Thread by @shrikanth_krish

During 1720s post Aurangazeb's death, Mughal hold began to loosen on many provinces

But the Nawab of Bengal was one person who was most loyal to Delhi and sent the maximum revenue!

Name : Suryanarayan Mishra! (later Murshid Quli Khan, founder of Murshidabad)

Mishraji was enslaved by a Persian at the age of 10

He traveled with his master to Persia, and returned to India in his 20s

Became close to the aged Aurangazeb who appointed him the Diwan of Bengal

Later became the first independent Nawab of Bengal circa 1720

Mishraji was succeeded by his son-in-law Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan and then his grandson Sarfaraz Khan

But his dynasty did not continue

Aliverdi Khan toppled this dynasty - Siraj ud-Daula (of the Battle of Plassey infamy) was Aliverdi's grandson, and no relation to Mishraji

It appears Murshid Quli Khan used to send half a million sterling to the Mughal Emperor every year

His tax collection methods -

1. Stripping defaulters naked and dousing them with cold water
2. Suspending defaulters by the heel
3. Throwing zamindars in a pit of human excrement

PS : These tidbits are from Dalrymple's recently published book - The Anarchy

Am trying to imagine an alternative scenario

What if Quli Khan had rediscovered his roots in the 1700s , done a Ghar-wapsi, and founded a Hindu dynasty in Bengal?

Many will retort -

The Marathas were raiders / plunderers as well
The Vijayanagar kings were not immune to plundering tendency either

But those dynasts didn't plunder their own subjects. But their enemies

That's the critical difference