Bahadur Shah Zafar

Bahadur Shah Zafar ruled over a Mughal Empire that had by the early 19th century been reduced to only the city of Delhi and the surrounding territory as far as Palam. The Maratha Empire had brought an end to the Mughal Empire in the Deccan during the 18th century and the regions of India formerly under Mughal rule had either been absorbed by the Marathas or had declared independence and become smaller kingdoms. The Marathas installed Shah Alam II in the throne in 1772, under the protection of the Maratha general Mahadaji Shinde and maintained suzerainty over Mughal affairs in Delhi. The East India Company became the dominant political and military power in mid-nineteenth century India. Outside the region controlled by the company, hundreds of kingdoms and principalities fragmented their land. The emperor was respected by the company, who provided him with a pension. The emperor permitted the company to collect taxes from Delhi and maintain a military force in it. Zafar never had any interest in statecraft or had any "imperial ambition". After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British exiled him from Delhi. Bahadur Shah Zafar was a noted Urdu poet, having written a number of Urdu ghazals. While some part of his opus was lost or destroyed during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a large collection did survive, and was compiled into the Kulliyyat-i-Zafar. The court that he maintained was home to several renowned Urdu scholars, poets and writers including Mirza Ghalib, Daagh Dehlvi, Momin Khan Momin, and Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq (who was also Bahadur Shah Zafar's mentor). 1857 Rebellion As the Indian Rebellion of 1857 spread, Sepoy regiments reached the Mughal Court at Delhi. On 12 May 1857, Zafar held his first formal audience in several years. It was attended by several sepoys who were described as treating him "familiarly or disrespectfully". When the sepoys first arrived at Bahadur Shah Zafar's court, he asked them why they had come to him, because he had no means of maintaining them. Bahadur Shah Zafar's conduct was indecisive. However, he yielded to the demands of the sepoys when he was told that they would not be able to win against the East India Company without him. On 16 May, sepoys and palace servants killed fifty-two Europeans who were prisoners of the palace and who were discovered hiding in the city. The executions took place under a peepul tree in front of the palace, despite Zafar's protests. The aim of the executioners was to implicate him in the killings. Once he had joined them, Bahadur Shah II took ownership for all the actions of the mutineers. Though dismayed by the looting and disorder, he gave his public support to the rebellion. It was later believed that Bahadur Shah was not directly responsible for the massacre, but that he may have been able to prevent it, and he was therefore considered a consenting party during his trial. During the Siege of Delhi when the victory of the British became certain, Zafar took refuge at Humayun's Tomb, in an area that was then at the outskirts of Delhi. Company forces led by Major William Hodson surrounded the tomb and Zafar was captured on 20 September 1857. The next day, Hodson shot his sons Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan, and grandson Mirza Abu Bakht under his own authority at the Khooni Darwaza, near the Delhi Gate and declared Delhi to be captured. Bahadur Shah himself was taken to his wife's haveli, where he was treated disrespectfully by his captors. When brought news of the executions of his sons and grandson, the former emperor was described as being so shocked and depressed that he was unable to react. After Zafar's defeat, he said: غازیوں میں بُو رہے گی جب تلک ایمان کی تخت لندن تک چلے گی تیغ ہندوستان کی As long as there remains the scent of faith in the hearts of our Ghazis, so long shall the sword of Hindustan flash before the throne of London. == Trial ==

The trial was a consequence of the Sepoy Mutiny and lasted for 21 days, had 19 hearings, 21 witnesses and over a hundred documents in Persian and Urdu, with their English translations, were produced in the court. 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, the Red Fort in Delhi was selected for the trial. It was the first case to be tried at the Red Fort. Zafar was tried and charged on four counts: On the 20th day of the trial, Bahadur Shah II defended himself against these charges. 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. Respecting Hodson's guarantee on his surrender, Zafar was not sentenced to death but exiled to Rangoon, Burma. == Death ==

|left In 1862, at the age of 87, he fell ill. In October, his condition deteriorated. He was "spoon-fed on broth" but he found that difficult too by 3 November. On 6 November, the British Commissioner in Rangoon, Captain H. Nelson Davies, wrote that Zafar "is evidently sinking from pure desuetude and paralysis in the region of his throat". To prepare for his death, Davies commanded the collection of lime and bricks, and a spot was selected at the "back of Zafar's enclosure" for his burial. Zafar died on Friday, 7 November 1862 at 5 am. and was buried at 4 pm near the Shwedagon Pagoda at 6 Ziwaka Road, near the intersection with Shwedagon Pagoda Road, Yangon. The shrine of Bahadur Shah Zafar Dargah was built there after the restoration of his tomb on 16 February 1991. Davies commenting on Zafar, described his life as "very uncertain". == Family and descendants ==

