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Abstract

This work is devoted to a study of the land revenue history of the Rajshahi Zamindari from 1765 to 1793. The first chapter is introductory and narrates the creation of this vast zamindari in the first half of the eighteenth century. The second chapter deals with the seven years of Diwani rule in Bengal from 1765 to 1772, years of hesitation and confusion, and discusses the East India Company's early revenue policies and their implementation in Rajshahi. The arguments of James Grant about the proper level of demand upon Rajshahi, and the results of collection by the Supervisor and under the Triennial settlement are reviewed, and the results of the 1770 famine are assessed. The third chapter discusses the Quinquennial farming settlement introduced by Warren Hastings in 1772, and the attempts made by Rani Bhabani, zamindar of Rajshahi to work with and then to resist the Company. Particular attention is paid to the fate of the zamindari during the conflict in the Calcutta Council between Hastings and Barwell, and Clavering, Monson and Francis. The fourth chapter reviews the working of the temporary settlement of Rajshahi under the Collectors William Hosea and Edward Baber, acting through local agents, and the causes of failure which led to a renewed settlement with the zamindar. The fifth chant 'Jr is devoted to Hastings' Permanent Plan for the Revenue Administration of 1781, and to his refusal to allow any settlement with the Rani. The four different revenue experiments in Rajshahi which thereupon follow are then considered, and the circumstances of their success or failure. The last chapter studies the changes in attitude in India and England which led to the adoption of a permanent zarlindari settlement in Bengal, and surveys the difficulties which precede Rajshahi's ultimate inclusion in that settlement.