Bahadur Shah I

• 1. Introduction

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  Bahadur Shah I was born Muhammad Mu'azzam on the 14th of October 1643 in Burhanpur, the second son of a prince who would become the most powerful ruler in the Mughal world. He spent decades in the shadow of his father, Aurangzeb, plotting against him, failing him, and enduring humiliation before finally seizing the throne at the age of 64. His reign lasted only five years, from 1707 to 1712, yet it was crowded with war, religious controversy, and the seeds of imperial fracture. How did a man so long kept under his father's thumb navigate a succession war among three brothers, subdue rebellions across a continent-spanning empire, and then provoke a religious crisis with a single phrase inserted into a Friday prayer? Those are the questions that shape this story.

• 2. A Grudgingly Obedient Son

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  During his grandfather Shah Jahan's reign, Mu'azzam was appointed vizer of Lahore from 1653 to 1659, still a teenager when he first held imperial office. He later replaced Shaista Khan as governor of Deccan in 1663. It was a posting that exposed his limits early: when Shivaji raided the outskirts of the Deccan capital Aurangabad, the historian's record describes him as indolent. Aurangzeb was furious and dispatched his most capable commander, Raja Jai Singh, to deal with Shivaji. That mission produced the historic Treaty of Purandar.

  After Raja Jai Singh's victory at Purandar, Mu'azzam was given charge of the Deccan again in May 1667, this time assisted by Maharaja Jaswant Singh. Three years later, in 1670, he organised an insurgency to overthrow his own father and declare himself emperor. The plan may have had Maratha encouragement behind it. Aurangzeb, rather than punishing him directly, sent Mu'azzam's mother Nawab Bai to dissuade him. She succeeded, and Mu'azzam returned to court, spending the next several years under close surveillance.

  He nearly revolted again in 1680, this time over Aurangzeb's scorched-earth campaign against the Rajputs. Aurangzeb again met him with what the record calls gentleness, then watched him with still greater vigilance. Historian Munis Faruqui describes Mu'azzam during the seven years from 1681 to 1687 as a "grudgingly obedient son." That phrase captures the central tension of his early life: a man of ambition constrained by a father who was both his jailer and his sovereign.

  In 1683, Aurangzeb ordered Mu'azzam to march to the Konkan region to prevent his rebellious half-brother Muhammad Akbar from fleeing the empire. Mu'azzam failed again, and according to Faruqui, the failure was deliberate. The confrontation that finally broke the father-son equilibrium came in 1687, when Aurangzeb ordered a march against the sultanate of Golconda. Within weeks, imperial spies intercepted treasonous messages between Mu'azzam and Abul Hasan, the ruler of Golconda.

• 3. Imprisonment and Rehabilitation

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  The interception of those letters left Aurangzeb no room for leniency. He imprisoned Mu'azzam along with his sons, executed Mu'azzam's closest followers, ordered his harem shipped off to faraway Delhi, and dispersed his staff. Among the punishments Aurangzeb imposed: Mu'azzam was forbidden from cutting his nails or hair for six months and was deprived of "good food, or cold water." He could meet no one without his father's prior consent.

  Around 1694, Aurangzeb relented. He allowed Mu'azzam to rebuild his household and rehire some of his officials, though he continued placing informants inside the household and inside the harem. Mu'azzam and his sons were transferred from the Deccan to north India, with a standing prohibition against leading military expeditions in the Deccan for the rest of Aurangzeb's reign.

  In 1695, Aurangzeb sent Mu'azzam to the Punjab to fight local chieftains and suppress a rebellion led by Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. The commander imposed what the record calls heavy taxation on the rajas but chose not to attack the Sikhs in their fortified city of Anandpur. He left them undisturbed out of what the source describes as genuine respect for their religion. That year he was appointed governor of Akbarabad; the following year he moved to Lahore. After the death of Amin Khan, the governor of Kabul, Mu'azzam took that post in 1699. He held it until his father died in 1707, setting the stage for the succession crisis that would define his reign.

