The Battle of Plassey, or the Plassey War, was fought at Plassey, near the historical city of Murshidabad. Murshidabad is situated on the southern banks of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River, a tributary of the holy Ganges, in West Bengal state, India. Murshidabad is the district headquarters of Murshidabad district.
Hazarduari Palace, Murshidabad. Photo Source – Wikimedia Commons.
Bhagirathi River divides the Murshidabad district into two almost equal portions. The Eastern tract of land is fertile and part of East Bengal’s alluvial plains. The Western lot is mostly reddish soil areas with nodular limestones.
‘Battle of Plassey’ is closely linked with the history of the Bengal state during the Mughal dynasty and how Murshidabad became its capital.
Murshidabad
In 1704, during the rule of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (reigned 1658–1707), the Diwan of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan, transferred the capital of Bengal from Dhakka (the current capital of Bangladesh) to Murshidabad and named the city after him. Later on, in 1716, Murshid Quli Khan became Murshidabad’s ruler (Nawab).
Battle of Plassey
By the middle of the 18th century, The British East India Company had established its presence in Chennai (Madras), Mumbai (Bombay ), Kolkata (Calcutta), and also in some of the other states and major port cities. To establish their presence further, The British forces under Robert Clive fought with the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-Ud-Daulah, in 1757.
Nawab’s military chief, Mir Jafar, betrayed Nawab and fought with the British to defeat the Nawab. Mir Jafar bribed and forced many of Nawab’s soldiers to turn against the Nawab. Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daulah fled the battlefield and was brutally killed by Mir Jafar’s son, Miran, near the Bihar state border. Mir Jafarthen is considered a significant force in establishing the eventual British domination of the Indian subcontinent.
After the Great Battle of Plassey in 1757 (on the banks of Bhagirathi River, south of Murshidabad), Bengal came under British control, with Mir Jafarthen as Nawab. After a few years, the British shifted the capital of Bengal’s presidency to Calcutta (Kolkata).
Hazarduari Palace, Murshidabad
Hazarduari Palace is the most famous landmark building in the district of Murshidabad. Hazarduari Palace was built in 1837. The Palace gets its name from the number of doors it has. “Hazarduari means ‘Thousand Doors.” (The Palace has 1000 doors, out of which 900 Doors are false doors, interconnecting the rooms.) The Palace was built where the old fort (Kila Nizamat) was once situated. Hazarduari Palace is also known to tourists as “Nizamat Kila” or the “Kila Nizamat”, which consists of the Palace and the surrounding buildings.
Hazarduari Palace, with eight galleries and 114 rooms, is spread over 41 acres of land and is built in Italian style. Murshidabad’s Hazarduari Palace was designed by Bengal Engineers (by General Duncan McLeod) for Murshidabad’s Nawab Najim Humayun Jah.
The building opposite the Palace is Nizamat Imambara, on the banks of the river Bhagirathi (River Hoogly), which is (the biggest Imambara in India, with its basement filled with soil from Mecca). Other buildings include the Murshidabad clock tower, Madiana mosques (the old Madiana Mosque on the old Imambara site and the new Madina Mosque on the new Imambara complex), Chawk Masjid, Shia Complex, etc.
Hazarduari Palace Museum, Murshidabad
Much of the Palace has now been converted into a Museum. The first floor of the three-storied Palace has a memorabilia collection, while the second floor has an extensive collection of books and manuscripts, numbering around 12000 and 3000, respectively.
You will find rare manuscripts, including a copy of the Holy Quran penned by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. There is another copy of the Holy Koran from Haroon-al-Rashid/ Harun-al-Rashid, the Caliph of Baghdad, under whom Baghdad flourished as the most famous center of trade, learning, and culture. (The caliph is usually the head of a sovereign state and is considered a decedent of Prophet Muhammad.) There are other original manuscripts written by the Great Emperor Akbar’s court historian, Abul Fazal.
Emperor Aurangzeb and the Mughal Kingdom
Aurangzeb became the emperor in 1659 after defeating and executing his eldest brother, Dara Shikoh, who became regent in 1658 after his father, Emperor Shah Jahan, fell ill. Even though Arrangazeb (reigned 1658–1707) was ruling most of India (including Murshidabad) and was the wealthiest man in India (after his hard-earned victory over the Diamond-rich Golconda king), he used to write the Quran and make caps to earn personal money. He believed that treasury funds were not for personal use and should be used for his citizens.
It is another story that he had to nearly empty his treasury due to the constant warfare with some of the Great Maratha Emperors (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his sons and successors Chhatrapati Sambhaji and Chhatrapati Rajaram) and also due to rebellion in his Mughal areas. (Details about the Maratha Kingdom are given under a separate sub-heading, a little below.)
Unlike his father, Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal and numerous other Mughal architectural buildings, Aurangzeb made very few elegant buildings. The Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, which is currently the World’s fifth-largest mosque and is believed to be the World’s largest mosque at the time of its construction and for the next 313 years, is one exception to this rule. He also constructed a small marble mosque inside the Red Fort at Delhi, Moti Masjid or Pearl Mosque.
The largest building built by Aurangzeb is The Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangabad, a memorial for his first wife. He also constructed Mosques at Varanasi (Benares) and also at Srinagar. The mosque at Srinagar is the largest in Jammu and Kashmir.
The British East India Company was allowed to set up its factory in India by Emperor Jahangir (Grandfather of Emperor Aurangzeb and son of Emperor Akbar) in 1612. The rule of India by the East India Company (effectively) started after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. It lasted till 1858 when the British crown took over the power following the Great Indian Rebellion of 1857 and deposed the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II 1857, who was exiled to Burma.
