Meanwhile the emperor had rebuked the subadar for neglecting to suppress the revolt. It appears that the subadar was asked to recover Rs 39 lakhs, looted by Sobha Singh from Burdwan, from the faujdar Nurulla Khan for his failure to arrest Sobha Singh. The mention of such a specific sum would suggest that the diwan's report against the subadar had gone home, although the diwan was equally alarmed of the seizure of the merchants since their papers might reveal his link with the rebels. The conflict within the Mughal polity at Dhaka had fuelled the revolt and further helped to dislocate the economy.
Such dislocations were caused more by the unrestrained plunder of Afghan mercenaries, whose numbers had swelled to nearly eight thousand horsemen. Sobha Singh had also recruited several thousand infantrymen, possibly bagdis of the villages around. Such an anarchical condition discouraged the merchants and restricted trade and commerce. Radhanagar, noted for its textile production and market, was controlled by the unruly soldiers belonging to Sobha Singh. It is not surprising therefore that the sarrafs had left Hughli and all financial transactions on the Bhagirathi belt were interrupted.
The European companies had begun to take precautions. At Qasimbazar, under the rebels then, the dutch built high walls enclosing their factory, while the rebels wanted the Dutch to pay sixty thousand rupees or deliver their gomostah to them on the ground that the Dutch were indebted to Krishnaram. On the Dutch refusal to pay, Sobha Singh threatened to personally visit their factory at Hughli and to stop their trade. The Dutch paid a few thousand rupees, which did not pacify Sobha Singh. By that time, Sobha Singh had established chowkies on the river between Hughli and Mukhsudabad to collect tolls from the passing boats.
Rebuked by the court, subadar Ibrahim Khan had ordered his son Zabardast Khan to prepare an army. At the same time he had asked the companies to join the King's forces, which they refused, perhaps more out of fear that the rebels would plunder their factories. The subadar gave parwana to the three companies to fortify their factories, which they did with bastions and ditches.
While the merchants were refusing to send goods, the rebel chowkies began to stop European boats on the Bhagirathi. The companies complained to Sobha Singh and the Raja ordered these to be released. By the end of April 1696, Sobha Singh had begun to collect revenue from the land by force and was settling down to rule the country in his name. The boats of the merchants were allowed to pass if they paid duties, which seemed to be quite high in comparison to pre-revolt days.
The character of the rebellion began to change perhaps from the first week of July 1696, when the rebels began to take up a far more aggressive posture in an attempt to expand their operations. But this was largely caused by the sudden accidental death of Sobha Singh.
The historian Salimulla, writing 67 years after the event, narrated the romantic story of Sobha Singh's death caused by stabbing by Krishnaram's daughter, when Sobha Singh tried to molest her. jadunath sarkar believed it in his History of Bengal, but discounted it in favour of the report (Akhbarat) that Prince Azimuddin had killed Sobha Singh in 1698. Both these accounts are found to be inaccurate. The farman of 1734 and the contemporary European documents clearly mention that, excepting a son, who was given back the zamindari later, all family members of Krishnaram were killed. The contemporary French letters of 21 November 1696 and 15 January 1697 clearly mention that while Sobha Singh was regaling with ladies, he died of a fall from a high terrace. The despatch of Prince Azimuddin (Akhbarat) is suspect since the rebels held out till 1703-04 and were finally flushed out by murshid quli khan for which he was rewarded by the emperor. After the death of Sobha Singh, his uncle Maha Singh, and not his brother as ascribed so far, took over the command nominally, while for all practical purposes, it was the Afghan leader, rahim khan, who controlled the movement.
This revolt had far-reaching effects on the economic and political structure of Bengal. The European companies were allowed to fortify their factories, which enabled them to obtain extraterritorial concessions and privileges later. The English accession to three villages in 1698 became the nucleus on which the later capital of British India grew up. The other effect was the propensity of the new subadar and the diwan to collect easy money from the merchants, creating an ethos of coercion by the state apparatus on the mercantile community that was earlier absent. The anarchical condition caused by unrestricted plunder, particularly of urban areas on the bank of the Bhagirathi, created scarcity of liquid cash for a few years. It took the astute diwan Murshid Quli Khan some time to bring order in the dislocated politico-economic structure of Bengal in the early eighteenth century. [Aniruddha Ray] (2nd of 2nd Part).
