L-23 National Culture and Heritage

The Mughal in Bengal – Society and Culture:

There is no doubt that with the coming of the Mughals in Bengal, the country,
its population witness the working of certain different forces in the administration, in
social and economic as well as in cultural life. The philosophical and religions forces of
the Mughals bringing from central Asia transformed Bengal’s social, cultural as well as
the religions philosophy and ideology of the local people of Bengal. It had a far reaching
effect on the society and the existing cultural, customs and religiosity of the inhabitants.
Previously, under the Independent Sultanate Bengal enjoyed a unique social structure.
But being under the centralized Mughal Empire, under one government, one
administration, one law, language having uniformed officials and currency, it was a
different feelings and atmosphere. Bengal becomes one of the Subahs of the Mughal
Empire. There was several Subahs. The capital of Bengal was transformed twice.
During Akbar’s time in his Sabahdar Man Singh transferred its capital from Tand in
North Bengal to Rajmahal named Akbarabad.

The reign of Jahangir his Subahdar Islam Khan Chisti transferred the capital
Akbarnama. For proper administration, ‘Subah Bangalah’ was divided into 19 Sarkers
and 682 Parganas or Mughals. Land revenue was the main source of income. Raja
Todar Mal was the Finance Minister and he introduced the most famous “Bando Bast” or
“Settlement” in 1852. The revenue was divided into Mal and Sayer. Mal was the ‘Land
Revenue’ and Sayer included all kinds of revenue (Like customs duties and other
sundry duties.). However, an important feature of the revenue administration was the
existence of ‘Zamindars’ who apparently acted as middleman between ryots and the
government. The Jagirdars also collected revenue through the Zamindars and
deposited to government Exchequer. The Diwan and staff looked after any issues,
problems of the lands, cultivation, farmers etc. The main task and the responsibilities of
the Mughal government, the Diwan and all the Mansabdars were designated to achieve
the object of collecting as much revenue as possible and also keeping the ryots happy
and content, so that they might prosper and bring more and more lands under the
plough.

It is not surprising at all; that the Mughal revenue system was so well planed
that with no great change it continued to serve throughout the British colonial period.
They did not change any part of it; rather they appreciated and adopted the entire
system. Since the early Muslim period, Bengal had a reputation as “rebel province” or
‘Balghakpur’ because the Bengal governers always broke away from Delhi’s tutelage.
Bengal always wanted to remain independent. For instance, in Sher Shah Sur’s time,
when he was the sultan of Delhi, he divided Bengal into 19 Sarkers or a unit for being
smaller units none will go against Delhi’s rule. Akbar, the Emperor did the same as he
divided the entire Bengal as one of the Subahs of Delhi and appointed Subahdar (or

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Nazim) to govern it. Indeed there were several very able Subhadars, the Royal Princes,
near relatives of the Emperor and trusted high officials. As we have noticed Subahdars
like the Royal Princes, Shah Shuja, Shahzada Muhammad Azam, Shahzada Azam-ud-
Din (Azam-usshan) occupied the Subahdar of Bengal for nearly forty years, again of the
relatives – Raja Man Singh (related to Akbar through his Rajput Queen), Ibrahim Khan
(Queen Nur Jahan’s brother), Azam Khan (Shuja’s father in law), Saista Khan
(Aurangzeb’s maternal uncle) ruled absolutely faithfully for forty years.

Social and Cultural Aspects:

