Latest / The Hidden History of Bengal: Kingdoms, Empires, and Revolution — Fexingo History / The Rise and Fall of the Bengal Navy: Khwaja Alimullah's Last Stand
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, we've talked a lot about Bengal's land battles—Plassey, Buxar, the peasant revolts. But there's a whole naval dimension that often gets overlooked. Today, I want to talk about Khwaja Alimullah, the Nawab of Dhaka, who built a navy that nearly changed the course of British rule in Bengal. Luna: Wait, Bengal had its own navy? I always thought the British dominated the rivers. Lucas: They eventually did, but in the early 1760s, the situation was very different. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the British East India Company had installed Mir Jafar as Nawab, but he was a puppet. His son-in-law, Mir Qasim, who became Nawab in 1760, decided to push back. He moved his capital from Murshidabad to Monghyr, fortified it, and began building a modern army with the help of European mercenaries. Lucas: But Mir Qasim knew that to truly challenge the British, he needed control of the rivers—the Ganges, the Padma, the Meghna—which were the highways of Bengal. And that's where Khwaja Alimullah came in. Luna: So Alimullah was like his admiral? Lucas: Exactly. Khwaja Alimullah was the Nawab of Dhaka, a powerful nobleman from a family of wealthy merchants. The Alimullah family had deep roots in Dhaka, and they controlled much of the river trade. When Mir Qasim decided to challenge the British, he turned to Alimullah to build a fleet. Lucas: Alimullah began constructing warships at Narayanganj, which was then a major shipbuilding center on the Shitalakshya River. He used traditional Bengal designs—the nawaras, which were fast, shallow-draft boats that could navigate the rivers and estuaries. But he also commissioned larger vessels armed with cannon. Luna: How many ships are we talking about? Lucas: Historians estimate that by 1763, Alimullah had assembled a fleet of over 100 warships, including some with 20 to 30 guns. They were crewed by skilled Bengali sailors and fishermen who knew every sandbar and current of the delta. This fleet was stationed at strategic points along the Meghna and Padma rivers. Lucas: The British, under Major Hector Munro, were aware of this growing threat. Munro had just won the Battle of Buxar in 1764, which gave the British control of the Gangetic plain. But he knew that as long as Alimullah's navy controlled the rivers, the British supply lines and communication were vulnerable. Luna: So what happened? Did they fight a big naval battle? Lucas: They did. The decisive engagement took place near Pirojpur, a town in what is now Barisal district, in late 1764. Alimullah had anchored his fleet in the narrow channels of the Meghna estuary, hoping to ambush the British flotilla coming down from Calcutta. The British force consisted of about 30 ships, mostly small sloops and gunboats, but they were well-armed. Lucas: The battle lasted several hours. Alimullah's navy fought fiercely—they used fire ships, which were old boats filled with combustibles and set adrift toward the British vessels. They also attempted boarding actions, which was the traditional Bengali style of naval warfare. But the British had an advantage: their cannon had longer range and better accuracy. Luna: So the British won? Lucas: Yes, eventually. The British managed to break through Alimullah's line, and many of his ships were sunk or captured. Alimullah himself escaped, but his fleet was decimated. Mir Qasim's cause was effectively lost after that. He fled to Delhi and died in obscurity. Luna: What happened to Khwaja Alimullah? Lucas: After the battle, Alimullah fled to the Sundarbans, the vast mangrove forest, where he lived as a fugitive for a while. Eventually, he surrendered to the British on the condition that his family would be spared. He was allowed to return to Dhaka, but his power was broken. The British confiscated most of his wealth, and he died in 1766. Lucas: The defeat at Pirojpur marked the end of any serious naval resistance to the British in Bengal. The East India Company then systematically dismantled the local shipbuilding industry. Narayanganj declined, and the British started building their own riverine navy, which they used to control the delta for the next 150 years. Luna: It's fascinating that Bengal had such a strong naval tradition. I never knew. Lucas: It's a forgotten chapter. Even before Alimullah, the Bengal Sultanate had a powerful navy that fought the Portuguese and the Mughals. In the 16th century, the sultanate's fleet could field hundreds of ships. But after the British victory, that tradition was erased. The nawaras—those elegant war boats—disappeared, and the knowledge of building them was lost. Lucas: There's also a personal tragedy in Alimullah's story. His son, Khwaja Ahsanullah, later became the Nawab of Dhaka, but he was a loyal British collaborator. The family that once challenged the Empire became its staunchest supporters. It's a story of how empire co-opts and transforms local elites. Luna: So the British used the Alimullah family's own influence to consolidate their rule? Lucas: Exactly. After the rebellion, the British pardoned the family and even restored some of their titles, but they made sure the Alimullahs would never again pose a threat. The Nawab of Dhaka became a ceremonial figure, a symbol of the old order under British control. Lucas: What strikes me is how quickly the naval threat was forgotten. The Battle of Pirojpur is barely mentioned in standard histories of British India. It's overshadowed by Buxar and Plassey. But for a few years, Khwaja Alimullah came closer than anyone to cutting the British lifeline on the rivers. Luna: If he had won, how different might history have been? Lucas: That's the big counterfactual. If Alimullah had destroyed the British flotilla, Mir Qasim might have been able to hold out longer, perhaps forcing the British to negotiate. But the British had deeper resources. Even if they lost that battle, they would have rebuilt. Still, it would have been a major setback and could have changed the timing of the British conquest of Bengal. Lucas: There's also the legacy of shipbuilding. Narayanganj was once a center of maritime technology, building ships that sailed to Southeast Asia and the Middle East. After the British, that industry shifted to Calcutta, but the skills were diluted. It's only recently that historians have started to study Bengal's pre-colonial naval history. Luna: I'm glad we're covering it. It's a reminder that history is full of turning points that almost happened. Lucas: Exactly. And next time you see a boat on the Meghna, remember that those waters once carried a navy that dared to challenge the British Empire.