Siraj ud-Daulah
Siraj ud-Daulah was the last independent Nawab of Bengal and lost it in a single afternoon. Born in 1733, he was the grandson of Alivardi Khan, who had made Bengal effectively independent of a collapsing Mughal empire, and was designated heir over older claimants, which left him with enemies inside his own court from the start. He succeeded in April 1756 at about twenty-two. His quarrel with the East India Company was over sovereignty and money. The Company was fortifying Calcutta without permission, abusing the duty-free trading privileges granted for its own commerce by extending them to private trade, and sheltering people he wanted. He marched on Calcutta in June 1756 and took it. That night a number of European prisoners were confined overnight in the fort's small punishment cell; the survivor John Holwell claimed 123 of 146 died, and the Black Hole became the founding grievance of British India. The figures are not credible and the event happened. Robert Clive retook Calcutta and then conspired with the Nawab's own commander Mir Jafar, the banker Jagat Seth and others to replace him. At Plassey on 23 June 1757 Siraj had some fifty thousand men against about three thousand. Mir Jafar's divisions stood still through the battle, a rainstorm soaked the Bengali powder while the British covered theirs, and the artillery commander was killed. Siraj fled after a few hours. He was captured days later and murdered on Mir Jafar's son's orders, aged twenty-four. Mir Jafar took the throne and the Company took the revenue, and his name became the Bengali word for a traitor.
- Lived: 1733 CE – 1757 CE
- Nationality: Bengali
- Roles: nawab, head_of_state