• 4. The Battle for the Throne

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  Aurangzeb died in 1707 without naming a crown prince. Mu'azzam was in Kabul; his half-brothers Muhammad Kam Bakhsh and Muhammad Azam Shah held the Deccan and Gujarat respectively. All three moved quickly. Kam Bakhsh began minting coins in his own name almost immediately. Azam Shah's mother was Aurangzeb's chief consort Dilras Banu Begum, which gave him a claim of higher maternal lineage.

  Mu'azzam settled the dispute with Azam Shah at the Battle of Jajau in June 1707, described in the source as one of the largest battles in Indian history. Azam Shah and his son Ali Tabar were both killed in the fighting. On the 19th of June 1707, Mu'azzam ascended the Mughal throne at age 64, taking the title Bahadur Shah I.

  Kam Bakhsh had already moved to consolidate his own position. In March 1707, on news of Aurangzeb's death, the governor of Bijapur, Sayyid Niyaz Khan, surrendered the Bijapur Fort without a fight. Kam Bakhsh gave himself the title Padshah Kam Bakhsh-i-Dinpanah, meaning Emperor Kam Bakhsh, Protector of Faith. He conquered Kulbarga and Wakinkhera and dispatched his general Ahsan Khan toward Golconda and Hyderabad. The Subahdar of Hyderabad, Rustam Dil Khan, surrendered; the king of Golconda refused.

  The internal politics of Kam Bakhsh's court grew violent. His chief minister Taqarrub Khan accused Ahsan Khan and several other courtiers of plotting to assassinate Kam Bakhsh "while on his way to the Friday prayer at the great mosque." Rustam Dil Khan was killed by being crushed under an elephant. Saif Khan had his hands amputated. Arshad Khan had his tongue cut off. When Bahadur Shah sent an envoy named Maktabar Khan to negotiate in April 1708, Taqarrub Khan persuaded Kam Bakhsh that the envoy intended to dethrone him. Kam Bakhsh invited the envoy and his entourage to a feast and had them executed.

• 5. Kam Bakhsh's Last Campaign

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  In May 1708, Bahadur Shah wrote his brother a letter warning him against claiming independent sovereignty, then began the journey south to pay respects at the Tomb of Aurangzeb. When he reached Hyderabad on the 28th of June 1708, he learned that Kam Bakhsh had attacked the town of Machhlibandar to seize treasure worth over three million rupees hidden in its fort. The provincial subahdar Jan Sipar Khan refused to hand it over. Kam Bakhsh responded by confiscating the subahdar's properties and ordering the recruitment of four thousand soldiers.

  On the 5th of November 1708, Bahadur Shah's camp arrived at Bidar, 67 miles north of Hyderabad. Historian William Irvine recorded that desertions from Kam Bakhsh grew more frequent as the emperor's forces drew closer. When Kam Bakhsh's own general told him that unpaid soldiers were the reason they were leaving, Kam Bakhsh replied: "What need have I of enlisting them? My trust is in God, and whatever is best will happen."

  Bahadur Shah contacted the governor of the Madras Presidency, Thomas Pitt, through his prime minister Zulfiqar Khan Nusrat Jung, offering 200,000 rupees for Kam Bakhsh's capture, fearing the rebel might flee to Persia. On the 20th of December 1708, Bahadur Shah marched toward the outskirts of Hyderabad with, according to Irvine, three hundred camels and twenty thousand rockets. When the royal astrologer predicted that Kam Bakhsh would miraculously win the battle, Kam Bakhsh appears to have believed it.

  At sunrise on the 13th of January 1709, the Mughal forces attacked. Kam Bakhsh's troops were split into two bodies; the flanking commander Zulfiqar Khan attacked before the main force was in position. Kam Bakhsh personally entered the fight and shot two quivers of arrows. When he was weakened by blood loss, he and his son Bariqullah were taken prisoner. A dispute broke out between Mumin Khan and Zulfiqar Khan over who had captured them; the matter was ruled in Zulfiqar Khan's favour by Rafi-us-Shan. Kam Bakhsh was brought by palanquin to Bahadur Shah's camp and died the following morning.

