Marathas captured a harbour named Baleshwar in Odisha. Due to this, the Nawab lost all his possessions to the west of the river. The region around Burdwan and Khatwa became devoid of people and terrifying.
Here, the Maratha camps became semi-permanent in nature, and all of Bengal west of Hooghly was occupied by them. Dainhat and Khatwa became their chief places from where the Marathas crossed over, and at the former place Bhaskarram built a temple to the Goddess Bhawani on the bank of the Bhagirathi. After Mir Habib’s successful raid on Murshidabad, the Riyaz-us-Salatin says, “Giving Mir Habib a free hand in all affairs, Bhaskar Pandit himself remained at Khatwa, and sent out detachments in all directions for raid and plunder.”
Khatwa became the Maratha headquarters with Mir Habib as their chief advisor. Despite pockets of resistance, in these three months the Marathas had occupied most of Bengal west of the Hooghly along with Odisha. They were next-door neighbours not just of the Nawab, but just across the river, of the British town of Kolkata. At that time, the town of Hooghly was wealthy and famous, and had under it the British, French and Dutch colonies at Kolkata, Chandernagore, and Chinsura respectively. Therefore, to pose a threat to them, upon Mir Habib’s advice, Bhaskarpant captured Hooghly at the beginning of July 1742. There are many contemporary versions of the capture of Hooghly. Salim, in a Persian document, says that Mir Habib had earlier stayed in Hooghly and knew many kinsmen there. Their leader Abul Hasan joined Mir Habib and drew many of the Mughals to his side. Then with 2000 men, Mir Habib, with the minister Sheshrao, advanced to Hooghly and at midnight arrived at the gate of the fort. The deputy Faujdar was under the influence of liquor and ordered the opening of the gate to admit Mir Habib. The next morning Sheshrao with his cavalry entered and took charge of the fort. He issued proclamation of peace and security and forbade the Marathas from looting or sacking the town. Sheshrao, who once served Chanda Saheb and had joined the Marathas after the fall of Tiruchirappalli, was appointed the new Maratha Governor and he appointed officers for the civil administration including Qazis and Muhtasibs.
During the monsoon months of 1742, Mir Habib spread out over a large area and plundered villages and towns over Bengal and Odisha. Of these, the attack on Bishnupur is interesting. It is said that at Bishnupur, they were repelled by a local force that ‘obtained divine help’. An eighteenth-century Bengali text named ‘Madana-Mohana-Bandana’ by Jayakrishnadas gives us the popular story. “The king was asked by the people to protect the town from the Bargi invasion. The king answered, ‘I have not the power to do this. But Madanamohana will drive them off.’ The temple of Krishna in the town had the deity, and the king, in his extremis, placed his faith in the Lord. The Maratha troops led by Bhaskarram crossed four hill-passes and reached the Yuja (Yuddha) ghat and the king began to tremble at the news. He summoned all the ‘kirtankars’ who sang in praise of the Lord and cried, ‘Protect us O’ Manamohana’. Then, the story continues, the Lord himself put on his battle-dress and went forth through the Sakhari-bazar there, Bhaskarram saw his form like a mountain, the true form of Yama. As the Lord dismounted and taking a match in his hand put it to the cannon, the Bargis fled. The king heard of this victory and danced all the way to the temple. When he looked at the Lord, he saw ‘sweat dripping from the body of Madanamohana. There was gunpowder on his hands, and the dust of battle was on his feet.’”
The story is buttressed by the presence of a large cannon named ‘Dal Madal’ in a small garden in Bishnupur today, with an inscription that says: “This cannon of wrought iron popularly known as Dal Madal, was probably the largest cannon manufactured by the Malla kings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. the cannon is 3.8 metres long with a muzzle 29.2 centimetres in diameter. As per legend, Lord Madan Mohan, the tutelary deity of the Malla kings was said to have used this cannon against Bhaskarram, the commander of the Maratha invasions.”
This way, five months since May 1742 up to September 1742, Bhaskarpant and Mir Habib wrought a terrible havoc all over the Bengal province. Bengali writers have published many stories relating the so-called terrible atrocities the Marathas committed on the residents of Bengal in this period in some old texts like Maharashtra Puran.
To be continued…
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