Several developments were taking place in Bengal during this period. Since
the central Mughal government was weaker in Delhi, there become the shortage of able
and trust worthy officers to Bengal from Delhi, hence more Jonior or lower officers, and
in such circumstances more efficient Hindu officers went up the ladder in the
administration. They learnt Persian, the official language and mastered the art of
administration and they were working for all branches of the Secretariat. During Murshid
Quli’s Khan’s time there was Chief Qanungoes known as Darpa Narayan and Krishna
Narayan, the chief of the Mint was Raghunandan. He was a very clever man; he took
the opportunity of his position and grabbed Zamindari of a large area in several districts
in the name of his brother Ramjivan. Again, during this time there were sixteen big
Zamindars collecting revenues from 615 Parganas, Smaller Zamindars and Taluqdars
collected revenues from 1600 Parganas. All big Zamindars and Taluqdars were also
Hindus. Hindus also occupied the high post of Diwan and Naib-Nazim. There families
held the title of Sarker, Bakshi, Dastidar, Qanungo, Chakladar, Tarafdar, Laskar, Halder
etc. It has been noticed that during Alivardi Khan;s time Hindu officers like Janakiram,
Durlabhram, Ummaid Raj etc. Nawab Siraj-ud-Dawla’s time, Nand Kumar, Omichand
came to prominence. With the growth of trade and commerce came the Marwari
banking families from upper India in Bengal. Fatch Chand the first holder of the title
‘Jagat Seth’ did his money lending business in Bengal with the Patronage of Murshid
Quli Khan. On Subahdar’s recommendation Fateh Chand got the title of “Jagat Seth”
from the Emperor. The change in social and official stratification during this time is
highly significant in the development of Bengal history, its social ranking and above all
its effects on the cultural aspects were noticeable.

It is also a great significant factor that all the rulers of Bengal stating from the
Sultanate of Bengal – the Sultans and the Mughals were all foreigners. They all came
from Central Asia. But the facts remain that the Sultans came here, burning their boats
as it were, stayed in Bengal. They did not want to go back, but lived and buried here in
Bengal’s soil. The Mughals were not like that. They came ruled all over India, but never
settled in Bengal. Of the Mughal Emperor, only Prince Shah Jahan spent one week at
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Dhaka. It was different in the Nawab periods. But during the Sultanate period the
sultan’s cultural contacts with the outside Muslim world was limited except Mekka and
Medina. Nonetheless, during the Mughal period their connections with the outside world
with Arabia, Iran and Turkey increased.

The Mughal Emperors very learned and liberal and they displayed high moral
principles. The high officers like Wasir, Subahdars, Diwan etc. were also very learned
and cultured people. They set examples of sophistic and high etiquette, tradition
behavior and polished manners to others. Qasim Khan Jayunion and Shaysta Khan was
famous poet’s prince Azim was also famous for his discussion in Masnavi of Maulana
Rumi was a favorite reading in such assemblies. There were poets among soldiers and
officers who used to compare and recited poems in private gatherings. Most of them
composed tales of victory and wrote poems in Persian. Persian was also the state
language; the Hindus in Bengal learnt the language to obtain state services and jobs.
Persian also influenced Bengali language and literature in a great way. Many Persian
words are found in Bengali vocabulary. It was seen that being influenced by the Persian
were translated in Bengali literature.

Poets like Sayyid Sultan, Muhammad Khan, Daulat Qazi and Alaol earned
good name as Bengali poets. However, Bengali Muslim poets also wrote Faqiri,
Darveshi and Baul songs, the Bauls and Baul songs particularly influenced the Hindus
Marsia songs (sad song of death of prophets families in the Karbala) also become very
popular after the coming of the Shias in India and Bengal.

Towards the end of the 18 th century A.D. there was an enormous growth of
Muslim society in Bengal. In the Sultanate period foreign Muslims like the Arabs, the
Turks and the Afghans were predominant. Iranians also came but in small numbers.
They belonged mostly to the upper class society. The foreign Muslims again belonged
to four main groups – the Sayyids, the Sheikhs, the Pathans and the Mughals. The
conversions to Islam were increased mostly in the Mughal period. Among the Hindus,
the Brahmins, the Vaidyas and Kayastha were predominant. The Brahmins not only
belonged to the superior caste, but they also controlled the society. They presided over
all social and religious functions. They were the most educated, most learned people in
the Hindu society. Through their works and position they adopted the titles of Sen,
gupta, Das, Datta, and Kar etc. The caste system was quite prevalent during this period.
The Brahmins, infact enforced caste system quite strictly.

