English
Owing to his Begams and children having had no food for some days, Sirnju-d-daulah, whom misfortune was dogging, landed at Rijmahal, went to the house of a fakcer named Dana Shah, who undertook ostensibly to prepare Khichn for him, but who inward¬ ly harboured resentment against the Nawab, owing to previous ill-treatment This fakeer promptly sent news of Siraju-d-daulah’s arrival to Mir DiQd (brother of Mir Jafar), who wns at Eajmahal. Mir Daud and Mir Qasim Khan 374 lie displayed towards the aforesaid Khan (Mir Jafar) flattery and •endearment, and sending the Begam of Mahabat Jang to Mir Jafar opened the gates of apology for his past shortcomings. Mir Jafar did not listen to them, as he had no reliance on Siraju- d-daalah’g assurances and actions. After this, when Sirajn-d- daulah advanced from QJmuahkhali, the aforesaid Khan (Mir Jafar) also marching encamped at a distance of half a farsakk from the army of Siraju-d-daulah. Mir Madan, Superintendent of the Artil¬ lery, told Siraju-d-daulah that the English were coming at the instigation of Mir Muhammad Jafar, and that it, was, therefore, expedient to finish first Mir Muhammad Jafar, and that after the, latter was killed, the English would not have the daring to ap¬ proach this side. In that the arrow of Fate cannot be parried by tle shield of Effort, and in that God’s decree had already been passed another way, To the advice of that wise sage, That light-hearted man (Siraju-d-daulah) was deaf. When next day, Siraju-d-daulah reached Daudpur, tidings came (flon-in-law of Mir Jafar), came and captured Siraju-d-daulah, carried bim to Murahidabad where he wns murdered by Mir Jafar and his son Miran. iroju- d-daulah’s corpse was placed on an elephant and paraded. The flr wind, up its account of this tragic murder of Siraju-d-daulah with the following pathetic lines:— fy) '■>—■ u ** yojlj b j *> t c * ^ jV *■*** o—Jl J*> iSj—Jd *? CT—^ ^ tsj*r —" ^ ^ ^ ThavAlready qoeted the moral which the .other of the rtr.M-lrtrt.f- 7 iToTtirEngliah, Mill’s Britiah India, and Thornton’s British India r; g etd hy Profeseor Bioehm.an in J.A.S., Pi * • V- h c*~i/ t* ia/ 0 ' v* jt* ** .Jf <S) 9 ^ ^ .li Asvjf 375 to the effect that the English had set fire to Katwah. At that time Mohanlal reproached Siraju-d-daulah, and said: “Yon have rained me, and rendered my children orphans. If yon had not removed Mir Mohammad Jafar Khan and Dullab Ram from the Katwah oatpost, things would not have taken this torn.” In short, on the morning following that day, which was 5th Shawal of the 3rd year of the reign of Emperor Alam^ir II, the English army from Palasi (Plassey) on one side, and Siraju-d-daulah from DaBd- pur on the other encountered each other, and opened (he battle with a cannonade. Mir Muhammad Jafar Khan, with his detachment, stood at a distance towards the left from the main army; and although Siraju-d-daulah summoned him to his side, Mir Jafar did not move from his position. In the thick of the fighting, and in the heat of the work of carnage, whilst victory and triumph were visible on the side of the army of Siraju-d-daulah, all of a sudden Mir Madan, commander of the Artillery, fell on being hit with a cannon-ball. At the sight of this, the aspect of Siraju-d- daulah’s army changed, and the artillerymen with the corpse of Mir Madan moved into tents. It was now midday, when the peo¬ ple of the tents fled. As yet Nawab Siraju-d-daulah was busy fighting and slaughtering, when the camp-followers decamping from Daudpur went the other side, and gradually the soldiers also took to their heels. Two houm before sun-set, flight occurred in Siraju-d-daulah’s army, and Siraju-d-daulah also being unable to stand his ground any longer fled. On arrival at Man^urganj, which had been founded by him, he opened the Treasury gates and distributed money to the army. But owing to grave anxie¬ ties, being unable to halt, there, the Nawab abandoning his trea¬ sures and effects, at nightfall, with his wives and children, got into a boat, carrying with himself a lot of precious jewelleries and gold coins, aud sailed towards Purniah and Azhnabad. After Sirajn-d- daulah’s defeat, Mir Muhammad Jafar entered his camp, in the night held a conference with the English Chiefs, and early next morning marched in pursuit of Siraju-d-daulah, and arrived in Murshidabad. Finding the sky propitious towards his views, Mir Jafar entered the citadel, struck up the musio announcing his accession to the masnad of Bengal, issued proclamations of peace and seourity iu the City, and unfurled the standard of $uhahdSri. Mir Jafar theu detailed his son-in-law, Mir Muhammad Qasim with a corps to capture Siraju-d-daulah, and quartered the Ent?- 48 376 ish army at Babniah. 