Battle Field of Palashi – Present Scenario

Gautam Kumar Das

Simply overwhelmed by a glance of Patol (a kind of kitchen vegetable), jute and sugar cane farming in the battle field of Palashi after arrival to the spot, keep a vigil towards entire areas that change the direction of history, end the Muslim rules and begin the British rules. Battle field of Palashi is now covered with the greens of so many types of eatable and economic crops. The local farmers almost belong to the Muslim community and carry on their utmost efforts in farming of greens. Apart from Patol, jute and sugar canes, farmers grow here gourds, pumpkins, pepper, bananas etc. A local farmer, just introduced, discussing about their recent farming trends, gives me the company towards an obelisk, erected inside the farming land, which is entirely covered with the greens. We both precede to the spot criss-crossing the farming land through the slender and narrow passage in the jute and sugar cane growing field. The obelisk-spot, surrounded with the sugar cane bushes, is merely a small one having an approximately hundred feet area. The words engraved in a plaque upon the front-side wall of the obelisks is as following – ‘Here fell Bakshi Mir Madan, Chief of Artillery, Bahadur Ali Khan, Commander of Musketeers, Nauwe Singh Hazari, Captain of Artillery of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah at the head of charge ordered by Mir Madan at 2 pm, on June 23, 1757 in the Battle of Plassey, put up by Nadia District Citizens Council in 1972-73, the Silver Jubilee Year of Independence. Bakshi Mir Madan, Bahadur Ali Khan, Nauwe Singh Hazari are the three leaders, most obedient to their Nawab, Siraj-ud-Daulah at the head of charge of Mir Madan are killed in the battle field of Palashi, though the dead body of Mir Madan is buried in the Farid Shah Tomb of Faridpur village, almost five kilometer north of the battle ground of Palashi, burial places of the remaining two dead bodies of captains are unknown to the locals. The obelisk in the memory of three great leaders is shaded by a nearby Sirish tree grown up naturally. An apocryphal story without any proof is that of the death of Mir Madan, the Chief of Artillery. It is said that Mir Madan was beheaded in the battle ground by a soldier of the enemy side, but his horse took his body carrying on its back about half a mile and fell in this lone spot, as if its master was still alive. Anyway, the obelisk of three captains still stands at a narrow tiny place and the people interested to visit the battle ground of Palashi usually meander to this spot for a vigil at a glance.

In a clearing in the middle of mango orchards and fields, the battle ground of Palashi is today marked with memorials, statues and shrines. It is well-known to all that Palashi, a historically significant place for the Battle fought on the ground on the 23rd June, 1757 in between the British East India Company and Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, stands at the bank of river Hooghly, located approximately fifty kilometers north of the city of Krishnanagar, District Head Quarters of Nadia, West Bengal, India. The British people write Palashi as Plassey and the word ‘Plassey’ is engraved in a monument, called as Palashi monument, established in memories of the martyrs of the Battle of Palashi, being protected and supervised by the Archaeological Survey of India. The Battle of Palashi settled the Company’s presence in Bengal where Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah through a deep conspiracy by bribing Mir Zafar, the commander-in-chief of the Nawab’s army and Robert Clive assured too Mir Zafar to be sovereign of an undisputed throne as a Nawab of Bengal after the victory of the battle.

Visitors, if they like to have a cup of tea, there is a lone tea stall nearby the Palashi monument. There is no other business centre or mall for shopping here, yet after the victory of the battle Robert Clive, an employee of East India Company like commercial organisation, becomes a multi-millionaire. The Battle of Palashi becomes a fateful opportunity to Robert Clive and that’s why an estate of his own in the Country Clare, Ireland is renamed after Plassey for remembering his achievement in this battle. Even the building of the President of the University of Limerick, Ireland, stood nearby Robert Clive’s estate, is named after Plassey House. But here in the battle ground of Palashi, only a golden coloured half-bust statue of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the tragic hero of Bengal, is stood alone adjacent to the Palashi Monument and the dry leaves of mango trees, recently planted at a nearby Dak-Bungalow wither its beautiful look at the dusk. Yet it assumes that somebody’s strange mesmeric power holds the visitors till date in the battle field of Plassey, he is none but Siraj, the last independent Nawab of Bengal.

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Nov 10, 2019