SINDH IN TRANSITION: FROM MUGHAL RULE TO BRITISH ANNEXATION, EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TO 1843 ESHA VERMA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON 2016 Abstract The eighteenth century in India saw the decline of the Mughal empire and the rise of several regional states. From the mid-1700s, however, the consolidation of regional states was checked by British expansion in the subcontinent. This thesis is a case study of one regional state, the state of Sindh in present day Pakistan. It engages in the historiographical debates about the relative importance of political and economic factors in explanations of Mughal decline during the eighteenth century. It also addresses questions about the motives that impelled British annexation, and the processes through which annexation was achieved. The study analyses Sindh’s transition from being a peripheral region in the twilight days of the Mughal empire to its annexation by the British in 1843. It is based on some Persian sources, along with British archival records and a number of eighteenth and nineteenth century travelogues. The thesis begins with a study of the process of state formation in Sindh by the Sufi Kalhora tribe. Although increasingly independent from 1701, the Sindh state continued to pay tribute to the Mughals until 1739, then to Persia until 1747, and then to the Afghan king until 1783, when the Talpur Meers replaced the Kalhoras as Sindh’s ruler. Under both the Kalhoras and the Talpurs, a significant expansion of trade helped sustain the Sindh state and resulted in the emergence of a strong mercantile class. The thesis critically examines the role of the new commercial class and its relationship with Sindh’s rulers. But the political edifice constructed by the Talpurs was weak. The thesis argues that when the rise of French and Russian imperialism in the Middle East made Sindh strategically and commercially important to the British, the political weakness of the Talpur regime facilitated British encroachment in Sindh. The final annexation of Sindh in 1843, following two battles with the Meers, was the result of a number of developments: it was the culmination of a long-drawn-out weakening of the Sindhi polity; it was connected to European rivalries in Central Asia and also to the East India Company’s new appreciation of the commercial importance of Sindhi trade along the Indus river. More broadly, the annexation in 1843 needs to be i understood in the context of the interplay of British, French, Russian, Afghan, Sikh and Persian ambitions since the beginning of the nineteenth century. ii Acknowledgements I am immensely grateful to Prof. Sekhar Bandyopadhyay for the guidance and support he has given me during the course of my PhD research and also to Dr. Pauline Keating, my secondary supervisor for the support she gave me to make this PhD writing possible. I am also thankful to my friends Dr. Grace Miller, Dr. Sabbaq Ahmed, Ms. Louise Mataia-Milo and Mr. Nanak Das for their co-operaction during this research. As always I am deeply grateful to my family for their continual loving support. Finally I would like to thank the history department staff of Victoria University of Wellington for their constant encouragement. iii iv v http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Punjab Gulshan Lall Chopra, The Punjab as a Sovereign State, 1799-1839 (Lahore: Uttar Chand Kapur & Sons, 1928), 35 vi Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………….……………... i Acknowledgements…………………………………………………….……iii Maps…………………………………………………………….………...….v Table of Contents……………………………………………….…………..iiv Glossary…………………………………………………………………….viii Introduction…………………………………………………………………...1 Chapter 1: Mughal State and the rise of the Kalhoras………………………13 Chapter 2: The Kalhoras under Persian and Afghan rule….………………..49 Chapter 3: Talpur Rule in Sindh……………………………………….……87 Chapter 4: Regional Politics and British Intervention……………………..113 Chapter 5: The Survey of the Indus and the Development of British Commercial Interests in Sindh…………………………………………….143 Chapter 6: Towards Annexation………………………………………...…187 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………241 Appendix…………………………………………………………………...253 Bibliography…………………………………………………………….…255 vii Glossary akbarnavees news reporter/writer al-Mehdi ‘the divinely guided one’; ‘redeemer of Islam’ alim ‘the learned one’, plural ulema Amaldars officer in charge of revenue units Amin officer in revenue department with responsibility for khalisa or jagir land amini remuneration given to the Amin who mediated disputes between zamindars ana one-sixteenth part of Rupees Arbab plural of Arab arida letter bait abode Bania a caste which undertook commerce or trade as a profession. batai crop sharing bigha a unit of land area which varied in different regions daftar record or register dargah Sufi shrine dera district deradars people in charge of districts deradari district Diwan head of revenue and justice department fuqra plural of faqir or dervish; member of a Sufi community Faujdar commander of a fort ghalla-bakshi crop