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Bahadur Shah II
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar ابو ظفر سِراجُ الْدین محمد بُہادر شاہ ظفر |
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|---|---|
| Emperor of the Mughal Empire | |
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| Reign | September 28, 1838 – September 14, 1857 |
| Titles | بُہادر شاہ دوم |
| Born | October 24, 1775 |
| Delhi, Mughal Empire | |
| Died | November 7, 1862 |
| Rangoon, Burma, British Raj | |
| Buried | Bahadur Shah Zafar Dargah, Rangoon, Burma |
| Predecessor | Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II |
| Successor | Mughal Empire abolished Descendants listed 22 sons including Mirza Mughal Mirza Khazr Sultan Jawan Bakht Jamshed Bakht Mirza Quaish Mirza Fathul Mulk Bahadur (alias Mirza Fakhru) Mirza Shah Abbas Unknown number of daughters including Rabeya Begum Begum Fatima Sultan Raunaq Zamani Begum (Poss. Grand Daughter) Kulsum Zamani Begum |
| Consort | Begum Zeenat Mahal |
| Wife/wives | Begum Ashraf Mahal |
| Begum Akhtar Mahal | |
| Begum Zeenat Mahal | |
| Begum Taj Mahal | |
| Dynasty | Mughal Empire |
| Father | Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II |
| Mother | Lalbai |
Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar (Urdu: ابو ظفر سِراجُ الْدین محمد بُہادر شاہ ظفر), also known as Bahadur Shah or Bahadur Shah II (Urdu: بُہادر شاہ دوم; October 24, 1775 – 7 November 1862) was the last of the Mughal emperors in India, as well as the last ruler of the Timurid Dynasty . He was the son of Akbar Shah II from his Hindu wife Lalbai. He became the Mughal Emperor upon his father's death on September 28, 1838. Zafar (Urdu: ظفر) was his nom de plume (takhallus) as an Urdu poet.
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Emperor Bahadur Shah II presided over a Mughal empire that stretched barely beyond the modern city of Delhi. The British Empire was the dominant political and military powers in 19th-century India. Hundreds of minor kings fragmented the land. The emperor was paid some respect and allowed a pension and authority to collect some taxes, and maintain a token force in Delhi by the British, but he posed no threat to any power in India. Bahadur Shah II himself did not excel in statecraft or possess any imperial ambitions.
As the Indian rebellion of 1857 spread, Indian regiments seized Delhi. Seeking a figure that could unite all Indians, Hindu and Muslim alike, most rebelling Indian kings and the Indian regiments accepted Zafar as the Emperor of India, under whom the smaller Indian kingdoms would unite until the British were defeated. Zafar was the least threatening and least ambitious of monarchs, and the legacy of the Mughal Empire was more acceptable a uniting force to most allied kings than the domination of any other Indian kingdom.
When the rebellion was crushed, he fled to Humayun's Tomb and hid there. However, he was captured and his sons Mirza Mughal and Khizar Sultan and his grandson Abu Bakr were executed in his presence by Major Hodson and, infamously, their severed heads presented to him in plates instead of his food. [1] He told the British that this was the way that the sons of Mughals came to their fathers — with their heads in red (i.e., dead).[1]
He was exiled to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) in 1858 along with his wife Zeenat Mahal and the remaining members of the family. A formal end was declared to the Mughal Dynasty that began with Babur in 1526. In 1877, the title Emperor of India was assumed by the reigning British monarch, who at that time was Queen Victoria; it was held in that manner until 1948, when it was retroactively terminated effective August 14, 1947. His departure as Emperor marked the end of more than 300 years old Mughal rule in India.
Bahadur Shah died in exile on November 7, 1862; he was buried near Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, at the site that later became known as Bahadur Shah Zafar Dargah.[2] His wife Zinat Mahal died in 1886.[3]
Bahadur Shah Zafar was also one of the greatest Urdu poets in Indian history. He wrote a large number of Urdu Ghazals, out of these Urdu poetry, a large chunk was lost and destroyed during the unrest of 1857-1858, yet a large collection still survive, which was later on compiled as Kulliyyat-i Zafar. The court that he maintained, arguably pretentious and decadent for a ruler whose writ extended only to Delhi's Red Fort, was home to other writers of high standing in Urdu and South Asian literature, including Ghalib, Dagh, Mumin, and Zauq (Dhawq).
