From Prosperity to Decline

This book is an in-depth study of the eighteenth century Bengal, especially the pre-Plassey period. It tries to dispel some of the myths which persist even now. Professor Sushil Chaudhury argues that Bengal's prosperity which was so marked during the first half of the eighteenth century came to an end gradually after Plassey, and in the second half of the century there followed an economic impoverishment of the province under the aegis of the English East India Company and its servants. He contends that it is the very prosperity of Bengal, and not its decline or weakness, which made it a lucrative prize in the eyes of the Europeans in the mid-eighteenth century. He demonstrates this with a thorough analysis of Bengal's trade and industries as also the activities of the merchant-banking class in the eighteenth century. The author argues that the British conquest of Bengal was neither accidental nor was it the result of an internal crisis in Bengal.