HistoriCity: The silken history of Murshidabad, once Bengal’s crown jewel

Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaign to subjugate Golconda and Bijapur as well as his Maratha adversaries was funded to a great extent by revenue-surplus Bengal

The history of West Bengal’s Murshidabad, which recently saw Waqf-related riots, is both tragic and grand. From being the capital of undivided Bengal to being forgotten, the magnificent ruins of this town are reminders of its past glory, and underneath it all remains invisible a unique blend of Hindu-Muslim harmony.

Built between 1723 and 1724 by Nawab Murshid Quli Khan, Katra Masjid displays a unique blend of Indo-Islamic architecture in Murshidabad. (murshidabadpolice.wb.gov.in)

Widely believed to be named after Murshid Quli Khan (1660-1727), the first independent Nawab of Bengal (1717-1727), Bihar and Odisha, this town by the river Bhagirathi, has in fact an older origin and name. Ain-i-Akbari, the chronicles of the reign of emperor Akbar (1556-1605), mentions that a merchant nobleman, Makhsus, established a sarai (inn), around which later grew a market-hamlet, and the place came to be known as Makhsusabad. Some locals still use this name instead of Murshidabad.

Another legend attributes the name to a Nanakpanthi preacher Madhusudan Das who lived here for a while. While we don’t know what the name of this place was before the 17th century, it is believed that the Murshidabad region was a part of the ancient kingdom of Vanga or Banga .

In 1700, Murshidabad’s story took a dramatic turn with the appointment of Mohammad Hadi (later Aurangzeb gave him the title of Murshid Quli Khan), an exceptionally competent Mughal revenue officer, whose own story is unique and legendary. Sold by his father, a poor Brahmin in the Deccan region, the young boy grew up a Muslim and earned the favour of emperor Aurangzeb, who rewarded him with the post of the governor of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, the richest provinces of India. In 1660, French traveller Francois Bernier noted the proverb, “the province of Bengal has a hundred gates open for entrance, but not a single one for departure”.

Aurangzeb’s two-decade long Deccan campaign to subjugate the kingdoms of Golconda and Bijapur as well as his Maratha adversaries was funded to a great extent by revenue-surplus Bengal, which remains known by one of its most famous monikers, Sonar Bangla’ or golden Bengal.

Murshidabad became the centre of silk production, of both raw silk as well textiles. The profits to be made from Bengal silk were massive even though the quality was inferior to Persian and Italian silk. Bernier observed: “Bengal silks are not certainly so fine as those of Persia, Syria, Sayd and Barut but they are of a much lower price; and I know from indisputable authors that, if they were well selected and wrought with care, they might be manufactured into most beautiful stuffs”.

And thus thronged traders and rulers from the subcontinent and its neighbourhood but also from Europe. Historian Sushil Chaudhary writes in ‘Profile of a Forgotten Capital: Murshidabad’ that “…from the middle of the seventeenth century, Bengal became a major centre of international trade. And as Bengal was self-sufficient, there was no demand for any commodity except gold and silver. As a result, everyone, whether European or Asian/Indian, who came to Bengal for procuring export commodities, had to bring in either bullion or cash for buying those merchandise”.

In 1704, the Diwani or revenue office was transferred to Makhsudabad from Jahangirnagar or Dhaka. Within a decade of Auranzeb’s death in 1707, Kartalab Khan, by now titled Nawab Murshid Ali Khan, moved the capital from Dhaka to Makhsudabad in order start afresh and away from his rival Azim-us Shan, the grandson of the emperor.

Now, Murshidabad’s golden age of opulence and merchant princes really began. Khan restructured the revenue system, kept the string of emperors in Delhi happy with regular payments of revenue surplus and ensured that a modicum of fair administration prevailed, which in turn led to general prosperity and peace in the province.

Among the the most notable business families who migrated with Khan from Dhaka was the Jagat Seth family. “Murshidabad also became the abode of the new merchant-business class which emerged because of Murshid Quli’s administrative and revenue reforms. Not only that, the transfer of the diwani office to Murshidabad and later it becoming the capital of Bengal increased its importance to such an extent that, the European Companies too built their factories in Kasimbazar, a suburb of Murshidabad, for the convenience of procuring the two major export commodities, raw silk and silk textiles,” wrote Chaudhary. Silk production became a household activity and mulberry trees dotted the landscape.

The importance of silk production is reflected in a common saying: ‘the mulberry is a greater source of wealth and happiness than one’s son’.

Best quality Bengal silk came to be known as Gujarat silk because the merchants from Surat and other places in the western state hunted for the best quality without bothering about the price. They then exported it to European markets.

The perennial Maratha invasions for this wealth of Bengal remained an annual terror between 1742 and 1752, they left a trail of destruction along their path, but seldom either ventured into the countryside or stopped long enough to rule. They plundered, looted and left Bengal like invaders. Scholars have long argued that these invasions debilitated Bengal’s economy. However, it appears to have been less destructive than what British-influenced Persian chronicles would have us believe.

Satyapir- A unique blend of Ram-Rahim, Hindu- Muslim

The bedrock of Bengal’s syncretic culture goes back several centuries when the first Sufis arrived in the riverine state. The blending of the two religions is evident from festivals, fairs and other gatherings in Murshidabad. Even Sirajudaullah, the infamous and arrogant young Nawab under whose watch the British won the battle of Plassey in 1757, was a keen observer of harmony. In fact, “Sirajuddaullah, after signing the treaty of Alinagar February 1757) with the English, hurriedly returned to Murshidabad and engaged himself in the Holi festival”, writes Chaudhary. Berabhasa, an ancient Shia festival marked in Murshidabad is in reality a version of the Ganga puja done by Hindus.

The 17 th -18 th centuries gave rise to the Satyapir cult, formed from Satyanarayan and Pir, Hindu and Muslim devotional tradition. This unique strain of Bhakti or devotional worship, also found in famous Patachitra paintings, is perhaps best discerned from literature. Both Muslim and Hindu poets wrote about each others gods and like a fine piece of silk wove a bond that tied communities together. In his poem Satyanarayan, Rameshwar Bhattacharya, a contemporary of Murshid Quli Khan writes, “After this I will worship both Rahim and Ram. Ram and Rahim are the two names of God - in Mecca the God is Rahim and in Ayodhya Ram” . Poet Bharatchandra’s Satyapir contains the following, “What is there in Koran except what is there in Purana; Think about that first, then comes the question of Hindu and Muslim”. Faizulla, a mid-18th century poet also wrote, “What the Muslims call Allah is Hari [God] to Hindus”.

HistoriCity is a column by author Valay Singh that narrates the story of a city that is in the news, by going back to its documented history, mythology and archaeological digs. The views expressed are personal.