Bahadur Shah I

Bahadur Shah (Urdu: بہادر شاه اول‎—Bahādur Shāh Awwal) (14 October 1643 – 27 February 1712), the seventh Mughal emperor of India, ruled from 1707 until his death in 1712. Born Mu'azzam, Shah was the third son of Aurangzeb with his Muslim Rajput wife Nawab Bai and the grandson of Shah Jahan. In his youth, he conspired to overthrow his father and ascend to the throne a number of times. Shah's plans were intercepted by the emperor, who imprisoned him several times. From 1696 to 1707, he was governor of Akbarabad (later known as Agra), Kabul and Lahore.

After Aurangzeb's death Shah's brother, Muhammad Azam Shah, declared himself successor before his defeat in the Battle of Jajau. During his reign, Shah bloodlessly annexed the Rajput states of Jodhpur and Amber and sparked controversy in the khutba by inserting the declaration of Ali as wali. His reign was also disturbed by the Sikh leader Banda Singh Bahadur, who led a rebillion against him. Bahadur Shah was buried in the Moti Masjid at Mehrauli in Delhi.

Bahadur Shah

Bahadur Shah may refer to

Bahadur Shah II

Mirza Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal emperor . He became the successor to his father, Akbar II with his death on 28 September 1837. He used Zafar, (translation: victory) a part of his name, for his nom de plume (takhallus) as an Urdu poet, and wrote many Urdu ghazals. He was a nominal Emperor, as the Mughal Empire existed in name only and his authority was limited only to the city of Delhi. Following his involvement in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British exiled him to Rangoon in British-controlled Burma.

Before the reign

Zafar's father, Akbar II had been imprisoned by the British and he was not his father’s preferred choice as his successor. One of Akbar Shah's queens, Mumtaz Begum, pressured him to declare her son Mirza Jahangir as his successor. However, The East India Company exiled Jahangir after he attacked their resident, Archibald Seton, in the Red Fort.

Reign

Bahadur Shah Zafar presided over a Mughal Empire that barely extended beyond Delhi's Red Fort. The Maratha Empire had brought an end to the Mughal Empire in the 18th century and the regions of India under Mughal rule had either been absorbed by the Marathas or declared independence and turned into smaller kingdoms. The Marathas installed Shah Alam II in the throne in 1772, under the protection of the Maratha general Mahadaji Shinde and maintained suzerainty over Mughal affairs in Delhi. The East India Company became the dominant political and military power in mid-nineteenth century India. Outside the region controlled by the Company, hundreds of kingdoms and principalities, fragmented their land. The emperor was respected by the Company and had given him a pension. The emperor permitted the Company to collect taxes from Delhi and maintain a military force in it. Zafar never had interest in statecraft or had any "imperial ambition". After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British exiled him from Delhi.