, his consort Bahadur Shah Zafar had four wives and numerous concubines. His wives were: • Begum Ashraf Mahal • Begum Akhtar Mahal • Begum Zeenat Mahal • Begum Taj Mahal He had twenty two sons including: • Mirza Dara Bakht Miran Shah (1790–1841) • Mirza Muhammed Shahrukh Bahadur • Mirza Kayumar Bahadur • Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur (alias Mirza Fakhru) (1816–1856) • Mirza Muhammad Quwaish Bahadur • Mirza Mughal (1817–1857) • Mirza Quraish Shikoh (1820–c. 1889) • Mirza Farkhanda Shah Bahadur • Mirza Khizr Sultan (1834–1857) • Mirza Bakhtavar Shah Bahadur • Mirza Sohrab Hindi Bahadur • Mirza Abu Nasr • Mirza Muhammad Bahadur • Mirza Abdullah • Mirza Kuchak Sultan • Mirza Abu Bakr (1837–1857) • Mirza Jawan Bakht (1841–1884) • Mirza Shah Abbas (1845–1910) • Muhammad Sher Shah He had at least thirty-two daughters including: • Rabeya Begum • Begum Fatima Sultan • Kulsum Zamani Begum • Raunaq Zamani Begum (possibly a granddaughter, d. 1930) Many individuals claim to be descendants of Bahadur Shah Zafar, living in places throughout India, such as Hyderabad, Aurangabad, Delhi, Bhopal, Kolkata, Bihar, and Bengaluru. However, the claims are often disputed. == Religious beliefs ==

'', with the emperor on the elephant to the left and his sons to the right (24 October 1843) Bahadur Shah Zafar was a devout Sufi. As a poet, Zafar imbibed the highest subtleties of mystical Sufi teachings. In one of his verses, Zafar explicitly stated that both Hinduism and Islam shared the same essence. This philosophy was implemented by his court which embodied a multicultural composite Hindu-Islamic Mughal culture. Zafar was also tolerant of Shia Muslims who regained their lost influence at the Mughal court under him. == Epitaph ==

He was a prolific Urdu poet and calligrapher. He wrote the following Ghazal as his own epitaph. In his book, The Last Mughal, William Dalrymple states that, according to Lahore scholar Imran Khan, the beginning of the verse, umr-e-darāz māṅg ke ("I asked for a long life") was not written by Zafar, and does not appear in any of the works published during Zafar's lifetime. The verse was allegedly written by Simab Akbarabadi. == Image gallery ==

Zafar is seen as the hero of Indian rebellion of 1857. In 1943, the Indian National Army paid tribute to his tomb in Rangoon. In 1975, Indian government released a postal stamp in his honour. In popular culture Zafar was portrayed in the play 1857: Ek Safarnama set during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 by Javed Siddiqui. It was staged at Purana Qila, Delhi ramparts by Nadira Babbar and the National School of Drama repertory company in 2008. A Hindi-Urdu black-and-white movie, Lal Quila (1960), directed by Nanabhai Bhatt, showcased Bahadur Shah Zafar extensively. TV Serials and Films A television show, Bahadur Shah Zafar, aired on Doordarshan in 1986. Ashok Kumar played the lead role in it. In the 2001 Hindi historical drama series 1857 Kranti, on DD National, the character of Bahadur Shah Zafar was played by S. M. Zaheer. In the 2005 Bollywood film Mangal Pandey: The Rising, directed by Ketan Mehta, the character of Bahadur Shah Zafar was played by Habib Tanveer. In historical series Bharat Ek Khoj which aired on Doordarshan he was portrayed by Virendra Razdan. In Gulzar's TV serial Mirza Ghalib, Zafar was played by Sudhir Dalvi == See also ==