The Bargi Raids: How Maratha Cavalry Burned Eighteenth-Century Bengal

This episode of The History of Bangladesh turns to a brutal chapter in the late Mughal period: the Maratha raids, or Bargi attacks, that devastated Bengal between 1741 and 1751. Lucas and Luna walk through how Maratha light cavalry under leaders like Raghuji Bhonsle and Bhaskar Pandit repeatedly swept across the countryside, looting villages, demanding chauth — a 25% tribute — and clashing with the Nawab of Bengal, Alivardi Khan. Lucas explains Alivardi's dogged resistance, his shifting alliances with the Mughal emperor in Delhi and the British East India Company at Fort William, and the horrific human toll: widespread famine, depopulation of districts like Murshidabad and Bardhaman, and the long scar left on Bengali memory. The conversation explores why the raids are called 'Bargi' — derived from Marathi bargi, meaning horseman — and how they helped pave the way for British dominance by exhausting Bengal's treasury and military. Lucas quotes contemporary accounts from Bengali poet Gangaram's Maharastrapuran and European traders' diaries to paint a vivid picture of fire, flight, and survival. A forgotten catastrophe that reshaped Bengal's destiny.

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