BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR

Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar ابو ظفر سِراجُ الْدین محمد بُہادر شاہ ظفر
Emperor of India
Reign	28 September 1837 – 14 September 1857 (&0000000000000019.00000019 years, &0000000000000351.000000351 days)
Predecessor	Akber Shah I
Successor	Mughal Empire abolished Descendants: Sons and daughters, few descendents live to this day.
Father	Akber Shah I
Mother	Lalbai
Born	24 October 1775(1775-10-24) Dehli, Mughal Emperor
Died	7 November 1862 (aged 87) Rangoon, Burma, British Raj
Burial	7 November 1862 Rangoon, Burma, British Raj

Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar (Urdu: ابو ظفر سِراجُ الْدین محمد بُہادر شاہ ظفر), also known as Bahadur Shah or Bahadur Shah II (Urdu: بہادر شاہ دوم) (October 1775  – 7 November 1862) was the last of the Mughal Emperor in India, as well as the last ruler of the Timurd Danaisty. He was the son of Akber Shah II and Lalbai, who was a Hindu Rajput. He became the Mughal Emperor upon his father's death on 28 September 1837. Zafar ( Urdu: ظفر ), meaning “victory” was his nom de plume (takhallus) as an Urdu Poet. Even in defeat it is traditionally believed that he said

“

غازیوں میں بو رھےگی جب تلک ایمان کی تخت لندن تک چلےگی تیغ ھندوستان کی

”

“

Ghāzioń méń bū rahegi jab talak imān ki; Takht-e-London tak chalegi tégh Hindustan ki

”

“

As long as there remains the scent of faith in the hearts of our heroes, so long shall the sword of Hindustan flash before the throne of London

”

Zafar's father, Akbar Shah Saani II, ruled over a rapidly disintegrating empire between 1806 to 1837. It was during his time that the East India Company dispensed with even the fig leaf of ruling in the name of the Mughal monarch and removed his name from the Persian texts that appeared on the coins struck by the company in the areas under their control.
Bahadur Shah Zafar who succeeded him was not Akbar Shah Saani’s choice as his successor. Akbar Shah was, in fact, under great pressure by one of his queens, Mumtaz Begum to declare her son Mirza Jahangir as the successor. Akbar Shah would have probably accepted this demand but Mirza Jahangir had fallen afoul of the British and they would have none of this.

As emperor

Bahadur Shah presided over a Mughal empire that barely extended beyond Dehli's Red Fort. The British were the dominant political and military power in 19th-century India. Outside British India, hundreds of kingdoms and principalities, from the large to the small, fragmented the land. The emperor in Delhi was paid some respect by the British and allowed a pension, the authority to collect some taxes, and to maintain a small military force in Delhi, but he posed no threat to any power in India. Bahadur Shah II himself did not take an interest in statecraft or possess any imperial ambitions.
Bahadur Shah Zafar was a noted Urdu Poet. He wrote a large number of Urdu ghazals. While some part of his opus was lost or destroyed during the Indian Rebellion of 1857-1858, a large collection did survive, and was later compiled into the Kulliyyat-i Zafar. The court that he maintained, although somewhat decadent and arguably pretentious for someone who was effectively a pensioner of the British East India Company, was home to several Urdu writers of high standing, including Ghalib, Dagh, Mumin, and Zauq (Dhawq).

Religious attitudes

Bahadur Shah Zafar was a devout Sufi. Zafar was himself regarded as a Sufi Pir and used to accept murids or pupils. The loyalist newspaper Delhi Urdu Akhbaar once called him one of the leading saints of the age, approved of by the divine court. Prior to his accession, in his youth he made it a point to live and look like a poor scholar and dervaish, in stark contrast to his three well dressed dandy brothers, Mirza Jahangir, Salim and Babur. In 1828, when Zafar was 53 and a decade before he succeeded the throne, Major Archer reported, "Zafar is a man of spare figure and stature, plainly apparelled, almost approaching to meanness. His appearance is that of an indigent munshi or teacher of languages".
As a poet and dervish, Zafar imbibed the highest subtleties of mystical Sufi teachings. At the same time, he was deeply susceptible to the magical and superstitious side of Orthodox Sunni Islam. Like many of his followers, he believed that his position as both a Sufi pir and emperor gave him tangible spiritual powers. In an incident in which one of his followers was bitten by a snake, Zafar attempted to cure him by sending a "seal of Bezoar" (a stone antidote to poison) and some water on which he had breathed, and giving it to the man to drink.