• 6. The Rajput Question

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  While the succession war was still being fought, Bahadur Shah had already begun planning the reconquest of Rajput kingdoms that had declared independence after Aurangzeb's death. On the 10th of November 1707, he marched toward the Kingdom of Amber. He visited the Tomb of Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri on the 21st of November and reached Amber on the 20th of January 1708.

  The reigning monarch of Amber was Sawai Jai Singh, but his brother Bijai Singh contested his rule. Bahadur Shah used that internal dispute as justification for direct annexation. He renamed the city Islamabad, confiscated Jai Singh's properties on the stated grounds that Jai Singh had supported Azam Shah during the succession war, and installed Bijai Singh as governor on the 30th of April 1708. Bijai Singh received the title Mirza Rajah and gifts valued at 100,000 rupees. Amber passed into Mughal control without a battle.

  Jodhpur's history was more complicated. The Maharaja Jaswant Singh had supported Aurangzeb's older brother Dara Shikoh during an earlier succession war and had died in December 1678 with no male heirs but two pregnant wives. After a son, Ajit Singh, was born to Rani Jadav Jaskumvar, Aurangzeb summoned the infant and the widows to Delhi with the intent of annexing Marwar directly. The Rajput general Durgadas Rathore fought through Delhi and escorted the prince and the widows safely back to Jodhpur. After Aurangzeb's death, Ajit Singh marched to Jodhpur and reclaimed it.

  At Amber, Bahadur Shah announced his intention to retake Jodhpur. When his aide Mihrab Khan defeated Ajit Singh at Mairtha, Ajit Singh was brought to meet the emperor and received what the source calls special robes of honour and a jewelled scarf. Bahadur Shah then rode on to Ajmer, reaching the city on the 24th of March 1708, where he visited the Dargah Sharif. The Kingdom of Mewar under Maharana Amar Singh II declared independence after Aurangzeb's death; Amar Singh II fled to the hills on hearing what had happened at Amber and Jodhpur. The chronicle Bahadur Shah Nama records that the emperor called him an "unbeliever" for this. Bahadur Shah pushed against Mewar until Kam Bakhsh's uprising pulled him southward.

  The three Rajput kingdoms then coordinated. While Bahadur Shah was in the Deccan pursuing Kam Bakhsh, the Rajas of Amber, Udaipur, and Jodhpur expelled Mughal commandants, killed the commandant of Mewat Sayyid Hussain Khan Barha and other officers in September 1708, and recovered Amber by night attack. Bahadur Shah had to patch up a truce and restore Ajit Singh and Jai Singh to Mughal service.

• 7. Banda Bahadur and the Sikh Uprising

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  Guru Gobind Singh had begun negotiations with Aurangzeb in 1705 and was travelling to the Deccan to meet him when Aurangzeb died. He redirected his journey to meet Bahadur Shah instead, arriving at Agra in July 1707. The emperor honoured him and Guru Gobind Singh accompanied the imperial camp on the Rajasthan campaign beginning November 1707, staying for ten months. He then followed Bahadur Shah toward the Deccan, hoping the emperor would address Punjab's affairs. Guru Gobind Singh died in October 1708 while Bahadur Shah was travelling to Hyderabad. In the months before his death, having grown disillusioned with the emperor, he had gone to Nanded and instructed Banda Bahadur to prepare the Khalsa for revolt.

  Within a year of the Guru's death, the Sikh uprising had erupted in Punjab. The Sikhs stormed Sonipat and Samana in November 1709, defeating local Mughal commanders in the Battle of Sonipat and the Battle of Samana and sacking both towns. Before Bahadur Shah arrived in December, Banda Bahadur had captured the sarkar of Sirhind, several parganas of the sarkar of Hissar, and invaded the sarkar of Saharanpur. He had seized Shahabad, Sadhaura, and Banur before taking Sirhind in the Battle of Chappar Chiri.

