THAT Murshidabad was the capital city of Bengal in the 18th century, and that it was the era when its splendour and grandeur reached its zenith has almost faded away from public memory. Perhaps that is the reason why on the occasion of its completion of 300 years in 2004, there was hardly any celebration worth the name while there was a lot of fanfare to commemorate the tercentenary of Calcutta in 1990 (though mistakenly, as it has been established now that neither was Calcutta founded in 1690 nor was Job Charnock its founder). It is little known that the economic prosperity and grandeur that Murshidabad attained under the Bengal nawabs during the 18th century was seldom seen earlier in the history of Bengal. Perhaps that is why there is no dearth of authentic works on Murshidabad, written both in English and Bengali.

But several of them, though very notable ones, are more than hundred years old. These are, among others, Nikhil Nath Roy, Murshidabad Kahani, 1897; Murshidabader Iitihas, 1902; Jagat Seth (1905); JHT Walsh, A History of Murshidabd District (1902); P. C. Majumdar, The Masnad of Murshidabad (1905).

Besides, there are several works published in the last century of which the significant ones are B.N. Banerjee, Begums of Bengal; K. K. Datta, Alivardi and His Times; Abdul Karim, Murshid Quli and His Times; J. H. Little, The House of Jagat Seths; K. M. Mohsin, A Bengal District in Transition: Murshidabad; Pratibha Ranjan Maitra, Murshidabader Ittihas (The History of Murshidabad); Murshidabd Charcha (Discourse on Murshidabad); Somendra Chandra Nandi, Bandar Kasimbazar (The Port of Kasimbazar), The Life and Times of Kanto Baboo etc.

But all this does not imply that the book under review Murshidabad — Forgotten Capital of Bengal is superfluous in as much as it looks at Murshidabad from a different perspective. The author delineates her discourse in five well-written and cogently structured chapters besides the ‘Conclusion’. In the first chapter she appraises, as a prelude to her hypothesis, the topography, polity, economy, society and culture of Bengal during the period of the independent Sultanates and the Mughals.

The next chapter explains how the nawabs of Bengal articulated the changing concept of political sovereignty and built up the new alliance which underpinned the stability of the nawabi regime in the early 18th century. The fiscal reorganisation of Bengal under Murshid Quli Khan, his most important achievement in Bengal as diwan, and its impact on the economy and society has been thoroughly discussed in chapter three.

Another main theme of Murshidabad history namely, the various aspects of the contemporary social history has been analysed in details in the next chapter. The author has critically examined the main trends of the religious developments that took place among the Hindus and Muslims during the period under review. She has also looked into the position of the Shia community under the Shia nawabs of Bengal, and also into the status and role of women in the then society.

The last chapter explores the ‘multiplex cultural activities’ under Murshid Quli and his successors who patronised extensive architectural and artistic activities. Finally, in the ‘Conclusion’, the author summarises her main findings in the form of a resume which will be helpful to comprehend her main thesis articulated in the course of her deliberations.

So far so good. But quite a few questions remain to be answered. It is beyond one’s comprehension why the author has chosen to write the history of the riyasat of Murshidabad from 1704 to 1740 only, ignoring the more crucial period of Murshidabad history from 1740 to 1757 when so many things happened in Bengal: it was faced with the perennial Maratha incursions from 1742 to 1751; it was when Bengal’s export trade, industry and economy flourished most, and it was when Bengal fell a victim to the British design at Plassey. She has just touched upon the Plassey episode with a hint that it was the collaboration between the British on the one hand and the business class, military and landed gentry on the other which led to Plassey — a hypothesis which has been exploded quite some time back. But more importantly, she did not elaborate the economic prosperity of Murshidabad in the early 18th century.

Murshidabad was the most important production and trade centre of raw silk and silk-textiles, the two most important export commodities from Bengal in the 17th and 18th century. But unfortunately there is next to nothing about the silk and textile industry in the book under review. It was because of these industries and trade that Murshidabad reached the peak of its prosperity in the first half of the 18th century. In fact, when Robert Clive visited Murshidabd for the first time after Plassey, he wrote with utter surprise that “the city of Murshidabad is as extensive, populous and rich as the city of London with this difference that there are individuals in the first possessing infinitely greater wealth than the whole of the Lombard Street (the financial hub of London) joined together”.

Again, it was during the nawabi regime that innumerable merchant-traders and adventurers from different parts of not only Asia but from Europe thronged to Bengal/Murshidabad for trade and in search of fortune resulting in the evolution of a cosmopolitan society and culture in Murshidabad which has been attested by the Jain poet Nihal Singh who visited the city during the reign of Shujauddin in the 1730s. He also depicted the splendour and magnificence of Murshidabad, especially referring to the presence of people from across the then world.

Unfortunately the author did not mention any of these significant developments in Murshidabad under the nawabs. It is also to be noted that the religious syncretism which began earlier in the 16th and 17th century reached its zenith under the nizamat. The author would have done well if she had given some indication of all this in her book for the benefit of the reading public.

Having said all this, it should be mentioned that the present work is well written in lucid style, the arguments are well developed and convincing. As such, the book is a welcome addition to the existing literature on Murshidabad.

The Statesman / India

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2016