A panorama in 12 folds showing the procession of the Emperor Bahadur Shah to celebrate the feast of the 'Id, 1843.

The emperor also 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. During one period of illness, he gathered a group of Sufi pirs and told them that several of his wives suspected that some party or the other had cast a spell over him. Therefore, he requested them to take some steps to remedy this so as to remove all apprehension on this account. They replied that they would write off some charms for him. They were to be mixed in water which when drunk would protect him from the evil eye. A coterie of pirs, miracle workers and Hindu astrologers were in constant attendance to the emperor. On their advice, he regularly sacrificed buffaloes and camels, buried eggs and arrested alleged black magicians, in addition to wearing a special ring that cured indigestion. On their advice, he also regularly donated cows to the poor, elephants to the sufi shrines and a horse to the khadims or clergy of Jama Masjid.

Marriage certificate of Bahadur Shah II (r. 1837-57) with Zinat Mahal Begam, on 18 November 1840

Autograph of Bahadur Shah of Delhi dated 29th April 1844.

Zafar consciously saw his role as a protector of his Hindu subjects, and a moderator of extreme Muslim demands and the intense puritanism of many of the Orthodox Muslim sheikhs of the Ulema. In one of his verses, Zafar explicitly stated that both Hinduism and Islam shared the same essence. This syncretic philosophy was implemented by his court which came to cherish and embody a multicultural composite Hindu-Islamic Mughal culture. For instance, the Hindu elite used to frequently visit the dargah or tomb of the great Sufi pir, Nizam-ud-din Auliya. They could quote Hafiz and were very fond of Persian poetry. Their children, especially those belonging to the administrative Khatri and Kayasth castes studied under maulvis and attended the more liberal madrass, bringing food offerings for their teachers on Hindu festivals. On the other hand, the emperor's Muslim subjects emulated him in honouring the Hindu holy men, while many in court, including Zafar himself, followed the old Mughal custom, originally borrowed from high class Hindus, of only drinking the water from the Ganga.
Zafar and his court used to celebrate Hindu festivals. During the spring festival of Holi, he would spray his courtiers, wives and concubines with different coloured paints, initiating the celebrations by bathing in the water of seven wells. The autumn Hindu festival of Dusshera was celebrated in the palace by the distribution of nazrs or presents to Zafar's Hindu officers and the colouring of the horses in the royal stud. In the evening, Zafar would then watch the Ram Lila processions annually celebrated in Delhi with the burning of giant effigies of Ravana and his brothers. He even went to the extent of demanding that the route of the procession be changed so that it would skirt the entire flank of the palace, allowing it to be enjoyed in all its glory. On Diwali, Zafar would weigh himself against seven kinds of grain, gold, coral, etc, and directed their distribution among the city's poor.
He was reputedly known to have profound sensitivities to the feelings of his Hindu subjects. One evening, when Zafar was riding out across the river for an airing, a Hindu waited on the king and disclosed his wish to become a Muslim. Hakim Ahsanullah Khan, Zafar's prime minister flatly denied this request and the emperor had him removed from his presence. During the Phulwalon ki sair or Flower-sellers fair held annually at the ancient Jog Maya Temple and the Sufi dargah of Qutb Sahib, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki in Mehrauli, Zafar declared that he would not accompany the pankah into the shrine as he could not accompany it into the temple. On a separate occasion, a mob of 200 Muslims showed up at the royal palace demanding to be allowed to slaughter cows, which are holy to Hindus, in Id. To this, Zafar angrily replied that the religion of Muslims did not depend upon the sacrifice of cows.
The Delhi Ulema and Bahadur Shah Zafar staunchly disdained each other. Zafar perceived the Muslim sheikhs to be narrow minded. One evening's entertainment at the Palace consisted of Kadir Baksh impersonating a Maluvi in the presence of the king. Zafar was reportedly so pleased that he ordered Mahbub Ali Khan, the chief eunuch to give him the usual present. On the other hand, many of the Delhi maulvis and their followers considered the king to be a mushrik or heretic. They were of the opinion that it was not right to pray in the mosques that were frequented by the emperor or were under royal patronage. Zafar was devoted to Ali (son-in-law of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad) and the festival of Muha was celebrated with great enthusiasm in the palace, with the king listening to the marsiya mourning poems. This led to persistent rumors that Zafar had actually converted to the Shiite sect of Islam, which were seen as heretical by the Sunni Muslim clergy. This led to Zafar receiving several outraged delegations from the Delhi ulema threatening to take the ultimate sanction of excluding his name from the Friday prayers, effectively excommunicating him and delegitimising his rule, if the rumor ever proved true.

