Rafi ud-Darajat

• 1. Introduction

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  Rafi ud-Darajat sat on the Mughal throne for exactly three months and six days. He was nineteen years old when he was placed there, and he would never leave the throne on his own terms. The year was 1719, and the empire he nominally ruled was fracturing under the weight of competing ambitions. Who put him there? Why was his uncle already challenging him before he had even settled into power? And what happened to the boy born on the 1st of December 1699, who died on the 6th of June 1719, having spent most of his brief reign as a puppet?

• 2. The Kingmakers

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  Two brothers from the Barha clan of Sayyids shaped the fate of the Mughal throne in 1719. Sayyid Hassan Ali Khan Barha and Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan Barha had already deposed emperor Farrukhsiyar, and in doing so had earned themselves the title of badishahgar, meaning kingmakers. That deposition was brutal: Farrukhsiyar was not simply removed. He was deposed, blinded, imprisoned, and then executed. The brothers had called on Ajit Singh of Marwar and on Balaji Vishwanath of the Marathas to accomplish this. Rafi ud-Darajat was the youngest son of Rafi-ush-Shan, the nephew of Azim-ush-Shan, and a grandson of Bahadur Shah I. He was chosen because he was useful to the brothers, not because of any power of his own. His entire reign would be conducted under their direction.

• 3. The Maratha Bargain

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  Rafi ud-Darajat's accession carried a debt that had to be repaid. The Marathas had helped the Sayyid brothers bring down Farrukhsiyar, and the new emperor acknowledged that assistance in concrete terms. He granted Chauth and Sardeshmukhi rights across six Mughal provinces to the Marathas. Chauth was a levy of one quarter of the revenue; Sardeshmukhi was an additional ten percent claimed by the Maratha leadership as overlords. The grant came with one condition: Mughal officials would collect these dues and then hand them to the Marathas, preserving the form of imperial administration while conceding the substance of revenue to outside hands.

• 4. Nekusiyar's Challenge

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  On the 18th of May 1719, less than three months into Rafi ud-Darajat's reign, his uncle Nekusiyar declared himself the rightful Mughal emperor and seized the Agra Fort. Nekusiyar believed he had a stronger claim to the throne. The Sayyid brothers moved to defend the ruler they had installed. They retook the fort within three months and captured Nekusiyar. Despite having led an armed usurpation, Nekusiyar was received respectfully by the Amir ul-Umara. He was then confined at the Salimgarh Fort, where he died in 1723.

• 5. Death at Nineteen

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  Rafi ud-Darajat died on the 6th of June 1719. The cause has never been settled. The sources leave open two possibilities: tuberculosis or murder. Before he died, he made one final request, asking that his older brother Rafi ud-Daulah take the throne in his place. Two days after his death, Rafi ud-Daulah was enthroned as emperor Shah Jahan II, fulfilling that wish. The remains of Rafi ud-Darajat were laid to rest near the shrine of the Sufi saint Khawaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Mehrauli in Delhi, a place of deep spiritual significance that had stood for centuries before his short life began.