The Treaty of Allahabad 1765 and the British Reshaping of North India

The Treaty of Allahabad, concluded in August 1765 between the British East India Company, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, and the Nawab of Awadh Shuja-ud-Daulah, was the diplomatic instrument by which the British presence in north India was established on a firm legal and territorial basis. The treaty, negotiated by Robert Clive in the aftermath of the Battle of Buxar 1764, reshaped the political order of north India, established the British East India Company as the dominant political power in the subcontinent, and provided the legal framework for the subsequent British raj. The principal treatment of the British presence is the British East India Company and the Mughals page, and the parallel account of the related grant is the Diwani of Bengal.

The Context of the Treaty

The Treaty of Allahabad must be understood in the context of the British expansion of the 1750s and 1760s. The Battle of Plassey in 1757 had placed Bengal under effective British control, and the Battle of Buxar in 1764 had decisively defeated the combined forces of the Nawab of Awadh, the Nawab of Bengal, and the Mughal emperor. The British victory at Buxar created the conditions for a major diplomatic settlement, and Robert Clive, who had returned to India in 1765 as the Governor of Bengal, was the principal British negotiator.

The diplomatic and military context of the treaty is examined in detail in the British East India Company and the Mughals page, and the broader context of the British expansion is treated in the Mughal decline overview and the Mughal history overview pages. The progressive weakening of the Mughal state, the growing autonomy of the provincial governors, and the expansion of the European trading presence were all major factors in the diplomatic situation of 1765.

The Parties to the Treaty

The Treaty of Allahabad was a tripartite agreement between three Indian and British powers. The first party was the British East India Company, represented by Robert Clive as the Governor of Bengal. The second party was the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, who had been a major figure in the politics of north India since his accession in 1760 and who had been dependent on British support since the Battle of Buxar. The third party was the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, who had been defeated at Buxar and who depended on British support for the restoration of his position in Awadh.

The three parties had different interests. The British sought to consolidate the position they had acquired at Plassey and Buxar and to establish a legal basis for the expansion of British territorial control. The Mughal emperor sought to restore some of the authority that the Mughal dynasty had lost in the previous decades, and to secure a position for himself in the political order of north India. The Nawab of Awadh sought to restore his control of Awadh after the defeat at Buxar, and to secure a British guarantee of his position.

The Terms of the Treaty

The Treaty of Allahabad contained several provisions that reshaped the political order of north India. The first and most consequential was the grant of the diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa to the East India Company, examined in detail in the Diwani of Bengal page. The grant was made by a farman, or royal decree, of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, and it gave the Company the right to collect the land revenue of the three provinces, to administer civil justice, and to appoint the revenue officials. The grant was a transfer of the fiscal sovereignty of three of the richest provinces of the former Mughal empire.

The second major provision was the restoration of Awadh to the Nawab Shuja-ud-Daulah. By the terms of the treaty, the Nawab was confirmed in his position in Awadh, but was required to pay a large indemnity to the Company and to surrender portions of his territory, particularly the districts of Kora and Allahabad. The cession was a major diminution of the Awadh state, and its consequences are examined in the mughal successor states page.

The third major provision was the grant of the territory of Allahabad and an annual pension to the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. By the terms of the treaty, the emperor was given the territory of Allahabad and an annual pension, and the Company undertook to maintain him in his position as the nominal sovereign of the Mughal empire. The emperor’s position after the treaty was a major departure from the position of his predecessors, and its consequences for the Mughal dynasty are examined in the later Mughal emperors and the Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor pages.

The Grant of the Diwani

The grant of the diwani is examined in detail in the Diwani of Bengal page, but several points must be recalled here. The grant was made by a farman of the Mughal emperor, and it gave the Company the right to collect the land revenue of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. The fiscal resources of the three provinces were enormous, and the Company used these resources to fund the expansion of British territorial control across India. The grant was, in effect, the foundation of the British raj.

The grant also had important consequences for the Indian economy. The fiscal resources of Bengal were a major contribution to the industrial development of Britain, and the transfer of wealth from India to Britain, examined in the economic decline of the Mughal Empire and the colonial Mughal legacy pages, was a major event in the economic history of the early modern world.

The Restoration of Awadh

The restoration of Awadh to Shuja-ud-Daulah was a diplomatic achievement for the Nawab, but the terms of the restoration were a major diminution of his position. The Nawab was required to pay a large indemnity to the Company, to surrender portions of his territory, and to accept a British presence in his court. The restoration was the foundation of the Awadh state of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, but the terms of the restoration left the Nawab dependent on the British, and the consequences of this dependence are examined in the mughal successor states and the doctrine of lapse pages.

The Awadh state, established on the terms of the Treaty of Allahabad, was of the Indian successor states, and its history is examined in the mughal successor states page. The eventual British annexation of Awadh in 1856, examined in the doctrine of lapse page, was a major event in the history of the rebellion of 1857.

The Allahabad Area to the Emperor

The grant of the territory of Allahabad to the Mughal emperor was a symbolic and political event. The territory gave the emperor a personal domain, and the annual pension from the Company gave him a source of revenue. The arrangement was a departure from the position of the previous Mughal emperors, who had controlled large portions of north India from Delhi.

The emperor’s position at Allahabad was the foundation of the British-Mughal relationship that would persist until 1857. The emperor was a figure in the politics of north India, and the British authorities used his position as a source of legitimacy for their presence in India. The consequences of the emperor’s position are examined in the Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor and the later Mughal emperors pages.

The Impact on the Mughal Empire

The impact of the Treaty of Allahabad on the Mughal Empire was profound. The treaty established the British presence in north India on a legal and territorial basis, and it deprived the Mughal emperor of the fiscal resources that had sustained the dynasty. The emperor retained the formal symbols of sovereignty, but the real power was now in the hands of the British, and the Mughal authority was reduced to a ceremonial role.

The political vacuum in north India, which had existed since the weakening of the Mughal state in the early eighteenth century, was now filled by the British presence. The consequences of this development for the Mughal dynasty are examined in the Mughal decline overview, the later Mughal emperors, and the Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor pages.

The Legacy

The legacy of the Treaty of Allahabad was enormous. The treaty established the British presence in India on a legal and territorial basis, and it provided the foundation for the subsequent British raj. The treaty also established the legal basis for the reduction of the Mughal emperor to a position of ceremonial dependence on the British, and its consequences for the Mughal dynasty are examined in the rebellion of 1857 and the Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor pages.

The consequences of the treaty are also examined in the subsidiary alliance system, the doctrine of lapse, and the colonial Mughal legacy pages, and the broader Mughal decline overview treats the treaty as a major event in the history of the Mughal empire and the British raj.

The Broader Significance

The Treaty of Allahabad, in conjunction with the Diwani of Bengal, was the foundation of the British presence in India. The treaty established the British as the dominant political power in the subcontinent, and it provided the legal basis for the subsequent expansion of British territorial control. The treaty was, in effect, the diplomatic instrument by which the British raj was established, and its consequences are examined in the British East India Company and the Mughals and the colonial Mughal legacy pages. The connection to the rebellion of 1857 and the Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor is treated in the relevant pages.