Zafar Mahal

Zafar Gate of Zafer Mahal, Mehrauli, today

Closely woven into the history of the last remains of Mughal rule is the history of Zafar Mahal in Mehrauli, a locality of Delhi. Zafar Mahal was originally built by Akber II, but it was his son, Bahadur Shah Zafar, who constructed the gateway and added to the palace in the mid-1800s. Mehrauli was then a popular venue for hunting parties, picnics and jaunts, and the dargah was an added attraction. The emperor visited often with his retinue - and stayed in royal style at Zafar Mahal.Another interesting feature of Zafar Mahal is that it literally spans centuries. A plastered dome near the gate is probably 15th century; other sections are relatively newer and show definite signs of Western influences. There is, for instance, a fireplace in one of the walls that stands near the Moti Masjid. And the staircase to the balcony is a wide one with low steps - very unlike the steep, narrow staircases of most Indian Islamic architecture.
The balcony, with its 'jharokha’ windows, is where the emperor and his family could look out over the road. In Bahadurshah’s time, the main Mehrauli-Gurgaon road passed in front of Zafar Mahal, and all passersby were expected to dismount as a sign of respect for the emperor. When the British refused to comply, Bahadurshah solved the problem creatively - he bought the surrounding land and diverted the road so that it would pass well away from Zafar Mahal! The Phool Walon ki Sair gradually turned into a major three day celebration during the time when Bahadur Shah Zafar, son and successor to Akbar Shah Saani ruled from Delhi.
Zafar used to move his court to a building adjacent to the Shrine of Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki and stayed at Mehrauli for a week during the celebrations. The building where he stayed during the period was originally built by his father and Zafar added an impressive gate and a Baaraadari to the structure and renamed it Zafer Mehal.
The celebrations spread out in different parts of Mehrauli with the Jahaz Mehal, (a Lodhi period structure, that was once in the middle of the Hauz-e-Shamsi but is now at one end of the much depleted Hauz, becoming a center where Qawwali mehfils would be organised while the Jharna, built by Firoz Shah Tughlaq and later added to by Akbar Shah II became a place where the women of the court relaxed.

Events of 1857

Capture of Bahadur Shah Zafer and his sons by William Hodson at Humayun's tomb on 20 September 1857

Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1858, just after his show trial in Delhi and before his departure for exile in Rangoon. This is possibly the only photograph ever taken of a Mughal emperor.

As the Indian rebellion of 1857 spread, Sepoy regiments seized Delhi. Seeking a figure that could unite all Indians, Hindu and Muslim alike, most rebelling Indian kings and the Indian regiments accepted Zafar as the Emperor of India., under whom the smaller Indian kingdoms would unite until the British were defeated. Zafar was the least threatening and least ambitious of monarchs, and the legacy of the Mughal Empire was more acceptable a uniting force to most allied kings than the domination of any other Indian kingdom.
When the victory of the British became certain, Zafar took refuge at Himayun Tomb's, in an area that was then at the outskirts of Delhi, and hid there. British forces led by Major William Hodson surrounded the tomb and compelled his surrender on 20 September 1857. The next day British officer William Hodson shot his sons Mirza Mughal, Mirza Khizr Sultan, and grandson Mirza Abu Bakr under his own authority at the Khooni Darwaza (the bloody gate) near Delhi Gate. On hearing the news Zafar reacted with shocked silence while his wife Zeenat Mahal was content as she believed her son was now Zafar's heir.