Modern India has respected him as one of the first nationalists, who actively opposed the foreign rule of the British in the Indian soil. Several movies in Hindi/Urdu were made depicting his role during the rebellion as hero. Some streets have been named after him.One of such road is Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi and Bahadur Shah Zafar Road in Lahore, Pakistan. A statue of Bahadur Shah Zafar has been erected at Vijayanagram Palace at Bhelupura in Varanasi. The road leading from Bhelupura Police Station to Durgakund Tank has also been named as Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. From 1959, an academy named as All India Bahadur Shah Zafar Academy has been working in this regard to spread among people the knowledge of his contribution in the first national freedom movement of India.
In Bangladesh, the Victoria Park of old Dhaka has been renamed as Bahadur Shah Zafar Park to depict the respect innate in the hearts of the Bangladeshis for him. Emperor Bahadur Shah II presided over a Mughal empire that stretched barely beyond the modern city of Delhi.
Bahadur Shah Zafar is known to have had four wives. In order of marriage they are [4]
At least three lines of descent from Bahadur Shah Zafar are known:
- Delhi line -- son: Mirza Fathul Mulk Bahadur (alias Mirza Fakhru); grandson: Mirza Farkhunda Jamal; great-grandchildren: Late Hamid Shah and late Begum Qamar Sultan, who married a commoner.
- Howrah line -- son: Jawan Bakht, grandson: Jamshid Bakht, great-grandson: Mirza Muhammad Bedar Bakht (married Sultana Begum). Currently she owns a tea stall in Howrah.
- Hyderabad line -- son: Mirza Quaish, grandson: Mirza Abdullah, great-grandson: Mirza Pyare (married Habib Begum), great-great-granddaughter: Begum Laila Ummahani (married Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy).
There are also descendants of other Mughal kings beside Bahadur Shah Zafar II. Most of them used to have or inherited governor's or courtier's positions; some were viziers or worked in the court of the Shah. When the Mutiny came most of them fled the capital and changed their family name from Mirza, Mughal, Beg, etc. to something more common. Some escaped to distant principalities and held courtier's positions there. Examples include Jalaluddin Mirza's line of Bengal Zamindari under the Maharaja of Dighapatia and the Toluqari family, which claims to be Baron Gardner's descendants as well.
The following poem was written by Bahadur Shah Zafar as his epitaph; this is an English translation.
| “ |
My heart is not happy in this despoiled land Tell these emotions to go dwell elsewhere The nightingale laments neither to the gardener nor to the hunter I had requested for a long life a life of four days How unlucky is Zafar! For burial |
” |
In his book, The Last Mughal, William Dalrymple states that per Lahore scholar Imran Khan (and others), this nazm and the equally popular Na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon were not written by Zafar and they do not appear in any of the works published during Zafar's lifetime.
Another verse reads:
| “ |
Zafar, no matter how smart and witty one may be, he is not a man |
” |
- ^ Nizami, Hasan. accessdate=2007-07-22 "Khwaja Hasan Nizami's Book". http://www.kapadia.com.
- ^ The Dargah of Bahadur Shah Zafar in Rangoon.
- ^ Nawab Zeenat Mahal
- ^ Farooqi, Abdullah. accessdate=2007-07-22 Bahadur Shah Zafar Ka Afsanae Gam. Farooqi Book Depot.
- ^ Jee Nehein Lagta Ujrey Diyaar Mein. http://www.urdupoint.com.+Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
- Bahadur Shah Zafar at Kavita Kosh
- BBC Report on Bahadur Shah's possible descendants in Hyderabad
- An article on Bahadur Shah's descendants in Delhi and Hyderabad
- Another article on Bahadur Shah's descendants in Hyderabad
- An article on Bahadur Shah's descendants in Kolkata
- Forgotten Empress: Sultana Beghum sells tea in Kolkata
- Extracts from a book on Bahadur Shah Zafar, with details of exile and family
- Links to further websites on Bahadur Shah Zafar
- Poetry on urdupoetry.com
- Extract of talk by Zafar's biographer William Dalrymple (British Library)
| Preceded by Akbar Shah II |
Mughal Emperor 1837–1858 |
Succeeded by Mughal Empire abolished |
 Mughal Empire (1526 - 1857)  |
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| Emperors: | Babur - Humayun - Akbar - Jahangir - Shah Jahan - Aurangzeb - Lesser Mughals |
| Events: | First battle of Panipat - Second battle of Panipat - Third battle of Panipat |
| Architecture: | Mughal architecture - Humayun's Tomb - Agra Fort - Badshahi Mosque - Lahore Fort - Red Fort - Taj Mahal - Shalimar Gardens - Pearl Mosque - Bibi Ka Maqbara - See also |
| Adversaries: | Ibrahim Lodhi - Sher Shah Suri - Maharana Pratap - Hemu - Gokula - Shivaji - Guru Gobind Singh |