Context: As the Assembly elections in West Bengal draw closer, the ‘insider-outsider’ theme has grown to become one of the topics of political debate. The ruling party of the West Bengal has attacked the ruling central party by calling them as bargi.

Who were the bargis?

• The word comes from the Persian bargir, meaning Burden taker as noted by historian Surendra Nath Sen in his 1928 work The Military System of The Marathas.
• But in the Mughal and Maratha armies, the term signified a soldier who rode a horse furnished by his employer.
• In the Maratha cavalry, any able-bodied person could enlist as a bargir, unless he had the means to buy a horse and military outfit. In this case he could join as a silhedar, who had much better prospects of advancement.
• Both the bargirs and silhedars were under the overall control of the Sarnobat (Commander in Chief).

Why did the Marathas raid Bengal?

• Maratha incursions into the Mughal province of Bengal (which included the regions of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa) between 1741 and 1751 came at a time of intense political uncertainty in both the Maratha and the Mughal courts.
• As the Mughal Empire was collapsing by the 18th century, the two Maratha chieftains, the Peshwa dynasty of Pune and Raghoji I Bhonsale of Nagpur, were struggling to secure taxation rights in its far-flung regions, and violently disagreed over their spheres of influence.
• In Bengal, Nawab Subahdar Sarfaraz Khan had been overthrown by his deputy Alivardi Khan.
• After Khan’s inauguration, the provincial governor of Orissa, Murshid Quli II, rebelled against the autocrats.
• The revolt failed.
• Raghoji was also motivated by internal politics within the Maratha camp, trying to establish his claim over Bengal first at this time of political disturbance in the province.

Maratha invasions on Bengal

• The Marathas first entered the Mughal province in August 1741.
• In 1743, the Bengal province faced the wrath of two Maratha armies, both aggressive with each other.
• Khan took advantage of the rivalry bringing the Peshwa to his side, promising him to pay tribute for the foreseeable future.
• Raghoji returned to Bengal in 1744 and 1745, when his army reached as far as Murshidabad.
• In 1748, the Marathas reached Bihar.
• In 1750 they once again raided Murshidabad, with each wave of invasion, the damage done became more and more severe.
• Finally, in 1751, the Marathas reached an agreement with Alivardi Khan.
• The Nawab promised an annual tribute of 12 lakh rupees and the cession of Orissa to the Marathas. In return, the Bhosales’ gave word to not return to Bengal.

Impact of the Invasion

• The Dutch believed that 400,000 people had been killed.
• Losses of weavers, silk winders and those who cultivated mulberry were particularly high.
• People were so distressed that they would take flight even on imaginary alarms, and wander around.
• Poorer districts like Birbhum felt the effects of the invasions for a much longer period, marked by shortages and a sharp rise in prices.
• The 18th century Bengali text ‘Maharashtra purana’ provided grim details of the deep impact that the invasions had left on the traditions of the Bengali people.
• They shouted over and again, ‘give us money’, and when they got no money, they filled people’s nostrils with water, and some they seized and drowned in tanks, and many died of suffocation.

How did the word ‘bargi’ enter Bengali language and literature?

• In the 18th century, the Maratha invasions were popularly referred to as the massacre done by the ‘bargis’.
• The word also appears in the popular Bengali folk song, ‘Dhitang dhitang bole’.