1 Bat Siraju-d-daulah, travelling in the night, had sailed swiftly from below Maldah, and reached Babial. When news reached him that the month of Nazirp&r was unnavi- gahle and boats could not pass by that way, he was obliged to dis¬ embark, and went to the house of Dan Shah Pirzadah, whose house was at that place. Dan Shah who previous to this had suffered some injury at the hands of Siraju-d-daulah, finding the latter in his power, and seeing the times favourable, by giving as- % surances and consolations, detained Sirajn-d-danlah in his house; and ostensibly engaging on preparing food, sent information to Mir Daud Ali Khan, Faujdar of Akbarnagar (Rajmahal), who was brother of Mir Muhammad Jafar Khan. The spies of Daud Ali Khan who were searching for Siraju-d-daulah, fancying it to be a grand victory, swiftly arrived, and capturing Siraju-d-daulah carried bim from the house of Dan Shah 8 to Akbarnagar, from whence the spies of Daud Ali Khan and Mir Muhammad Qasim Khan carried bim in their company to Murshidibad. Mir Muham¬ mad Jafar Khan threw Siraju-d-daulah into prison that day. On the next day, with the advice of the English Chiefs, and on the importunity and insistence of Jagat Set, he slew him, and sus¬ pending the corpse of that victim of oppression to a howdah on an elephant’s back, sent it round the City, and then buried it in Khosli Bagh in the Mausoleum of Nawab Mahabat Jang. After some days, Mir Jafar killed also Mirza Mihdi Ali Khan, the younger brother of Siraju-d-daulah, by stretching him on an instrument of torture, ahd buried his body by the side of his brother’s grave. The Nizamat of Nawab Siraju-d-daulah 8 lasted 0 1 I am not sore if this word is oorreotly printed in the Pers. text. 2 In Seir, Dana Shih. 8 I have noticed in a previous note the prinoipnl measures of Siraju-d- danlah’s administration. The Ibrat-i-Arbab-i-Bafr (p. 26) characterises Siraju-d-daulah as ‘light¬ hearted, unsparing, self-willed, petulant, short-tempered and sharp-tongued.’ The 8eiru-l-Mutakherin fvol. II, p. 621) states in condemnation of Siraju-d- daulah that Siraju-d-daulnh’s ‘ harsh and uncouth utteranoes, his derision and jesting in respect of the officers of his Government caused resentment in their hearts.’ If this be what constituted the head and front of his offending, —if this be what exhausts the catalogue of his sins, then one has to materi- ally modify the generally ourrent view of Siraju-d-daulah. The explanation accounting for the tragio fate of Siraju-d-daulah is, how¬ ever, attempted by the author of the Ibrat-i-Arbab-i-Bafr (p. 32). This author 377 one year and four months, and he was slain at the end of tlie month of Shawal 1170 A.H. -o- NIZAMAT OF SHUJAU-L-MULK JAFAR ALl B2TA.N. When Jafar All Khan ascended 1 the rruunad of the Ni 7. ft mat of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, he set himself to the conciliation of the states, in effect, that Sirajn-d-danlah was a victim of intrigues and misfor- tunes left as a legaoy by his grandfather, All Vardi Khan, who had inaugu¬ rated in Bengal an ora of violent intrigues and dark treachery, by killing his own master, Nawab Sarfaraz Khan (son of AJi Vardi’s benefactor, Nawab Sfenjau-d-din Khan), and who was, therefore, now punished by an Avenging Providence in the person of bis grandson Siriju-d-daulah, whom All Vardi had regarded as dearer than his own life. That Siriju-d-daulah did not bring on the misfortunes on himself by his own incapHcity, is proved by what the 8ei9'u-l.Mutak&erin (Vol. II, p. 633), states, namely, that ‘Siriju-d-daulah had attained the zenith of power and opulence, and that, therefore, a declension was inevitable according to the laws of nature.' This Revolution in the history of Bengal which in effect supplanted Moslem Rule and made the Euglish virtually supreme in this country, may also be viewed in another aspect as a wise Dispensation of Providence for the ulti* mate good of the people. At the time, it is abundantly clear, the people in Bengal were sunk in the abyss of moral debasement, and the cankers of dark ingratitude and treachery, autruthfulness and venality had crept deep into the vitals of their hearts. . Iu the pursuit of the phantoms of individual self- aggrandisement and of personal ambitions, they had taken advantage of the youthfnl failings of their sovereign and of the internecine jealousies that distracted his family, forgotten and forsaken all sentiments of gratitode and honour, and yielded to their instinct of intrigue by fraternising with the Nawab's disloyal relation, Mir Jafar. These, therefore, verily needed a Chaitener—a Moses—to save them from farther moral dissolution ; and bo P rovidence in His inscrutable wisdom sent to them One from across the seas in the person of the English, to scourge the vices of the land, to chasten the people, to purify and re-form them, an$ to once more, if possible, to rescue them from the sea of moral annihilation. 1 See the account iu the Seir (Vol. II, p. 640).