Nawabs of Bengal

The Nawabs of Bengal were hereditary rulers who governed Bengal first as Mughal deputies and later with substantial autonomy or nominal independence. Their rule ended with the East India Company’s conquest of Bengal.

Mughal Empire: A South Asian empire founded by Babur in 1526 that ruled much of the subcontinent until the nineteenth century. Bengal’s nawabs began as provincial officers within this empire.
Zamindar: A landholder or revenue intermediary in South Asia, often responsible for collecting taxes from cultivators. Bengal’s nawabs relied on zamindars to collect land revenue.
Battle of Plassey: A 1757 battle in Bengal in which Company forces defeated Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah’s army. The defeat made the Company decisive in Bengal’s succession and government.
Diwani of Bengal: The East India Company’s right, granted in 1765, to collect revenue in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. It transferred Bengal’s principal fiscal power from the nawab to the Company.
Nizam of Hyderabad: The hereditary ruler of Hyderabad, whose dynasty emerged from Mughal provincial authority in the eighteenth century. The Nizam’s state retained a different trajectory from Bengal’s Company-dominated nawabship.
Subahdar: A governor appointed to administer a subah, a province of the Mughal Empire. The nawab’s original office developed from Bengal’s Mughal governorship.
Jagir: A grant of land revenue assigned by a ruler to an official or military servant. Mughal revenue assignments shaped the offices and resources of Bengal’s provincial administration.
Siraj ud-Daulah: The Nawab of Bengal from 1756 until his defeat and death in 1757. His conflict with the Company culminated at Plassey.
Dual Government in Bengal: The 1765–1772 arrangement in which the Company held revenue authority while the nawab’s administration retained nominal responsibility for civil government. It exposed the gap between the nawab’s formal position and actual power.
Nawab of Awadh: The hereditary rulers of Awadh, a north Indian state that emerged from Mughal provincial government. Awadh’s rulers preserved greater political autonomy for longer than Bengal’s nawabs.

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