OldisGold: Bahadur Shah Zafar

BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR

1775 - 1862 | Delhi, India

Last Mughal Emperor and contemporary of Ghalib and Zauq.

Pen Name : 'zafar'

Real Name : Mirza Abul Muzaffar Sirajuddin

Born : 30 Oct 1775, Delhi, India

Died : 07 Nov 1862 Rangoon Burma

House	Timurid Dynasty
Father	Akbar Shah II
Mother	Lela Banu Begum
Religion Wife	Sunni Islam Zeenat Mahal Begum

Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar also known as Bahadur Shah or Bahadur Shah II (October 24, 1775 – November 7, 1862) was the last of the Mughul emperors in India, as well as the last ruler of the Timurid Dynasty. He was the son of Akbar Shah II by his Hindu wife Lalbai.
He became the 17th Mughal emperor on 28 September 1837 after the death of his father. In fact, he had not been his father’s preferred choice to succeed him. Akbar II was planning to name Mirza Jahangir, son of his wife Mumtaz Begum as the successor but could not do so after Mirza Jahangir got into serious conflict with the British.
Zafar was not an ambitious person and did not exercise much power even after becoming the emperor. The British, who were by now gaining much political control over India, did not consider him to be a threat.

Family

Bahadur Shah Zafar is known to have had four wives and numerous concubines. In order of marriage, his wives were
o.Begum Ashraf Mahal
o.Begum Akhtar Mahal
o.Begum Zeenat Mahal
o.Begum Taj Mahal

Zafar had 22 sons, including:

Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur (alias Mirza Fakhru)
Mirza Mughal
Mirza Khazr Sultan
Jawan Bakht
Mirza Quaish
Mirza Shah Abbas

He also had at least 32 daughters, including:

Rabeya Begum
Begum Fatima Sultan
Kulsum Zamani Begum
Raunaq Zamani Begum (possibly a granddaughter)
Most of his sons and grandsons were killed during or in the aftermath of the rebellion of 1857. Of those who survived, the following three lines of descent are known:
Delhi line - son: Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur (alias Mirza Fakhru); grandson: Mirza Farkhunda Jamal; great-grandchildren: Hamid Shah and Begum Qamar Sultan.
Howrah line - son: Jawan Bakht, grandson: Jamshid Bakht, great-grandson: Mirza Muhammad Bedar Bakht (married Sultana Begum, who currently runs 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) and lived with her children in anonymity for years (her surviving sons Ziauddin Tucy is a retired government employee and Masiuddin Tucy is a food consultant).
Descendants of Mughal rulers other than Bahadur Shah Zafar also survive to this day. They include the line of Jalaluddin Mirza in Bengal, who served at the court of the Maharaja of Dighapatia, and the Toluqari family, which also claims to be descended from Baron Gardner.

Sons
Mirza Dara Bakht,
Mirza Mughal,
Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur,
Mirza Khizr Sultan,
Mirza Jawan Bakht,
Mirza Shah Abbas,

Download Pdf Urdu Book

Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1858, just after his trial and before his departure for exile in Burma.

TRAIL:

The trial was a consequence of the Sepoy Mutiny and lasted for 41 days, had 19 hearings, 21 witnesses and over a hundred documents in Persian and Urdu, with their English translations, were produced in the court.^[12] 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, Red Fort in Delhi was selected for the trial.^[13] It was the first case to be tried at the Red Fort.

Zafar was tried and charged on four counts:^[15]

1) Aiding and abetting the mutinies of the troops

2) Encouraging and assisting divers persons in waging war against the British Government

3) Assuming the sovereignty of Hindostan

4) 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.^[12] 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.^[16] 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.^[14]

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.^[17]

Respecting Hodson's guarantee on his surrender, Zafar was not sentenced to death but exiled to Rangoon, Burma.^[12] His wife Zeenat Mahal and some of the remaining members of the family accompanied him. At 4 AM on 7 October 1858, Zafar along with his wives, two remaining sons began his journey towards Rangoon in bullock carts escorted by 9th Lancers under command of Lieutenant Ommaney.^[18]