Explore the Battle of Buxar (1764), its causes, major events, and impact. Discover Robert Clive's treaties and the rise of British power in India.
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The Battle of Buxar
Prelude to Battle
The Company thought Mir Kasim would be an ideal puppet, but he defied their expectations.
Ram Narayan, deputy-governor of Bihar, ignored the nawab's repeated requests for revenue accounts.
Mir Kasim could not tolerate this defiance of his authority.
Ram Narayan was supported by English officials in Patna.
Misuse of the Company’s trade permit (dastak) by officials caused tensions between the nawab and the English.
The misuse of the dastak resulted in a loss of tax revenue for the nawab.
Local merchants faced unequal competition with Company merchants.
An imperial farman allowed the English company to trade in Bengal without paying transit dues or tolls.
Company servants claimed the same privileges for their private trade and sold dastak to Indian merchants for a commission.
They used coercive methods to get goods at cheaper rates, against the spirit of duty-free trade.
Mir Kasim tried to abolish duties altogether, but the British protested and insisted on preferential treatment.
This conflict led to wars between the English and Mir Kasim in 1763.
The English gained victories at Katwah, Murshidabad, Giria, Sooty, and Munger.
Mir Kasim fled to Awadh and formed a confederacy with Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-daulah, and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II to recover Bengal from the English.
The Battle
The combined armies of Mir Kasim, Nawab of Awadh, and Shah Alam II were defeated by English forces under Major Hector Munro at Buxar on October 22, 1764.
The English campaign against Mir Kasim was short but decisive.
The battle was significant as it saw the defeat of both the Nawab of Bengal and the Mughal Emperor by the English.
This victory made the English a great power in northern India and contenders for supremacy over the entire country.
After the Battle
Mir Jafar, made Nawab in 1763, agreed to hand over Midnapore, Burdwan, and Chittagong to the English for army maintenance.
The English were permitted duty-free trade in Bengal, except for a 2% duty on salt.
After Mir Jafar's death, his minor son Najim-ud-daula was appointed nawab, but real power lay with the naib-subahdar, appointed or dismissed by the English.
Treaties Concluded by Robert Clive
Robert Clive concluded two important treaties at Allahabad in August 1765—one with the Nawab of Awadh and the other with the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II.
Agreement with Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula
Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula agreed to:
Surrender Allahabad and Kara to Emperor Shah Alam II.
Pay Rs 50 lakh to the Company as war indemnity.
Give Balwant Singh, Zamindar of Banaras, full possession of his estate.
Agreement with Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II agreed to:
Reside at Allahabad, to be ceded to him by the Nawab of Awadh, under the Company’s protection.
Issue a farman granting the diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa to the East India Company in lieu of an annual payment of Rs 26 lakh.
Provide Rs 53 lakh to the Company in return for nizamat functions (military defence, police, and administration of justice) of the said provinces.
Clive's Strategy
Clive did not want to annex Awadh because it would have placed the Company under an obligation to protect an extensive land frontier from Afghan and Maratha invasions.
The treaty made the Nawab a firm friend of the Company and turned Awadh into a buffer state.
Clive’s arrangement with Shah Alam II made the emperor a useful ‘rubber stamp’ of the Company and legalized the Company’s political gains in Bengal.
Clive's Role in British Power
A survey of this period of British rule cannot be complete without a reference to Robert Clive, who joined the army after resigning from a clerk’s post.
He was instrumental in laying the foundations of British power in India.
Clive was made the Governor of Bengal twice, from 1757 to 1760 and from 1765 to 1767.
He administered Bengal under the dual government system until his return to England, where he allegedly committed suicide in 1774.
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