The great Vaisnava teacher Shri Chaitanya Deva was born in Nabadurpa
(Nadia) and flourished in the first half of the 16th century A.D. He preached in Bengal
and in neighboring areas. He challenged caste superiority and preached the principles
of equality among human beings. His teaching gained great popularity among the
people in the Mughal period. Nabadwip became the centre of learning Sanskrit. A large
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number of literatures came out on Sri Chaitanya Deva’s life and teachings. Bengali
language got literary status in Sultanate period. Famous literary works Sri Krishna
Kirtan of Chandidus, Ramayana of Kritivasa Sri Krishna Vijoya etc. were written by
Hindu poets. But towards the end of the Sultanate period, muslims also began to write
Bengali poems. A large number of books were written in the Mughal period such as
Ramayana, Mahabharata, Mughal Kabya, Chaitanya Kavya etc.

Through the Mughals were foreigners, they certainly drained Bengal’s

treasures to their captains, but Mughal rule was also a great blessings on Bengal as a
whole. They established peace, good government and disciplines, freed the people from
oppression of the Pirates. They prospered and their literary activities got patronized.
Since the Mughals were liberal minded in religious matter, the non-Muslims and other
minority communities could practice their religion and lived in harmony with the Muslim
communities in Bengal for so long.

Aristocratic Immigrants to Bengal:

With the establishment of Mughal authority in Bengal, it is quite evident that

the cultivation of Persian language entered a new phase. Under the Mughals and the
Nawabs, Bengal enjoyed a unique political stability continually for a century and half
make it possible for steady development of art and literature. There had been a new
and a very large set of scholars and writers came and settled in Bengal during this
period. Many of the Mughal Viceroys, officials and generals, somewhat in time with the
Mughal princes and princesses were prolific writers. Even the Mughal administrative
system also contributed in a way to literary activities. For instance,the appointment of
“Waqia-Naws”,means (official news-writers) and calligraphists (copyists) were infact
good historians and litterateurs. Even Mughal armies were accompanied by “musicians,
singers, stray-tellers, poets and readers of books”, as noted by Ala-al-Din Isfahani alias
Mirja Nothan was indeed a military officer in the Islam Khan’s expedition to Bengal.
Mirza Nathan’s book called “Bahristan-I- Ghaibi is indeed an excellent literary piece of
high standard, which gives an authentic history of Mughal campaigns in Bengal and
Assam during Jahangir’s time. Another soldier poet and scholar Maulana Mir Qasem
composed a Jahangirnama on the Mughal victory over Afghanistan leader “Uthman”.
Another Mughal officer Muhammad Sadeq who was posted Dacca between 1628-
1638has left a good piece of literatureof the cultural and intellectual life at Dacca
(Jahangirnagar) at that time. It was at Dacca that Sadeq wrote his rather encyclopedic
work, the “Subh –I – Sadiq”, in four volumes. It is a mixture of history and geography
and some personal reminiscences. The Subh –I – Sadiq even mentions a number of
other scholars and writers who lived at Dacca and enriched its cultural life. One of them
is Mir Ali-al-Haq, his brother Mir Abu-al-Mwali towards the end of Shah Jahan’s reign his
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son Shah Shuja was the viceroy of Bengal. A good number of Persian scholars
flourished under his patronage. One of them was Mir Mohan Masum who wrote ‘Tarikh-
i-Shah Shuja (History of Shah Shuja).

During the Independent ‘Nizamat’ in Bengal Aurangzeb’s last viceroy, Murshid

Quli Khan, in the early 18th century paved the way for another large influx of learned
men and writers from Iran to Bengal. Many nobles and scholars, learned men came and
settled in Bengal. The famous name like the historian Ghulam Hossain Tabatabai
another of “Siyar-al-Mutakharim” was also an immigrant Persian noble whose parents
and other relatives came to Bengal during Nawab Aliverdi Khan’s time. However, the
above is a very brief survey of learned men, scholars and their works and many others
which are not mentioned in this lecture (due to the shortage of time and space), who
resided in Bengal during a long period of time of more than five hundred years.

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