Known for its culture and tolerance, Bengal came into being only when Muslim conquerors subjugated local Hindu rulers, says Chandrashekhar Bhattacharjee
History whispers in my ears while walking down the narrow lane on the east bank of Bhagirathi River. Murshidabad, the city founded by Nawab Murshid Kuli Khan, has more than 30 historic sites. To mention just a few: Asia’s biggest Imambara, the Madina Mosque, Clock Tower and the Hazarduari Palace. The Imambara, known for its grandeur, was built by the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah. The lane by the eastern bank skirts the Imambara and Hazarduari – popularly thought to mean “Palace with a Thousand Doors” – and leads to Wasif Manjil and the Southern Gate. Murshidabad’s glory ended with the British winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757, aided by a traitor. “Had they not won, India’s history could have been different,” claims Reza Ali Mirza, a descendent of Mir Zaafar, Siraj’s Chief of Staff, and accused of that treachery. But Mirza disagrees: “Mir Zaafar was not the traitor. The conspiracy was hatched by East India Company’s Robert Clive, with Mahtab Chand, an extremely rich man titled ‘Jagat Seth’ (richest in the world), top moneylender Amirchand or Umichand, Mohanlal Kashmiri, Hindu zamindar Raidurlabh and Siraj’s cousin Ekram-ud-Doullah. Mir Zaafar had brought up Siraj since he was 13. If he wanted the Nawab’s seat, he could have killed Siraj long ago.”
But history proves otherwise. “Obviously Mir Zaafar joined at a later stage, replacing Mohunlal, who went over to Siraj,” says historian Professor Goutam Neogi. He explained that Muslims as rulers came to these parts in the 13th century, when ‘Bengal’ as such did not exist. There were three regions: Gaur, Rahr and Bangla. “First came the Turks, who conquered us but stayed here to rule and mingle with our society. Later, Arabs and then Moghuls ruled till 1757. With the rulers came their armies, ulemas, some Sufis, cooks, traders, poets, singers and, the bureaucracy. Bengal was subjugated over a span of 200 years, and for the first time, the three regions became one unit called 'Bangla', which became a cultural cauldron. The best instance of that is the birth of a new language, Bangla,” Neogi says.
Bengal had two distinct kinds of Muslim rulers, he stresses: those controlled by Delhi’s rulers and the independent ones. Of the entire 400 odd years of Muslim rule in Bengal, barring the period from Akbar till the near-end of Aurangzeb, the region mostly had independent Muslim rulers. “At least 1,008 members of the Nawab family and their relatives lie at peace at the Zaffargunj Maqbara (graveyard), which thousands still visit,” Neogi says.
Pulakendu Sinha is engaged in the study of folk culture. Sinha says that initially, upper caste Hindus were opposed to the intermingling with Muslims, and at the same time oppressed the lower caste communities. Resultantly, a majority of them converted to Islam. This stirred a cultural fermentation. Thus, Sufis influenced the Baul sect of bards. Muslims started singing traditional Hindu religious songs, the Bolan Gaan. New musical forms like the ‘Murshedi’ and ‘Alkap’ appeared. And the food loving Bangali borrowed liberally from Mughlai cuisine. Lalan Shah is another bright example of Muslim influence in Bengal’s culture. He was born a Hindu, but abandoned by his parents. A Muslim family nursed the little boy, who later conversed to Islam. Lalan initiated a special form of songs against religious and caste divides.
Coming back to Murshidabad, it was grandeur redefined. Even Clive said, “The city looks like London and the people here are richer than those in London.” That wealth was squirreled off to London. Historic documents show how from July 3, 1760, the East India Company started transferring all the Nawab’s wealth, including lakhs of gold coins, pearls, diamonds, gold, and valuable art works from the Nawab’s collection to Kolkata. It took 12 hours to transfer the wealth by boats on Bhagirathi. And Urmi, then a historian at the Nawab’s court, had noted, “The British had never seen such wealth before.”
Returning back laden with nostalgia, at the Bhagirathi Ghat (jetty), I heard a man hollering over a loudspeaker, imploring people to visit Khoshbag, "the final resting place of the last independent Nawab of Bengal". Some feel, however, that he may not deserve too much of tears. Says Ummalwara Rehaman, a prominent women’s activist, “Siraj’s administration was dependent on Jagat Seth’s finance, but the Nawab once slapped him. He also humiliated the British in the Battle of Kolkata. The womaniser Nawab’s administration was packed with traitors. The British, who came as traders, first installed trade houses (kuthis) across the region, then brought in their army, conspired with corrupts power-mongers, purchased top army officers and finally staged a war drama at Plassey to conquer the great land." But is that all? Can we forget the "Murshedi", the blend of Hindu and Muslim cultural ethos? Didn't the boatman on the Bhagirathi sing: Geramer naojowan/Hindu-Musalman ek shathe miliya sari gaan gaitam/Aha, ki sundar din kataitam (Those were glorious days when Hindus and Muslims lived happily and sang songs together in the villages.)
