Bahadur Shah Zafar
Bahadur Shah II | |
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Hanafi) | |
Imperial Seal | |
Military career | |
Battles/wars | Indian Rebellion of 1857 |
Bahadur Shah II (born Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad (24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862), usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah Zafar (Persian pronunciation:
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.[citation needed] However, the East India Company exiled Jahangir after he attacked their resident in the Red Fort,[4] paving the way for Bahadur Shah to assume the throne.
Reign
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Bahadur Shah Zafar ruled over a Mughal Empire that had by the early 19th century been reduced to only the city of Delhi and the surrounding territory as far as Palam.[5] The Maratha Empire had brought an end to the Mughal Empire in the Deccan during the 18th century and the regions of India formerly under Mughal rule had either been absorbed by the Marathas or had declared independence and become smaller kingdoms.[6] 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, who provided him with a pension. The emperor permitted the company to collect taxes from Delhi and maintain a military force in it. Zafar never had any interest in statecraft or had any "imperial ambition".[citation needed] After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British exiled him from Delhi.
Bahadur Shah Zafar was a noted Urdu poet, having written a number of Urdu ghazals. While some part of his opus was lost or destroyed during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a large collection did survive, and was compiled into the Kulliyyat-i-Zafar. The court that he maintained was home to several renowned Urdu scholars, poets and writers including Mirza Ghalib, Daagh Dehlvi, Momin Khan Momin, and Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq (who was also Bahadur Shah Zafar's mentor).
After Zafar's defeat, he said:[7]
غازیوں میں بُو رہے گی جب تلک ایمان کی
Ghāzīyoñ meñ bū rahe gī jab talak īmān kī
As long as there remains the scent ofGhazis,
تخت لندن تک چلے گی تیغ ہندوستان کی
Takht-i-Landan tak chale gī tegh Hindostān kī.
So long shall the sword of Hindustan flash before the throne of London.
1857 Rebellion
As the Indian Rebellion of 1857 spread, Sepoy regiments reached the Mughal Court at Delhi. Because of Zafar's neutral views on religions, many Indian kings and regiments accepted and declared him as the Emperor of India.[8]
On 12 May 1857, Zafar held his first formal audience in several years.[9] It was attended by several sepoys who were described as treating him "familiarly or disrespectfully".[10] When the sepoys first arrived at Bahadur Shah Zafar's court, he asked them why they had come to him, because he had no means of maintaining them. Bahadur Shah Zafar's conduct was indecisive. However, he yielded to the demands of the sepoys when he was told that they would not be able to win against the East India Company without him.[11]
On 16 May, sepoys and palace servants killed fifty-two Europeans who were prisoners of the palace and who were discovered hiding in the city. The executions took place under a peepul tree in front of the palace, despite Zafar's protests. The aim of the executioners who were not the supporters of Zafar was to implicate him in the killings.[12] Once he had joined them, Bahadur Shah II took ownership for all the actions of the mutineers. Though dismayed by the looting and disorder, he gave his public support to the rebellion. It was later believed that Bahadur Shah was not directly responsible for the massacre, but that he may have been able to prevent it, and he was therefore considered a consenting party during his trial.[11]
The administration of the city and its new occupying army was described as "chaotic and troublesome", which functioned "haphazardly". The Emperor nominated his eldest son,
During the
Trial
The trial was a consequence of the Sepoy Mutiny and lasted for 21 days, had 19 hearings, 21 witnesses and over a hundred documents in Persian and Urdu, with their English translations, were produced in the court.[15] At first the trial was suggested to be held at Calcutta, the place where Directors of East India company used to their sittings in connection with their commercial pursuits. But instead, the Red Fort in Delhi was selected for the trial.[16] It was the first case to be tried at the Red Fort.[17][unreliable source?]
Zafar was tried and charged on four counts:[18]
- Aiding and abetting the mutinies of the troops
- Encouraging and assisting divers persons in waging war against the British Government
- Assuming the sovereignty of Hindostan
- Causing and being accessory to the murder of the Christians.
