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Resources
4
Battle of Chausa
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Britannica entry on the 26 June 1539 battle where Sher Shah defeated Humayun.
Humayun
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Britannica biography and campaign context on Humayun, including the Bengal campaign before Chausa.
Murshid Quli Khan
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Britannica profile and contextual notes on Murshid Quli Khan and Bengal's early 18th-century reorganization.
Sannyasi Rebellion
read · historical-literature
Britannica describes the Fakir-Sannyasi uprisings as a long resistance wave against East India Company authority from 1763 to 1800.
Related Events
6
1539 (June 26)
Battle of Chausa
At Chausa on 26 June 1539, Sher Shah defeated Humayun in a decisive battle. The defeat weakened early Mughal momentum and elevated Afghan power in the eastern subcontinent, with direct consequences for Bengal's political trajectory.
1538
Humayun Enters Bengal and Occupies Gaur
In 1538, Humayun's campaign reached Bengal and occupied Gaur, signaling the first major Mughal intervention into Bengal's power structure. Although temporary, the move tied Bengal directly to the Mughal-Afghan contest in the east.
1717
Murshid Quli Khan Formally Appointed Nawab
In 1717, Murshid Quli Khan was formally appointed subahdar/nawab of Bengal, marking the institutional start of the nawabi regime. The arrangement preserved Mughal suzerainty while expanding provincial fiscal-political autonomy.
1765
East India Company Gets Diwani Rights in Bengal
In 1765, the East India Company secured the diwani, or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. That settlement turned post-Plassey influence into formal fiscal power. Revenue extraction, administrative leverage, and political authority began to flow through the Company, even as Mughal and nawabi institutions remained in place.
1760-1800
Fakir-Sannyasi Resistance
The Fakir-Sannyasi Resistance was a long wave of armed uprisings led by Muslim fakirs and Hindu sannyasis against the East India Company in Bengal. Beginning in 1760 and gaining momentum in 1763, the movement grew out of restrictions on alms collection, revenue pressure, and the social disruption created by Company rule. It continued in recurring phases through the famine years and late eighteenth-century crackdowns, making it one of the earliest sustained anti-colonial resistances in Bengal.
1770
Great Bengal Famine
The famine of 1770 devastated Bengal, producing catastrophic mortality across agrarian and urban communities. Crop failure, grain-market distortions, and rigid revenue collection under East India Company authority combined to turn environmental stress into a social collapse. The crisis became an early warning of how colonial political economy could magnify human vulnerability.