Begum Zeenat Mahal, wife of Bahadur Shah Zafar

Numerous male members of his family were killed by British forces, who imprisoned or exiled the surviving members of the Mughal dynasty. After a show trial, Zafar himself was exiled to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Union of Myanmar) in 1858 along with his wife Zeenat Mahal and some of the remaining members of the family. His departure as Emperor marked the end of more than three centuries of Mughal rule in India.
Bahadur Shah died in exile on 7 November 1862. He was buried near the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, at the site that later became known as Bahadur Shah Zafar Dargah. His wife Zeenat Mahal died in 1886.
In a marble enclosure adjoining the dargha of Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Mehrauli, an empty grave or Sardgah marks the site where he had willed to be buried along with some of his Mughal predecessors, Akbaer Shah I, Bahadur Shah I (also known as Shah Alam I) and Shah Alam II. He, unfortunately, was not so lucky, though talks of bringing back his remains here have been raised from time to time.

Legacy

In 1959, the All India Bahadur Shah Zafar Academy was founded expressly to spread awareness about his contribution to the first major anti-British movement in India. Several movies in Hindu/Urdu have depicted his role during the rebellion of 1857. There are roads bearing his name in New Dehli, Lahore, Varanasi and other cities. A statue of Bahadur Shah Zafar has been erected at Vijayanagaram palace in Varanasi. In Bagladesh, the Victoria Park of old Dhaka has been renamed as Bahadur Shah Zafer Park.

Family

Prince Fakhr-ud Din Mirza, eldest son of Bahadur Shah II, February 1856. (d. 10th July 1856)

Sons of Bahadur Shah. On the left is Jawan Bakht, and on the right is the Mirza Shah Abbas.

Bahadur Shah Zafar is known to have had four wives. His wives were:

• Begum Ashraf Mahal
• Begum Akhtar Mahal
• Begum Zeenat Mahal
• Begum Taj Mahal

Zafar had 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 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 four lines of descent are known:

• Delhi line—son: Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur (alias Mirza Fakhru); grandson: Mirza Farkhunda Jamal; great-grandchildren: Ahmad Shah, Hamid Shah and Begum Qamar Sultan; Children of Ahmad Shah: Nadir Mirza, Farrukh Mirza, Mirza Taimur, Akbar Shah and Mohammad Shah Taimur;Children of Mohammad Shah temuri: Mirza Babar Shah Temuri, Mirza Birjees Shah Temuri,Sabahat Temuri, Mirza Zafar Shah Temuri, Saira temuri and Mirza Azfar Shah Temuri.
• Howrah line—son: Jawan Bakht, grandson: Jamshid Bakht, great-grandson: Mirza Muhammad Bedar Bakht (married Sultana Begum, who currently runs a tea stall in Howrh).
• Varanasi line -- [Shah Alam Ameer of Delhi, Son: Mirza Jahaandar Shah Alais Mirza Khan Bakht (Married - Jahanbaad Begum)], [Ali Gohar Mirza Ali Bahadur had five sons], [Mirza Kazim Bakht married Birjis Ara Begum, Son: Mirza Yousuf Bakht married Hasina Sultan Begum, GrandSon: Mirza Zaheeruddin Alim Bakht married Khurshid Laqah Begum (had five sons - two daughters), Great GrandSon: MIRZA DAUD BAKHT married FAKHRE ARA KANIZ MEHNDI BEGUM(D/O. LATE MOBARRAK BAKHT MIRZA ILLYAS HUSSAIN BAHADUR G/SON OF LATE KING OF OUDH - WIFE: SULTAN BANO MEHNDI BEGUM (IN KOLKATA).
• Hyderabad line—son: Mirza Quaish, grandson: Mirza Abdullah, great-grandson: Mirza Pyare (married Habib Begum), great-great-granddaughter: Begum Laila Ummahani (married Moinuddin Tucy).

Descendants of Mughal rulers other than Bahadur Shah Zafar also survive to this day. They include the line of Jalaludin Mirza in Bengal, who served at the court of the Maharaja of Dighapatia, and the Toluqari family.