After Emperor Aurangzeb’s death, many revolts or power struggles within the family resulted in the weakness of the Mughal dynasty. In 1719 alone, four rulers ascended the Mughal emperor’s throne.
Mughal emperors, in order of their accession to the throne.
The list of Mughal emperors in order of their accession to the throne is as follows: Babur -> Humayun.> Akbar-> Jahangir – Shahryar Mirza (reigned for less than three months) -> Shah Jahan -> Alamgir (Aurangzeb) -> Azam Shah (reigned for less than three months) -> Bahadur Shah I -> Jahandar Shah-> Farrukhsiyar -> Rafi ud-Darajat-> Shah Jahan II-> Muhammad Shah ->Ahmad Shah Bahadur -> Alamgir II -> Shah Jahan III-> Shah Alam II -> Akbar Shah II -> Bahadur Shah II. The above list of emperors is exclusive of the Regents.
Chhatrapati Shivaji and the Maratha Kingdom
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj reigned from 1630 to 1680. He was formally crowned the Chhatrapati or Monarch in 1674 and is credited with establishing the Maratha Empire. His son and successor, Chhatrapati Sambhaji, reigned from 1680 to 1689. Chhatrapati Rajaram reigned from 1689 to 1700 and is the half-brother of Chhatrapati Sambhaji.
Chhatrapati Shahu acceded to the throne in 1708 after he was released by the Mughals in 1707 and is credited with expanding the Maratha Kingdom from present-day Tamilnadu in south India to Peshawar in Pakistan, Bengal, and Andaman and Nicobar islands. Chhatrapati Shahu is the grandson of Chhatrapati Shivaji and the son of Chhatrapati Sambhaji, whom the Mughals killed in 1689. Chhatrapati Shahu was imprisoned for 27 years by Moghal Emperor Aurangzeb when the Mughals captured the Raigad fort, the Maratha capital, in 1689 and fought a war with the Maratha Kings for the next 27 years. Shahu was released in 1707, after Emperor Aurangzeb’s death, by his son, Emperor Azam Shah. Shahu then became the emperor and was titled Chhatrapati Shahu.
Political Pension and Privy Purse to Princes of Princely States
Nawab of Murshidabad, along with some other ex-rulers of India (Princes or their heirs), are still getting the political pension from the Government of India. The political pension differs from the Privy Purse, which was abolished by the 26th Indian Constitutional Amendment Act in 1971. Privy Purse, an annual payment from the consolidated funds of India to the royal families of the erstwhile princely states of India, was compensation for first integrating their princely states with India in 1947 and later merging their princely states in 1949 (which meant the rulers were losing their right to rule the kingdom).
Privy Purse amount was fixed based on several factors like the tax amount collected by the states, the number of gun salutes they were eligible for, the area of the state, the age of the kingdom/dynasty, etc. The Privy Purse amount varied from around 43 lacks rupees to the Nizam of Hyderabad to 192 rupees to the ruler of Katodia.
On the other hand, the British Queen / Kings first granted political pensions to some ex-rulers of Indian princely states, which the Government of India still pays.
Names of some of the other princely states receiving political pensions include Khudadad (legal heirs to Tippu Sultan), Coorg and Kolar in Karnataka, Arcot and Tanjore (in Tamilnadu), Kurnool and Masulipatam which is currently known as Machilipatnam (in Andhra Pradesh), Nagpur, Qudh (Utter Pradesh), Punjab, Assam, Angre, Satara, Surat, etc.
Farakka Barrage
There is a long barrage called “Farakka Barrage,” around 100 kilometers from Murshidabad town, across River Ganges or River Ganga, at Farakka in Nawabganj District of West Bengal. It’s close to the India-Bangladesh border, around 16.5 kilometers from the international border. India completed the Farakka Barrage construction in 1975. Farakka Barrage is 2,240 meters or 7,350 feet in length.
Farakka barrage is used to supply water to Bangladesh. This barrage is the cause of a minor dispute with Bangladesh over the sharing of Ganga River waters.
There is a 40-kilometer-long Feeder Canal to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River from the barrage. The purpose of the feeder canal was to flush the sediments at Kolkotta port, which did not work as planned. (The water flow from the barrage was not adequate to flush the sediments from the river satisfactorily. )
There are 60 small canals connected to the barrage for supplying drinking water to other nearby areas.
Bihar state blames the Farakka barrage for the severe flooding of the state, as the barrage causes excessive silting along the River Ganga or River Ganges.
How Do I Go to Murshidabad, Near the “Battle of Plassey” site?
The “Battle of Plassey” site (Plassey) and Murshidabad city are on the opposite banks of the Bhagirathi river, at around 47 kilometers’ distance. Roads connect Murshidabad city to Kolkata and other parts of India.
Berhampore, at around 12 kilometers’ distance, is the nearest railway station to Murshidabad. “Khagraghat” station is near Murshidabad; it lies on the opposite side of Bhagirathi-Hooghly.
“New Farakka Junction” railway station is another nearby railway station at around 100 kilometers distance with connecting trains to Delhi, Guwahati, Darjeeling, etc. Farakka Barrage, mentioned as a separate subheading above, is near this railway station.
Kolkata is the nearest city with air connectivity, at around 200 kilometers distance.
Accommodation at Murshidabad
There are quite a few decent budget hotels and youth hostels in the Lalbagh area of Murshidabad city. Another option is to head to Berhampore city, at 12 kilometers distance.