Bengal Subah

Bengal Subah
Subah-i-Bangalah
مغل بنگال
Province of Mughal Empire

1574–1765
Capital Tanda
(1574-95)
Rajmahal
(1595-1610)
Dhaka/ Jahangir Nagar
(1610–1639)
Rajmahal
(1639-1659)
Dhaka/ Jahangir Nagar
(1660-1703)
Maqsudabad/Murshidabad
(17043–1765)
History
  Established 1574
  Disestablished 1765
Today part of  India
 Bangladesh
Part of a series on the
History of India
History of India
Part of a series on the
History of Bangladesh
History of India

Bengal was a province of the Mughal Empire between the 16th and 18th centuries. On 25 September 1574 Munim Khan, the commander of the Mughal army occupied Tanda, the capital of the last Afghan ruler of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani.[1] It ushered in the Mughal rule in Bengal.[2] In 1713 Murshid Quli Khan became the naib nazim (deputy subahdar) of Bengal. In 1717, he became its subahdar or nazim (governor)[3] and Bengal became completely independent of imperial control. Subsequent to the defeat of the last independent nazim Siraj ud-Daulah in the Battle of Plassey on 23 June 1757 and his death on 2 July 1757, Bengal was brought under the control of the British East India Company. The successors of Siraj ud-Daulah were merely puppets of the East India Company.

Administrative divisions

In the revenue settlement by Todar Mal in 1582, Bengal Subah was divided into 24 sarkars (districts), which included 19 sarkars of Bengal proper and 5 sarkars of Orissa. In 1607, during the reign of Jahangir Orissa became a separate Subah. These 19 sarkars were further divided into 682 parganas.[4] In 1658, subsequent to the revenue settlement by Shah Shuja, 15 new sarkars and 361 new parganas were added. In 1722, Murshid Quli Khan divided the whole Subah into 13 chakalahs, which were further divided into 1660 parganas.

Initially the capital of the Subah was Tanda. On 9 November 1595, the foundations of a new capital were laid at Rajmahal by Man Singh I who renamed it Akbarnagar.[5] In 1610 the capital was shifted from Rajmahal to Dhaka[6] and it was renamed Jahangirnagar. In 1639, Shah Shuja again shifted the capital to Rajmahal. In 1660, Muazzam Khan (Mir Jumla) again shifted the capital to Dhaka. In 1703, Murshid Quli Khan, then diwan (chief revenue officer) of Bengal shifted his office from Dhaka to Maqsudabad and later renamed it Murshidabad.

The sarkars (districts) and the parganas (tehsils) of Bengal Subah were:[4]

Sarkar Pargana
Udamabar (Tanda) 52 parganas
Jannatabad (Lakhnauti) 66 parganas
Fathabad 31 parganas
Mahmudabad 88 parganas
Khalifatabad 35 parganas
Bakla 4 parganas
Purniyah 9 parganas
Tajpur 29 parganas
Ghoraghat 84 parganas
Pinjarah 21 parganas
Barbakabad 38 parganas
Bazuha 32 parganas
Sonargaon 52 parganas
Sylhet 8 parganas
Chittagong 7 parganas
Sharifabad 26 parganas
Sulaimanabad 31 parganas
Satgaon 53 parganas
Mandaran 16 parganas

List of Mughal Subahdars of Bengal (1574 - 1727)

Personal Name[7] Reign
Conquest of Bengal by the Mughal Emperor Akbar
Munim Khan Khan-i-Khanan
منعم خان، خان خاناں
25 September 1574 - 23 October 1575
Hussain Quli Beg Khan Jahan I
حسین قلی بیگ، خان جہاں اول
15 November 1575 - 19 December 1578
Muzaffar Khan Turbati
مظفر خان تربتی
1579 - 1580
Mirza Aziz Koka Khan-e-Azam
میرزا عزیز کوکہ،خان اعظم
1582 - 1583
Shahbaz Khan Kamboh
شھباز خان کمبوہ
1583 - 1585
Sadiq Khan
صادق خان
1585 - 1586
Wazir Khan Tajik
وزیر خان
1586 - 1587
Sa'id Khan
سعید خان
1587 - 1594
Raja Man Singh I
راجہ مان سنگھ
4 June 1594 - 1606
Qutb-ud-din Khan Koka
قطب الدین خان کوکہ
2 September 1606 - May 1607
Jahangir Quli Beg
جہانگیر قلی بیگ
1607 - 1608
Sheikh Ala-ud-din Chisti Islam Khan Chisti
اسلام خان چشتی
June 1608 - 1613
Qasim Khan Chishti
قاسم خان چشتی
1613 - 1617
Ibrahim Khan Fateh Jang
ابراہیم خان فتح جنگ
1617 - 1622
Mahabat Khan
محابت خان
1622 - 1625
Mirza Amanullah Khan Zaman II
میرزا أمان اللہ ، خان زماں ثانی
1625
Mukarram Khan
مکرم خان
1625 - 1627
Fidai Khan
فدای خان
1627 - 1628
Qasim Khan Juvayni Qasim Manija
قاسم خان جوینی، قاسم مانیجہ
1628 - 1632
Mir Muhammad Baqir Azam Khan
میر محمد باقر، اعظم خان
1632 - 1635
Mir Abdus Salam Islam Khan Mashhadi
اسلام خان مشھدی
1635 - 1639
Sultan Shah Shuja
شاہ شجاع
1639 -1660
Mir Jumla II
میر جملہ
May 1660 - 30 March 1663
Mirza Abu Talib Shaista Khan I
میرزا ابو طالب، شایستہ خان
March 1664 - 1676
Azam Khan Koka, Fidai Khan II
اعظم خان کوکہ، فدای خان ثانی
1676 - 1677
Sultan Muhammad Azam Shah Alijah
محمد اعظم شاہ عالی جاہ
1678- 1679
Mirza Abu Talib Shaista Khan I
میرزا ابو طالب، شایستہ خان
1679 - 1688
Ibrahim Khan ibn Ali Mardan Khan
ابراہیم خان ابن علی مردان خان
1688 - 1697
Sultan Azim-us-Shan
عظیم الشان
1697 - 1712
Others appointed but did not show up from 1712-1717 and managed by Deputy Subahdar Murshid Quli Khan.
Murshid Quli Khan
مرشد قلی خان
1717–1727
Murshid Quli Khan began the semi-independent Nasiri dynasty Nawabat of Bengal.

See also

References

  1. Majumdar, R. C. (ed.) (2007) [1974]. The Mughul Empire. Mumbai: Bharatiya Vdya Bhavan. p. 130. ISBN 81-7276-407-1.
  2. Eaton, Richard M. (1993). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 142. ISBN 0-520-20507-3.
  3. Sen, S. N. (2006). History of Modern India. New Delhi: New Age International Publishers. p. 4. ISBN 81-224-1774-4.
  4. 1 2 Jarrett, H. S. (1949) [1891] The Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Fazl-i-Allami, Vol.II, (ed.) J. N. Sarkar, Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, pp.142-55
  5. Sarkar, Jadunath (1984). A History of Jaipur, c. 1503-1938, New Delhi: Orient Longman, ISBN 81-250-0333-9, p.81
  6. Gommans, Jos (2002). Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire, 1500-1700. Oxon: Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 0-415-23988-5.
  7. Eaton, Richard M. (1993). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 325–6. ISBN 0-520-20507-3.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 13, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.