Epitaph

Zafar, pictured in a 1919 book of Hindustani Lyrics

Zafar was an accomplished Urdu poet and calligrapher. While he was denied paper and pen in captivity, he was known to have written on the walls of his room with a burnt stick. He wrote the following Ghazal  as his own epitaph.

Original Urdu	Devanagari transliteration	Roman transliteration	English Translation
لگتا نہیں ہے جی مِرا اُجڑے دیار میں کس کی بنی ہے عالمِ ناپائیدار میں بُلبُل کو پاسباں سے نہ صیاد سے گلہ قسمت میں قید لکھی تھی فصلِ بہار میں اِن حسرتوں سے کہہ دو کہیں اور جا بسیں اتنی جگہ کہاں ہے دلِ داغدار میں اِک شاخِ گل پہ بیٹھ کے بُلبُل ہے شادماں کانٹے بِچھا دیتے ہیں دلِ لالہ زار میں عمرِ دراز مانگ کے لائے تھے چار دِن دو آرزو میں کٹ گئے، دو اِنتظار میں دِن زندگی کے ختم ہوئے شام ہوگئی پھیلا کے پائوں سوئیں گے کنج مزار میں کتنا ہے بدنصیب ظفر دفن کے لئے دو گز زمین بھی نہ ملی کوئے یار میں	लगता नहीं है जी मेरा उजड़े दयार में किसकी बनी है अालम-ए-नापायेदार में बुलबुल को पासबाँ से न सैयाद से गिला क़िस्मत में क़ैद लिखी थी फ़स्ल-ए-बहार में इन हसरतों से कह दो कहीं और जा बसें इतनी जगह कहाँ है दिल-ए-दाग़दार में इक शाख़-ए-गुल पे बैठ के बुलबुल है शादमाँ काँटे बिछा दिये हैं दिल-ए-लालाज़ार में उम्र-ए-दराज़ माँगके लाए थे चार दिन दो अारज़ू में कट गए, दो इन्तज़ार में दिन ज़िन्दगी के ख़त्म हुए शाम हो गई फैला के पाँव सोएँगे कुंज-ए-मज़ार में कितना है बदनसीब “ज़फ़र″ दफ़्न के लिए दो गज़ ज़मीन भी न मिली कू-ए-यार में	lagtā nahīń hé jī mérā ūjař'é dayār méń kiskī banī hé ālam-e-nā-pāyedār méń būlbūl ko pāsbāń se na saiyyād se gilā qismet méń qaid likhī tthī fasl-e-bahār méń kaeh do in hassretoń se kahīń aur jā bas'éń itnī jageh kahāń hé dil-e-dāGhdār méń ik shāKh-e-gūl pe baiTh ke būlbūl hé shādmāń kānTe bichā diye héń dil-e-lālāzār méń umr-e-darāz māńg ke lāye tthe chār din do ārzū méń kaT gayé do intezār méń din zindagī ke Khatm hué shām ho gayī p'hailā ke pāoń soyeń-ge kūńj-e-mazaar méń kitnā hé bad-naseeb zafar dafn ke liye do gaz zamīn bhī na milī kū-e-yār méń	My heart has no repose in this despoiled land Who has ever felt fulfilled in this futile world? The nightingale complains about neither the sentinel nor the hunter Fate had decreed imprisonment as the harvest of spring Tell these longings to go dwell elsewhere What space is there for them in this besmirched heart? Sitting on a branch of flowers, the nightingale rejoices I have strewn thorns in the garden of my heart I asked for a long life, I received four days Two passed in desire, two in waiting. The days of life are over, evening has fallen I shall sleep, legs outstretched, in my tomb How unlucky is Zafar! For his burial Not even two yards of land were to be had, in the land of his beloved.

In his book, The Last Mughal, William Dalrymple states that, according to Lahore scholar Imran Khan, the verse beginning umr-e-darāz māńg ke ("I asked for a long life") is probably not by Zafar, and does not appear in any of the works published during Zafar's lifetime. The verse appears to be by Simab Akbarabadi.