— Proceedings of the April 1858 Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar 'King of Delhi'
On the 20th day of the trial Bahadur Shah II defended himself against these charges.[15] Bahadur Shah, in his defense, stated his complete haplessness before the will of the sepoys. The sepoys apparently used to affix his seal on empty envelopes, the contents of which he was absolutely unaware. While the emperor may have been overstating his impotence before the sepoys, the fact remains that the sepoys had felt powerful enough to dictate terms to anybody.[19] The eighty-two-year old poet-king was harassed by the mutineers and was neither inclined to nor capable of providing any real leadership. Despite this, he was the primary accused in the trial for the rebellion.[17]
Hakim Ahsanullah Khan, Zafar's most trusted confidant and both his Prime Minister and personal physician, had insisted that Zafar did not involve himself in the rebellion and had surrendered himself to the British. But when Zafar ultimately did this, Hakim Ahsanullah Khan betrayed him by providing evidence against him at the trial in return for a pardon for himself.[20]
Respecting
Death
In 1862, at the age of 87, he reportedly acquired an illness. In October, his condition deteriorated. He was "spoon-fed on broth" but he found that difficult too by 3 November.[22] On 6 November, the British Commissioner H.N. Davies recorded that Zafar "is evidently sinking from pure desuetude and paralysis in the region of his throat". To prepare for his death Davies commanded for the collection of lime and bricks and a spot was selected at the "back of Zafar's enclosure" for his burial. Zafar died on Friday, 7 November 1862 at 5 am. Zafar was buried at 4 pm near the Shwedagon Pagoda at 6 Ziwaka Road, near the intersection with Shwedagon Pagoda road, Yangon. The shrine of Bahadur Shah Zafar Dargah was built there after recovery of his tomb on 16 February 1991.[23][24] Davies commenting on Zafar, described his life to be "very uncertain".
Family and descendants
Bahadur Shah Zafar had four wives and numerous concubines. His wives were:[25]
- Begum Ashraf Mahal
- Begum Akhtar Mahal
- Begum Zeenat Mahal
- Begum Taj Mahal
He had twenty two sons including:[26]
- Mirza Dara Bakht Miran Shah (1790–1841)
- Mirza Muhammed Shahrukh Bahadur
- Mirza Kayumar Bahadur
- Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur[27] (alias Mirza Fakhru) (1816–1856)
- Mirza Muhammad Quwaish Bahadur
- Mirza Mughal (1817–1857)
- Mirza Quraish Shikoh (1820–c. 1889)
- Mirza Farkhanda Shah Bahadur
- Mirza Khizr Sultan (1834–1857)
- Mirza Bakhtavar Shah Bahadur
- Mirza Sohrab Hindi Bahadur
- Mirza Abu Nasr
- Mirza Muhammad Bahadur
- Mirza Abdullah
- Mirza Kuchak Sultan
- Mirza Abu Bakr (1837–1857)
- Mirza Jawan Bakht(1841–1884)
- Mirza Shah Abbas (1845–1910)
He had at least thirty-two daughters including:
- Rabeya Begum
- Begum Fatima Sultan
- Kulsum Zamani Begum
- Raunaq Zamani Begum (possibly a granddaughter, d. 1930)
Many individuals claim to be descendants of Bahadur Shah Zafar, living in places throughout India, such as
Religious beliefs
Part of a series on Islam Sufism |
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Islam portal |
Bahadur Shah Zafar was a devout
As a poet, Zafar imbibed the highest subtleties of mystical Sufi teachings.[29] He was also a believer of the magical and superstitious side of the Orthodox Sufism.[29] Like many of his followers, he believed that his position as both a Sufi pir and emperor gave him spiritual powers.[29] In an incident in which one of his followers was bitten by a snake, Zafar tried to cure him by giving a "seal of Bezoar" (a stone antidote to poison) and some water on which he had breathed to the man to drink.[30]
The emperor had a staunch belief in ta'aviz or charms, especially as a palliative for his constant complaint of piles, or to ward off evil spells.
In one of his verses, Zafar explicitly stated that both
Epitaph
He was a prolific
Original Urdu | Devanagari transliteration | Roman transliteration | English translation |
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لگتا نہیں ہے جی مِرا اُجڑے دیار میں |
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Image gallery
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One of the many Alam (flags) of the Mughal Empire.
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Capture of the emperor and his sons byHumayun's tombon 20 September 1857
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"The seizure of the King of Delhi by Capt Henry M Hodson of Hodson's Horse" painted by a British artist in 1878
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Portrait of Bhadur Shah titled "The Grand Mughal of Delhi" painted by Josef August Schoefft in 1854.
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Bahadur Shah II with his sons Mirza Jawan Bakht and Mirza Shah Abbas along with a British personnel while he was in exile in Burma
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Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1858, just after his trial and before his departure for exile in Burma.
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Poem written by Zafar, dated 29 April 1844
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Yangon, Myanmar
In popular culture
Zafar was portrayed in the play 1857: Ek Safarnama set during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 by Javed Siddiqui. It was staged at Purana Qila, Delhi ramparts by Nadira Babbar and the National School of Drama repertory company in 2008.[38] A Hindi-Urdu black-and-white movie, Lal Quila (1960), directed by Nanabhai Bhatt, showcased Bahadur Shah Zafar extensively.
TV Serials and Films
A television show Bahadur Shah Zafar aired on Doordarshan in 1986. Ashok Kumar played the lead role in it.
In the 2001 Hindi historical drama series
In the 2005 Hindi Movie
See also
- List of Mughal Emperors
- Emperor/Empress of India
- List of Indian monarchs
- List of Urdu poets
- Shahzada Muhammad Hidayat Afshar, Ilahi Bakhsh Bahadur
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-14-310243-4.
