Meera, a history student, is studying land records of Bengal from the years after the Permanent Settlement of 1793. In an old revenue file she finds long lists of estates put up for sale when their holders fell behind on payments. A Company letter in the same file explains what officials expected the new settlement to achieve in the countryside. She also notes that many great landholders in these papers carry a royal title, and she finds a later photograph of a grand mansion built by one such family. She now tries to connect these sources with what she has read about Bengal in the early years of Company rule.
The grand mansion in Meera's photograph is a city palace of the kind built by rich zamindars of Bengal, such as the Burdwan raja's palace on Diamond Harbour Road. By when did many rich zamindars have such city palaces?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → By the late nineteenth century
Option (1) By the early eighteenth century — Incorrect. The early eighteenth century was the time of Mughal decline, well before Company rule in Bengal began. These palaces came much later.
Option (2) By the late nineteenth century — Correct. By the late nineteenth century many rich zamindars of Bengal had city palaces with ballrooms, large grounds and porches on Corinthian columns. The Burdwan raja's City Palace in Calcutta was one of them.
Option (3) By the late seventeenth century — Incorrect. The late seventeenth century was the Mughal period, before the Company's land settlement. The zamindar city palaces belong to a much later time.
Option (4) By the late eighteenth century — Incorrect. The late eighteenth century was when the Permanent Settlement began and many estates were being sold. The grand city palaces came about a hundred years later.
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