Existe un mundo de posibilidades en la creación de nuevos materiales y componentes, por eso mismo, en la clase experimental nos enseñaron a

2, Najm ud daulah accompanied by Reza Kh&n went to see Jlive at Sadiqbagh just before his Lordship was to set out for Patna*ThdJ stayed with Clive upto 10 or 11 R.h* when the Nawab complained of indisposition* The Nawab, Sykes told a Parliamentary committee, nad taken some ice water* After this the Nawab returned sick and died in 3 or 4 days* The news of the Nawab*s death gave rise to a strong rumour , as Verelst informed Sykes, foVOil^n£,ciive* Third Report, 1773, p325)*The rumour echoed in London

Court's latter ,16 ;:ar 1768}. Haji Sus^apha says that at Jurshiuabad people pointed to Resa Khan as "tfa supposed authorM(8eir,III,13 ftl 9)

Two things seen to have made this possible ♦The increased demand possibly could be more easily met because there uad been a vast Immigration of

agricultural labour from the west* Warren Hastings stated to the house of Commons in 1767 that the troubles of 1757-64 had driven the manufacturers from Bihar, an open country to Bengal, "intersected by rivers" where "from its

natural situation /"they were 7 free from dangers of war"* " The troubles",

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Hastings added?"have caused no scarcity of food or rice"*! KcGuire, giving evidence to the same committee of the House, argued that the movement nad begun with the I.aratha invasions of Alivardi’s time, which had resulted in the improvement of the areas south of Calcutta^

If the zemindars were thus more able to pay, they were also more willing to agree with Reza Khan*s proposals because he stood between them and more direct attack from the Company. Thsir knowledge of the Company1s earlier revenue activities were sufficient to alarm them* The Calcutta parganas had been the first to come under the Company*s administration , and there, the Directors observed, "we immediately turned out all those men who stood between the government and the cultivator" with consequent ruination of many families© The Company’s administration in Burdwan, Jidnapur and Chittagong, though not as alarming, had scarcely been more encouraging* It was therefore in their interest to co-operate with the Khan who was unwilling to interfere in their internal administration, and had fixed notions about their rights,privileges and duties, based on Alivardian traditions© These notion® wjiich formed the basis of his policy throughout were, as reiterated in brief in 1775, that "the

w land is the inherited property of the zemindar1* and that "the rent of it is the right of government". ‘.Vhen therefore the

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2* W© KcGuire (Verelst*s successor as chief of Lakshmipur and Ellis* predecessa as chief of Patna)evidence to Puller Committee on 1 Apr 1767 ©^di Isa 18469 f 33* (hciuire left Bengal in Oct 1764 after 20 years* stay in the country)0 3# Court* s letter , 17

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4© Reza Khan*s opinions as sent by Philip Francis to Lord Ijorth on 25 Nov 1775© Francis hss. I.C .Bur B 13 PP 475-77©

The Khan had difTiculties , however, in areas where “the Zemindars of the Bengal type did not exist, that is in much of 3ihar and in P u m e a 0These areas had recently been battlegrounds, and both contained more Jagir lands© Thus Rumbold had reported of Bihar that "on Cossim Ally Cawn’s accession to the Subahdarry he found this province of no value to him, as it then stood,

distributed in Jagheers" ,^and Ducarel of P umea that having ** no hereditarry Zemindarry was long appropriated to men of family or relations or favourites of the Nabobs of Bengali, who held it as a kind of Jagheer, paying little or

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no rent'*© Neither therefore had contributed much to the Nawab*s treasury© On the contrary during the whole of Shuja’s nizanat (1727-39) the expenses for the province of Bihar had to be paid out of kurshid&bad revenues© During Alivardi’a nizajn&t (1740-56), Janakiraa (Rai Durlabh’s father)as IJaib paid

three lakhs per year for three years and another nine lakhs from his own emoluments* Ram Narain paid fifteen lakhs in five years© iir Jafar received six lakhs from Bihar during his first Mizai.at (1757-60),and some twenty-five lakhs after his restoration (1763-65)© Pumea, brought under the Bengal

Nawabs by Alivardi Khan , never yielded him more than four lakhs a year0^ Neither area therefore had paid much, and neither had an organisation capable of absorbing the impact of sudden new demands*

Nevertheless on the Company’s accession to the Diwani, under Sykes* pressure, Reza Khan agreed to a great increase in the demand © When Suchit

Rai was appointed Diwan,or Anil of Pumea he paid twenty-five lakhs to the government in two years, and in 1766-67 actually raised the demand to twenty- five lakhs for the yearj? Suchit Ram^ was an outsider, ignorant of the country and he was quite unable to collect the heavy revenue demanded© He borrowed from merchants to pay the government and ultimately found himself in prison,

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whence only death released hiia0 Ducarel blamed Suchit Ram* a failure on the excessive expenses incurred on account of the officials, who collected

1 ©Rumbold*VHlettercT Jul^, BSC 21 July 1767©

2©Ducarel*s letter 3 Dec , U ‘ 13 Dec 1770o 3*Hea&a. Khan’s note,BSC 6 far 1769 4©Reza Khan*s note as enclosed with Becher’s letter,BSC 25 Sep 1769

5oibid and also Ducarel*s letter 3 Dec,HP 13 Dec 1770*

6* The name is variously given, and also as ’Sujaut Rai*in II*, f 157o 7 ©Reza Khan’s note as enclosed with Becher’s letter, BSC 25 Sep 1769®

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the revenues at three levels, in the village, at the Pargana Cutchsrry s-ud

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at the Sadar cutcherrj, but that was to ignore the special nature of the area* In Bihar the outcome was similar* The heavy demand in the first year of the Diwani led to the dismissal of Dhiraj Narain from the Naibat or Diwani of Patna^and of Mirza Daud from the Faujd&rl ©f Bhagalpur^* Then the Khan himself fixed the revenue of the province for the second year at Rs 68,53»776*inducing

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Anils, mostly his own men to fara the revenues* This too was a very high figure , though much less than the crore of rupees which Sykes had assured Clive could be collected from 3ihar*In the event, as Rumbeld reported, many

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of the Anils, particularly Muhammad Ali, Klir Khalil, Mir Abdul Shukur and Sukhlal, failed to collect what the Company demanded, and became the poorer

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by parting with their money*

Did Reza Khan make a mistake about areas with which he was not conversant? It would seem not, for Rumbold tells us that Reza Khan informed him " he

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never expected the whole could be collected** o It appears rather that in areas which in effect were paying revenues for the first time, he pitched the demand experimentally high, intending to write off balances as necessary* The eld

0 practice had always been to write off legitimate outstanding balances - a

practice which he liimself followed in adjusting the Bihar accounts in September 17&6q lu this tray Clive would be able to impress the Directors with a high

estimate - and he was not going to stay to see if it was realised* So while Reza Khan was still in Bihar, Clive and the Select Committee reported to the Directors that the Khan was busy " in regulating the collections of that province; whence we hone revenues will be reduced to more order, and raised

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to a greater amount1** In a loter despatch the Committee not only reported large increases in the current revenues, but encouraged expectations of more 1* Ducarel*s letter 3 Dec, Mi 13 Dec 1770*

2. dhitab Rai*s statement* (Trial papers relating to Shitab Rai*s trial as