Modern History

During the reign of Farrukhsiyar (1713 AD-1719 AD), Prince Mirza Ahmad was given nominal authority as the Subedar of Bihar and Shujauddin, the Nazim of Bengal, was appointed as his assistant. Shujauddin appointed Nawab Alivardi Khan as Deputy Nawab or Naib Nazim to run the administration of Bihar. After the death of Shujauddin in March, 1739, Alivardi Khan defeated Shujauddin’s dynasties in the Battle of Giriya and in 1740 he displaced Sarfaraz Khan, a descendant of Murshid Quli, and took direct control of Bengal.

• After streamlining the administration in Bihar, Alivardi Khan made his grandson Sirajuddaulah the nominal Deputy Nawab of Bihar.
• The rebellion against Alivardi Khan by Siraj-ud-daulah was thwarted by the then Dewan Raja Jankiram.
• Alivardi Khan was appointed the deputy governor of Bihar in 1733 AD. After Raja Janakiram, Ramnarayan was appointed as the Diwan of Bihar.
• Alivardi Khan died in 1756 and Sirajuddaulah became the Nawab of Bengal.
• Siraj-ud-daulah’s rivals and opponents were Nawab Shaukatjung (cousin) of Purnia, Siraj’s aunt Ghasiti Begum and her general Mirzafar (son-in- law of Alivardi) etc.In order to suppress his opponents, Siraj-ud-daulah imprisoned Ghasiti Begum and appointed Meermadan as the commander in place of Mir Jafar.
• Siraj defeated Shaukat and killed him in the battle of Manihari in October, 1756 AD.
• On June 23, 1757, the historic Battle of Plassey (Murshidabad) took place on the banks of the Bhagirathi River between Siraj-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, and the army of the British East India Company at a place called Plassey, in which Siraj-ud-daulah was defeated by Lord Clive.
• After the Battle of Plassey, Lord Clive appointed Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Bengal and accompanied him to Patna.
• Lord Clive appointed Mir Jafar’s son Miran as the Deputy Nawab of Bihar, but he was a nominal administrator, while the real power was in the hands of Raja Ram Narayan, Naib Nazim of Bihar.
• Ali Gauhar’s Bihar campaign ended in 1765 AD.
• After the death of the Mughal emperor Alamgir II, Ali Gauhar took the help of the British to take over the throne of Delhi.
• Ali Gauhar’s coronation took place in the British factory in Patna.
• In 1760 AD, Mir Qasim was made the Nawab of Bengal in place of Mir Jafar. Nawab Mir Qasim shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger with the aim of being free from British interference.
• Displeased with Mir Qasim’s independent conduct, the company removed him from the post of Nawab. After that Mir Qasim reached Patna and prepared for the Battle of Buxar by aligning with Awadh Nawab Shujaudaulah and fugitive Mughal emperor Shah Alam II in Lucknow.
• In 1764 AD, the joint army of Mir Qasim, Nawab Shujauddaula of Awadh and fugitive Mughal ruler Shah Alam II clashed with the English army in Buxar, which is known in history as the Battle of Buxar. The British army under the leadership of Sir Hector Munro defeated the combined army of the three rulers.
• After the Buxar war, Shah Alam II granted the right of diwani (rent collection) to the East India Company in the areas of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa.
• Lord Clive implemented diarchy in the region of Bengal and Bihar in 1765 AD.
• Sir Lionel Curtis is called the ‘father of diarchy’.
• At this time, the administration of Bihar was with Mirza Mohammad Qazim Khan (brother of Mir Jafar) and he had a sub-subedar Dhiraj Narayan (brother of Raja Ramnarayan) to assist him.
• Clive removed Qazim Khan from the post in September 1765 and appointed Dheeraj Narayan in his place.
• Raja Ramnarayan and Raja Shitab Rai were among the important Deputy Governors of Bihar.
• Middleton, chief officer of the English factory (trading center) at Patna, was appointed a member of a board of administration in 1766, along with Raja Dheeraj Narayan and Raja Shitab Rai.
• In 1767, Dheeraj Narayan was removed and Shitab Rai was made Naib Diwan by the company and Thomas Rumvold was appointed as the chief officer of the Patna factory.