Siraj-Ud-Daulah (1729 –July 2, 1759) was the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The end of his reign started the beginning of the British rule in India. Mahmud Siraj was an impetuous young man who had rebelled against his maternal grandfather Alivadi Khan and besieged Patna. However, his supporters were quickly killed off and Siraj was made to surrender. Alivardi Khan forgave his errant grandson and in 1753 officially made him the successor to the throne. Mahmud Siraj succeeded Ali Vardi Khan as the Nawab of Bengal in April 1756 at the age of 27, and took the name of Siraj-Ud-Daulah. He resented British presence in Bengal and managed to capture the Fort William from the British in June 1756. During this time, he became infamous for the Black Hole incident.

Following Siraj-Ud-Daulah’s defeat at the Battle of Plassey, he escaped to Murshidabad and then to Patna by boat. He was eventually arrested by Mir Jafar's (who had betryayed him) soldiers. On the second of July, 1757, Siraj-ud-Daulah was brutually executed by Mohammad Ali Beg under the orders of Mir Jafar.

Many European scholars are of opinion that inspite of Siraj’s celebration as a freedom fighter, he was an oppurtunistic, inveterate leader. They are of opinion that his opposition to the British was mainly a personal desire of power rather than the spirit of nationalism. In his biography of Siraj-ud-daulah, Robert Clive observes: "Siraj-ud-daula has been pictured as a monster of vice, cruelty and depravity”. In 1778, Robert Orme commented on the relationship of Siraj-ud-daulah with his maternal grandfather Ali Vardi Khan:

"Mirza Mahmud Siraj, a youth of seventeen years, had discovered the most vicious propensities, at an age when only follies are expected from princes. But the great affection which Allaverdy [Ali Vardi] had borne to the father was transferred to this son, whom he had for some years bred in his own palace; where instead of correcting the evil dispositions of his nature, he suffered them to increase by overweening indulgence: born without compassion, it was one of the amusements of Mirza Mahmud's childhood to torture birds and animals; and, taught by his minions to regard himself as of a superior order of being, his natural cruelty, hardened by habit, rendered him as insensible to the sufferings of his own species as of the brute creation [animals]: in conception he was not slow, but absurd; obstinate, sullen, and impatient of contradiction; but notwithstanding this insolent contempt of mankind, innate cowardice, the confusion of his ideas rendered him suspicious of all those who approached him, excepting his favourites, who were buffoons and profligate men, raised from menial servants to be his companions: with these he lived in every kind of intemperance and debauchery, and more especially in drinking spiritous liquors to an excess, which inflamed his passions and impaired the little understanding with which he was born. He was, however, cunning enough to carry himself with much demureness in the presence of Allaverdy, whom no one ventured to inform of his real character; for in despotic states the sovereign is always the last to hear what it concerns him most to know."

Two Muslim historians of the period wrote of him, and both made specific mention of his exceptional cruelty and arrogance. Ghulam Hussain Salim wrote:

"Owing to Siraj ud Dowla’s harshness of temper and indulgence, fear and terror had settled on the hearts of everyone to such an extent that no one among his generals of the army or the noblemen of the city was free from anxiety. Amongst his officers, whoever went to wait on Siraj ud Dowla despaired of life and honour, and whoever returned without being disgraced and ill-treated offered thanks to God. Siraj ud Dowla treated all the noblemen and generals of Mahabat Jang [Ali Vardi Khan] with ridicule and drollery, and bestowed on each some contemptuous nickname that ill-suited any of them. And whatever harsh expressions and abusive epithet came to his lips, Siraj ud Dowla uttered them unhesitatingly in the face of everyone, and no one had the boldness to breath freely in his presence.

The other historian, Ghulam Hussain Tabadabai had this to say about him:

"Making no distinction between vice and virtue, he carried defilement wherever he went, and, like a man alienated in his mind, he made the house of men and women of distinction the scenes of his depravity, without minding either rank or station. In a little time he became detested as Pharaoh, and people on meeting him by chance used to say, ‘God save us from him!'"