Bahadur Shah Zafar

Bahadur Shah Zafar
بہادر شاہ ظفر
King of Delhi
Padishah
Portrait of Bahadur Shah II, c. 1854
Emperor of Hindustan
Reign28 September 1837 – 21 September 1857
Coronation29 September 1837
PredecessorAkbar II
SuccessorVictoria[a]
Born24 October 1775
Shahjahanabad, Mughal Empire (present-day Old Delhi, India)
Died7 November 1862(1862-11-07) (aged 87)
Rangoon, Burma Province, British India (present-day Yangon, Myanmar)
Burial7 November 1862
Rangoon, Burma
Spouse
IssueMirza Dara Bakht,
Mirza Mughal,
Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur,
Mirza Khizr Sultan,
Mirza Jawan Bakht,
Mirza Shah Abbas,
Mirza Abu Bakr
Mirza Ulugh Tahir
Names
Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar II[4]
Era dates
18th & 19th centuries
Regnal name
Bahadur Shah II
HouseHouse of Babur
DynastyTimurid dynasty
FatherAkbar Shah II
MotherLal Bai[5]
ReligionSunni Islam (Hanafi)
Imperial Seal
Military career
Battles / warsIndian Rebellion of 1857

Bahadur Shah II, (Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad; 24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862), widely known by his poetic title Bahadur Shah Zafar (Persian: بهادر شاه ظفر; Zafar lit.'Victory'),[b] was the twentieth and last Mughal emperor and an Urdu poet. He was a titular Emperor with his authority limited to the Walled City of Delhi, but was recognised the Emperor of India by rebel forces across the Indian subcontinent during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Zafar was exiled to Yangon in British-controlled Burma in December 1857 by the East India Company after rebel defeat in the war.

His spouse was Zeenat Mahal. He was the second son and the successor to his father, Akbar II, who died in 1837.[6] After the dissolution of the Mughal Empire following the war, the title of Empress of India was assumed by Queen Victoria (but only after 1876).

Bahadur Shah 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 pressured him to declare her son, Mirza Jahangir, as his successor. However, the East India Company exiled Jahangir after he attacked their resident in the Red Fort,[6] paving the way for Bahadur Shah to assume the throne.


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  1. ^ a b c d e f William Dalrynple (2007). Last Mughal (P/B). Penguin Books India. pp. xv, xvi, 110, 215, 216. ISBN 978-0-14-310243-4.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Punjab (India) (1911). Government Records: The Delhi residency and agency records, 1807-1857. Punjab Government Press. p. 455.
  3. ^ Pati, Biswamoy (25 February 2010). The Great Rebellion of 1857 in India: Exploring Transgressions, Contests and Diversities. Routledge. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-135-22514-8.
  4. ^ Frances W. Pritchett, Nets of Awareness: Urdu Poetry and Its Critics (1994), p. 5
  5. ^ Syed Mahdi Husain (2006). Bahadur Shah Zafar and the War of 1857 in Delhi. Aakar Books. p. 36. ISBN 9788187879916.
  6. ^ a b Husain, S. Mahdi (2006). Bahadur Shah Zafar; And the War of 1857 in Delhi. Aakar Books.