History whispers in my ears while walking down the narrow lane on the east bank of Bhagirathi River. Murshidabad, the city founded by Nawab Murshid Kuli Khan, has more than 30 historic sites. To mention just a few: Asia’s biggest Imambara, the Madina Mosque, Clock Tower and the Hazarduari Palace. The Imambara, known for its grandeur, was built by the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah. The lane by the eastern bank skirts the Imambara and Hazarduari – popularly thought to mean “Palace with a Thousand Doors” – and leads to Wasif Manjil and the Southern Gate. Murshidabad’s glory ended with the British winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757, aided by a traitor. “Had they not won, India’s history could have been different,” claims Reza Ali Mirza, a descendent of Mir Zaafar, Siraj’s Chief of Staff, and accused of that treachery. But Mirza disagrees: “Mir Zaafar was not the traitor. The conspiracy was hatched by East India Company’s Robert Clive, with Mahtab Chand, an extremely rich man titled ‘Jagat Seth’ (richest in the world), top moneylender Amirchand or Umichand, Mohanlal Kashmiri, Hindu zamindar Raidurlabh and Siraj’s cousin Ekram-ud-Doullah. Mir Zaafar had brought up Siraj since he was 13. If he wanted the Nawab’s seat, he could have killed Siraj long ago.”
But history proves otherwise. “Obviously Mir Zaafar joined at a later stage, replacing Mohunlal, who went over to Siraj,” says historian Professor Goutam Neogi. He explained that Muslims as rulers came to these parts in the 13th century, when ‘Bengal’ as such did not exist. There were three regions: Gaur, Rahr and Bangla. “First came the Turks, who conquered us but stayed here to rule and mingle with our society. Later, Arabs and then Moghuls ruled till 1757. With the rulers came their armies, ulemas, some Sufis, cooks, traders, poets, singers and, the bureaucracy. Bengal was subjugated over a span of 200 years, and for the first time, the three regions became one unit called 'Bangla', which became a cultural cauldron. The best instance of that is the birth of a new language, Bangla,” Neogi says.
Bengal had two distinct kinds of Muslim rulers, he stresses: those controlled by Delhi’s rulers and the independent ones. Of the entire 400 odd years of Muslim rule in Bengal, barring the period from Akbar till the near-end of Aurangzeb, the region mostly had independent Muslim rulers. “At least 1,008 members of the Nawab family and their relatives lie at peace at the Zaffargunj Maqbara (graveyard), which thousands still visit,” Neogi says.
Pulakendu Sinha is engaged in the study of folk culture. Sinha says that initially, upper caste Hindus were opposed to the intermingling with Muslims, and at the same time oppressed the lower caste communities. Resultantly, a majority of them converted to Islam. This stirred a cultural fermentation. Thus, Sufis influenced the Baul sect of bards. Muslims started singing traditional Hindu religious songs, the Bolan Gaan. New musical forms like the ‘Murshedi’ and ‘Alkap’ appeared. And the food loving Bangali borrowed liberally from Mughlai cuisine. Lalan Shah is another bright example of Muslim influence in Bengal’s culture. He was born a Hindu, but abandoned by his parents. A Muslim family nursed the little boy, who later conversed to Islam. Lalan initiated a special form of songs against religious and caste divides.
Coming back to Murshidabad, it was grandeur redefined. Even Clive said, “The city looks like London and the people here are richer than those in London.” That wealth was squirreled off to London. Historic documents show how from July 3, 1760, the East India Company started transferring all the Nawab’s wealth, including lakhs of gold coins, pearls, diamonds, gold, and valuable art works from the Nawab’s collection to Kolkata. It took 12 hours to transfer the wealth by boats on Bhagirathi. And Urmi, then a historian at the Nawab’s court, had noted, “The British had never seen such wealth before.”
Returning back laden with nostalgia, at the Bhagirathi Ghat (jetty), I heard a man hollering over a loudspeaker, imploring people to visit Khoshbag, "the final resting place of the last independent Nawab of Bengal". Some feel, however, that he may not deserve too much of tears. Says Ummalwara Rehaman, a prominent women’s activist, “Siraj’s administration was dependent on Jagat Seth’s finance, but the Nawab once slapped him. He also humiliated the British in the Battle of Kolkata. The womaniser Nawab’s administration was packed with traitors. The British, who came as traders, first installed trade houses (kuthis) across the region, then brought in their army, conspired with corrupts power-mongers, purchased top army officers and finally staged a war drama at Plassey to conquer the great land." But is that all? Can we forget the "Murshedi", the blend of Hindu and Muslim cultural ethos? Didn't the boatman on the Bhagirathi sing: Geramer naojowan/Hindu-Musalman ek shathe miliya sari gaan gaitam/Aha, ki sundar din kataitam (Those were glorious days when Hindus and Muslims lived happily and sang songs together in the villages.)
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
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Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
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The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
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IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
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