Bahadur Shah I

Did You Know?

• He was the only Mughal emperor to have the title Sayyid, used by descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
• His full name, including titles, was 'Abul-nasr Sayyid Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Shah Alam Bahadur Shah Badshah'.
• Copper coins from Aurangzeb's reign were re-minted with his name.

Early life

Bahadur Shah was born as Muhammad Mu'azzam on 14 October 1643 in Burhanpur, the second oldest son of prince Muhi al-Din Muhammad (later Aurangzeb) and his Pothwari wife Nawab Bai of the Jarral tribe. During his grandfather Shah Jahan's reign, Mu'azzam served as vizer of Lahore from 1653 to 1659. In 1663 he replaced Shaista Khan as governor of Deccan; Shivaji raided the outskirts of Aurangabad while Mu'azzam did little to prevent it, prompting Aurangzeb to send Raja Jai Singh, who defeated Shivaji and secured the Treaty of Purandar.

Mu'azzam was given charge of the Deccan in May 1667, assisted by Maharaja Jaswant Singh. In 1670 he organized an insurgency to overthrow Aurangzeb, possibly at Maratha instigation, but Aurangzeb learned of it and sent Mu'azzam's mother to dissuade him. Mu'azzam returned to court and spent years under supervision. He nearly revolted again in 1680 over Aurangzeb's scorched earth policy against Rajput rebellions, but was again dissuaded. From 1681 to 1687, historian Munis Faruqui describes Mu'azzam as a 'grudgingly obedient son'.

Emperorship

After Aurangzeb's death in 1707 without a designated successor, Mu'azzam, then governor of Kabul, defeated his half-brother Muhammad Azam Shah at the Battle of Jajau in June 1707; Azam Shah and his son Ali Tabar were killed. Mu'azzam ascended the throne at age 64 on 19 June 1707 with the title Bahadur Shah I. He then marched to the Deccan and defeated and killed his other half-brother Muhammad Kam Bakhsh near Hyderabad in January 1708. Kam Bakhsh had earlier taken Bijapur, where he ascended the throne and gave himself the title Padshah Kam Bakhsh-i-Dinpanah, conquering Kulbarga and Wakinkhera. A rivalry between his officials Taqarrub Khan and Ahsan Khan developed; Ahsan Khan had created a tax-free marketplace, which Kam Bakhsh ordered stopped after Taqarrub Khan reported it.

Death

According to historian William Irvine, the emperor was in Lahore in January 1712 when his health failed. He made his final public appearance on 24 February and died during the night of 27–28 February; Mughal noble Kamwar Khan attributed the death to 'enlargement of the spleen'. His body was sent to Delhi on 11 April under the supervision of his widow Mihr-Parwar and Chin Qilich Khan, and he was buried on 15 May in the courtyard of the Moti Masjid in Mehrauli. He was succeeded by his son Jahandar Shah.