Such dislocations were caused more by the unrestrained plunder of Afghan mercenaries, whose numbers had swelled to nearly eight thousand horsemen. Sobha Singh had also recruited several thousand infantrymen, possibly bagdis of the villages around. Such an anarchical condition discouraged the merchants and restricted trade and commerce. Radhanagar, noted for its textile production and market, was controlled by the unruly soldiers belonging to Sobha Singh. It is not surprising therefore that the sarrafs had left Hughli and all financial transactions on the Bhagirathi belt were interrupted.
The European companies had begun to take precautions. At Qasimbazar, under the rebels then, the dutch built high walls enclosing their factory, while the rebels wanted the Dutch to pay sixty thousand rupees or deliver their gomostah to them on the ground that the Dutch were indebted to Krishnaram. On the Dutch refusal to pay, Sobha Singh threatened to personally visit their factory at Hughli and to stop their trade. The Dutch paid a few thousand rupees, which did not pacify Sobha Singh. By that time, Sobha Singh had established chowkies on the river between Hughli and Mukhsudabad to collect tolls from the passing boats.
Rebuked by the court, subadar Ibrahim Khan had ordered his son Zabardast Khan to prepare an army. At the same time he had asked the companies to join the King's forces, which they refused, perhaps more out of fear that the rebels would plunder their factories. The subadar gave parwana to the three companies to fortify their factories, which they did with bastions and ditches.
While the merchants were refusing to send goods, the rebel chowkies began to stop European boats on the Bhagirathi. The companies complained to Sobha Singh and the Raja ordered these to be released. By the end of April 1696, Sobha Singh had begun to collect revenue from the land by force and was settling down to rule the country in his name. The boats of the merchants were allowed to pass if they paid duties, which seemed to be quite high in comparison to pre-revolt days.
The character of the rebellion began to change perhaps from the first week of July 1696, when the rebels began to take up a far more aggressive posture in an attempt to expand their operations. But this was largely caused by the sudden accidental death of Sobha Singh.
The historian Salimulla, writing 67 years after the event, narrated the romantic story of Sobha Singh's death caused by stabbing by Krishnaram's daughter, when Sobha Singh tried to molest her. jadunath sarkar believed it in his History of Bengal, but discounted it in favour of the report (Akhbarat) that Prince Azimuddin had killed Sobha Singh in 1698. Both these accounts are found to be inaccurate. The farman of 1734 and the contemporary European documents clearly mention that, excepting a son, who was given back the zamindari later, all family members of Krishnaram were killed. The contemporary French letters of 21 November 1696 and 15 January 1697 clearly mention that while Sobha Singh was regaling with ladies, he died of a fall from a high terrace. The despatch of Prince Azimuddin (Akhbarat) is suspect since the rebels held out till 1703-04 and were finally flushed out by murshid quli khan for which he was rewarded by the emperor. After the death of Sobha Singh, his uncle Maha Singh, and not his brother as ascribed so far, took over the command nominally, while for all practical purposes, it was the Afghan leader, rahim khan, who controlled the movement.
This revolt had far-reaching effects on the economic and political structure of Bengal. The European companies were allowed to fortify their factories, which enabled them to obtain extraterritorial concessions and privileges later. The English accession to three villages in 1698 became the nucleus on which the later capital of British India grew up. The other effect was the propensity of the new subadar and the diwan to collect easy money from the merchants, creating an ethos of coercion by the state apparatus on the mercantile community that was earlier absent. The anarchical condition caused by unrestricted plunder, particularly of urban areas on the bank of the Bhagirathi, created scarcity of liquid cash for a few years. It took the astute diwan Murshid Quli Khan some time to bring order in the dislocated politico-economic structure of Bengal in the early eighteenth century. [Aniruddha Ray] (2nd of 2nd Part).
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