The Treaty of Allahabad

Robert Clive concluded two important treaties at Allahabad in August 1765—one with the Nawab of Awadh and the other with the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II.

Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula agreed to:

(i) surrender Allahabad and Kara to Emperor Shah Alam II;

(ii) pay Rs 50 lakh to the Company as war indemnity; and

(iii) give Balwant Singh, Zamindar of Banaras, full possession of his estate.

Shah Alam II agreed to:

(i) reside at Allahabad, to be ceded to him by the Nawab of Awadh, under the Company’s protection;

(ii) issue a farman granting the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company in lieu of an annual payment of Rs 26 lakh; and

(iii) a provision of Rs 53 lakh to the Company in return for nizamat functions (military defence, police, and administration of justice) of the said provinces.

Clive did not want to annex Awadh because it would have placed the Company under an obligation to protect an

extensive land frontier from the Afghan and the Maratha invasions. The treaty made the Nawab a firm friend of the Company, and turned Awadh into a buffer state. Similarly, Clive’s arrangement with Shah Alam II was inspired by practical considerations. It made the emperor a useful ‘rubber stamp’ of the Company. Besides, the emperor’s farman legalised the political gains of the Company in Bengal.

Mir Kasim, the dethroned Nawab of Bengal, spent the rest of his life in abject misery as a homeless wanderer and died in June 1777.