- ^ Frances W. Pritchett, Nets of Awareness: Urdu Poetry and Its Critics (1994), p. 5
- ISBN 9788187879916.
- ^ a b Husain, S. Mahdi (2006). Bahadur Shah Zafar; And the War of 1857 in Delhi. Aakar Books.
- ISBN 1340665395.
- ^ Mehta, Jaswant Lal (2005). Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707–1813. Sterling Publishers. p. 94.
- ^ Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar (10 May 1909). The Indian War of Independence – 1857 (PDF).
- ^ "The Sunday Tribune – Spectrum". The Tribune. 10 May 1907. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, p. 212
- ^ a b "Proceedings of the April 1858 Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar 'King of Delhi'". Parliamentary Papers. June 1859.
- ^ Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, p. 223
- ^ Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, p. 145 fn
- ^ Dalrymple (2009, pp. 341–47)
- ^ a b c Bhatia, H.S. Justice System and Mutinies in British India. p. 204.
- ^ Gill, M.S. Trials that Changed History: From Socrates to Saddam Hussein. p. 53.
- ^ a b Sharma, Kanika. A Symbol of State Power: Use of the Red Fort in Indian Political Trials (PDF). p. 1.
- ^ "Proceedings of the April 1858 Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar 'King of Delhi'" (PDF). Parliamentary Papers. June 1859. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
- ^ "The Rebel Army in 1857: At the Vanguard of the War of Independence or a Tyranny of Arms?". Economic and Political Weekly. 42.
- ^ Dalrymple, William (2007). The Last Mughal: The Fall of Delhi, 1857. Penguin India.
- ISBN 9780143102434.
- ^ Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, p. 473
- ^ By Amaury Lorin (9 February 2914) (9 February 2014). "Grave secrets of Yangon's imperial tomb". mmtimes.com. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, p. 474
- ^ Farooqi, Abdullah. "Bahadur Shah Zafar Ka Afsanae Gam". Farooqi Book Depot. Archived from the original on 9 July 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
- ^ Taimuri, Arsh (1937). Qila-e-Mu'llaa ki Jhalkiyan (Glimpses of the exalted fort). Delhi: Maktaba Jahan-numa.
- ^ "Search the Collections | Victoria and Albert Museum". Images.vam.ac.uk. 25 August 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "No Living Mughals, for now". The Hindu. 9 December 2002. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, p. 78
- ^ a b c d William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, p. 79
- ^ a b William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, p. 80
- ISBN 9788187879916.
- ISBN 9788170542674.
- ^ "Zoomify image: Poem composed by the Emperor Bahadhur Shah and addressed to the Governor General's Agent at Delhi February 1843". Bl.uk. 30 November 2003. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ "[SASIALIT] bahadur shah zafar poem and its translation attempts". Mailman.rice.edu. 7 January 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ "BBC Hindi – भारत". BBC. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ "Jee Nehein Lagta Ujrey Diyaar Mein". urdupoint.com. Retrieved 21 July 2007.
- ^ "A little peek into history". The Hindu. 2 May 2008. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012.
Bibliography
- Portrait of Bahadur Shah in 1840s The Delhi Book of Thomas Metcalfe
- Dalrymple, William (2009). The Last Mughal: The Fall of Delhi, 1857. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4088-0688-3.
- H L O Garrett (2007). The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar. Roli Books. ISBN 978-8174365842.
- K. C. Kanda (2007). Bahadur Shah Zafar and His Contemporaries: Zauq, Ghalib, Momin, Shefta : Selected Poetry. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 978-81-207-3286-5.
- S. Mahdi Husain (2006). Bahadur Shah Zafar; And the War of 1857 in Delhi. Aakar Books. ISBN 978-81-87879-91-6.
- Shyam Singh Shashi (1999). Encyclopaedia Indica: Bahadur Shah II, The last Mughal Emperor. Anmol Publications. ISBN 978-81-7041-859-7.
- Gopal Das Khosla (1969). The last Mughal. Hind Pocket Books.
- Pramod K. Nayar (2007). The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar. Orient Longman. ISBN 978-81-250-3270-0.
External links
- Bahadur Shah Zafar at IMDb
- Extract of talk by Zafar's biographer William Dalrymple (British Library)
- Poetry
- Bahadur Shah Zafar at Kavita Kosh Archived 16 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine (in Hindi)
- Bahadur Shah Zafar Poetry
- Extracts from a book on Bahadur Shah Zafar, with details of exile and family
- Bahadur Shah Zafar Ghazals
- Links to further websites on Bahadur Shah Zafar
- Poetry on urdupoetry.com
- Kalaam e Zafar – Select verses (in Hindi)
- Descendants
- BBC Report on Bahadur Shah's possible descendants in Hyderabad
- An article on Bahadur Shah's descendants in Delhi and Hyderabad[usurped]
- 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