sharing ghuto tax collected on profits raised by alcohol breweries haqiqa a Sufi concept meaning ‘truth’ or ‘reality’ viii Haqim chief hasil tax collected ijara revenue farming ijara colaba tax on land watered by floods ijara patan tax on trade conducted on river banks, usually one or two percent of the load’s value, collected by people with contracts to collect the tax on specified sections of river banks inam tax-exempt land grant insha composition jagir land given to Mughal officials in lieu of salary Jagirdars holder of a jagir Jam Chief Jat an ethnic community kabail tribe kam dastur taxation rate karamat miracle Kardars district officers kankut estimate of grain to be collected per bigha of premeasured land khalisa land directly under state jurisdiction khanqah hospice kharaj tribute; capitation tax lakh numerical unit equivalent to a hundred thousand laqab title madad-i-ma’ash revenue free land grant Madar-ul-Maham Prime Minister mahal revenue unit within a suba or province Mahdawi an Islamic sect founded by Saiyid Muhammad Jaunpuri (d.1505) based on his claim of being al-Mehdi mahsul cash collected as tax ix mardum common people Muqaddam village headman mansab Mughal official rank which determined the status in the imperial hierarchy, salary and number of cavalry to be maintained by the mansabdar or mansab holder. Mukhtar-i-Amir Prime Minister Munshi writer, accountant Mutassadi custom officer murid disciple Naib lieutenant or viceroy nazar deed inspection Nizam title of the ruler of Hyderabad in Deccan pargana subdivisions within suba (province) parwana order patta permit peshkash obligatory presents pir Sufi master qazi judge Quanungo an officer in a revenue department that maintained land tenure records Rais landed elites or chiefs raizki a goods tax; every buyer paid one ana on purchased goods worth one rupee and five percent of the value of purchased goods worth more than one hundred rupees; Sahukars and big businessmen paid just four percent. Rupee Indian currency Safir envoy sahukar moneylender Saiyid an individual who trace descent from Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima. sajjada nashin one who sits on Sufi prayer carpet as successor of a Sufi pir x salak Sufic path salamati kashti tax of six anas collected every ship or boat which returned back on shore after trade Sanad Royal decree or mandate sarai members of Kalhora tribe sardarakhti tax of one ana on every fruit tree sar shumari poll tax sar shumari isnafigran a tax on woodsmiths, ironsmiths, textile dyers and other labourers sawars cavalry seri A unit of measuring extent of green crop on cultivated land Shahbander comptroller of the ports shaikh Sufi saint shajra chain of descent sharῑ’a Islamic law shikarmari tax collected on fishermen which was one-third or half of the value fishing shroff banker silsila Sufi order suba Province Subadar governor of suba suf wool Sufi Islamic mystic or those who follow Sufism, which is a school within Islam whose followers strive for direct communion with god Sultunat state taluqa revenue unit tariqat Sufic path Tasawwuf Sufism thana police post xi Wadero elder wah irrigation canal wali custodian, representative, friend Wazir minister, ruling elite Wa zir-i-Azam Prime Minister Wizarat office of Wazir or minister yarghmal hostage zabt revenue assessment system based on detailed measurement of land zamindar land holder who claims his share of produce from land zardarakhti tax on harvested fruit at the rate of one-third or half of the value of the total amount of fruit harvested zila district or revenue unit within a suba zimmis non-Muslims xii Introduction The eighteenth century saw the decline of the Mughals in India. Their empire fragmented into several autonomous regional states, and Mughal power became confined to the Delhi region. Some of the regional states such as Awadh, Hyderabad and Bengal were formed by the former Mughal nobles or their protégés. The Sikh, Maratha and Satnami states were established by peasant rebels led by local people. New states such as Rohilkhand and Farrukhabad emerged in regions that had been ‘Mughal’ in name only. Similiarily the Malabar and Mysore regions, where new polities also emerged in the 1700s, Mughal influence had always been weak. The Mughals lost the province of Sindh to Persia following Nadir Shah's invasion in 1739. The emergence of regional states in the eighteenth century was halted by British expansion in India. 1 From the middle of the century, the English East India Company [EIC] became a significant player in the interregional political conflicts of the time. Victories in the Battles of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1767) against the Nawabs of Bengal and Awadh gave the EIC access to resources that enhanced its Asian trade. Immediately after the Buxar victory, the British army, together with a contingent of merchants and gumastahs (middlemen), moved to Awadh. The granting of a parwana (permit) by the Mughal Emperor to trade freely in Bengal, and the EIC’s illegal trade in Awadh, led to clashes with the Nawabs of Bengal and Awadh.