  After the Sirhind victory, the Sikhs turned toward the Gangetic Doab. Banda Bahadur marched on Saharanpur, citing the faujdar Jalal Khan's imprisonment and persecution of Sikh converts. The local faujdar Ali Hamid Khan fled to Delhi. The Sikhs attacked Behat, whose Pirzadas were known for anti-Hindu acts including the slaughter of cows; the town was sacked and the Pirzadas killed. On the 21st of July 1710, the Sikhs defeated the Sheikhzadas of Nanauta after a stiff resistance and moved to besiege Jalalabad, withdrawing only when flooding in the Krishna River forced it. At Amritsar, around 8,000 Sikhs assembled and seized Majha and Riarki. They attacked Lahore, where local mullahs called a jihad against them; the ghazis were defeated. Banda made his capital at Lohgarh, established a mint there, abolished the Mughal zamindari system, and gave cultivators ownership of their own land.

  Bahadur Shah signed peace terms with Ajit Singh of Jodhpur and Man Singh of Amber and turned north. He left Ajmer for Punjab on the 17th of June 1710, rallying opposition forces as he travelled. By October, his commander Khanzada Nawab Feroz Khan reported that he had killed three hundred rebels and sent their heads to the emperor mounted on spears. On the 1st of November 1710, Bahadur Shah reached Karnal, where a Mughal cartographer named Rustam Dil Khan presented him with a map of Thanesar and Sirhind. Sirhind fell to the Mughals on the 7th of December; his commander Muhammad Amin Khan Turani presented the emperor a golden key ring to mark the victory.

  On the 30th of November, Bahadur Shah attacked the Lohgarh fort, capturing three guns, matchlocks, and three trenches. Banda Bahadur escaped with a few hundred followers; a man named Gulab Singh, who was dressed to resemble Bahadur, entered the fight and was killed. The campaign continued into 1711. In July of that year, Bahadur Shah defeated Banda Bahadur in battle near the Ravi River using artillery led by Isa Khan. Banda escaped to the Jammu hills. By October 1711, a joint Mughal-Rajput force pushed him again and he took refuge in Kulu, in the mountains of present-day Himachal Pradesh.

• 8. The Khutba and the End

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  After taking the throne, Bahadur Shah altered the public Friday prayer recited in the emperor's name, inserting the designation wasi for Ali, the fourth caliph and first Imam in Shia tradition. The source notes he had converted to Shia Islam. In Lahore, citizens resented being asked to recite this version of the khutba.

  In September 1711, Bahadur Shah went to Lahore personally to resolve the dispute. He met with religious scholars including Haji Yar Muhammad and Muhammad Murad, reading from what he called books of authority to justify the wording. He argued heatedly with Yar Muhammad, saying that martyrdom was the only thing he sought as a king. Yar Muhammad, backed by the emperor's own son Azim-ush-Shan, began recruiting soldiers against him, but no armed confrontation followed. The emperor held the khatib, the chief reciter at the Badshahi Mosque, responsible for the controversy and had him arrested. On the 2nd of October, the Mughal army was deployed at the mosque, but the old khutba was read regardless.

  William Irvine records that Bahadur Shah's health failed while he was in Lahore in January 1712. He made his final public appearance on the 24th of February and died during the night of the 27th to the 28th of February 1712. Mughal noble Kamwar Khan attributed his death to enlargement of the spleen. On the 11th of April, his body was sent to Delhi under the supervision of his widow Mihr-Parwar and Chin Qilich Khan. He was buried on the 15th of May in the courtyard of the Moti Masjid, the Pearl Mosque, at Mehrauli, which he had built near the shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. He was succeeded by his son Jahandar Shah, whose own reign would last only until 1713.