Clive and the Company's Gumastahs
By Nandlal Chatterji
Summary
This article investigates the abuses perpetrated by the East India Company’s gumastahs (local agents) during Robert Clive’s second administration in Bengal. A letter from Muhammad Riza Khan dated February 1766 complains that gumastahs coerced peasants to sell commodities at low prices, demanded excessive payments, evaded customs duties and obstructed the collection of land revenue. They placed peons over villagers, erected guardhouses and generally terrorised the countryside. In response, the Select Committee issued strict regulations: gumastahs were prohibited from interfering with revenue collection, assuming judicial or military authority, or quartering their peons in villages; they had to register their licences, and violations could result in dismissal or fines. The article argues that these measures aimed to curb exploitation and restore confidence among local people, highlighting the challenge of controlling private agents who operated far from central oversight.
Conclusion
The study shows that Company gumastahs wielded oppressive power in rural Bengal until Clive’s administration imposed regulations to restrain them. By documenting these abuses and the resulting reforms, the article sheds light on the early difficulties of colonial governance and the tensions between private profit and public order.