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'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: ; October 24 1775 – 7 November 1862) was the last of the Mughal emperors in India. He was the son of Akbar Shah II from his Hindu wife Lalbai. He became the Mughal Emperor upon his father's death on September 28, 1838.
'''Zafar''' (Urdu: ظفر) was his ''nom de plume'' (''takhallus'') as an Urdu poet.

Contents

Emperor and the Mutiny

Legacy

Wives

Descendants

Epitaph

See also

References

External links

Emperor and the Mutiny

Emperor Bahadur Shah II presided over a Mughal empire that stretched barely beyond the modern city of Delhi. The Sikh Empire in the Punjab and Kashmir, the Maratha Empire, and the British Empire were the dominant political and military powers in 19th-century India. Hundreds of minor kings fragmented the land. The emperor was paid some respect and allowed a pension and authority to collect some taxes, and maintain a token force in Delhi by the British, but he posed no threat to any power in India. Bahadur Shah II himself did not excel in statecraft or possess any imperial ambitions.
As the Indian rebellion of 1857 spread, Indian 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 rebellion was crushed, he fled to Humayun's Tomb and hid there. However, he was captured and his sons Mirza Mughal and Khizar Sultan and his grandson Abu Bakr were executed in his presence by Major Hodson and, infamously, their severed heads presented to him in plates instead of his food. [1] He told the British that this was the way that the sons of Mughals came to their fathers — with their heads in red (i.e., dead).^[1]
He was exiled to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) in 1858 along with his wife Zeenat Mahal and the remaining members of the family. A formal end was declared to the Mughal Dynasty that began with Babur in 1526. In 1877, the title ''Emperor of India'' was assumed by the reigning British monarch, who at that time was Queen Victoria; it was held in that manner until 1948, when it was retroactively terminated effective August 14, 1947.
Bahadur Shah died in exile on November 7, 1862; he was buried near Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, at the site that later became known as Bahadur Shah Zafar Dargah.^[2] His wife Zinat Mahal died in 1886.^[3]

Legacy

Bahadur Shah Zafar was also one of the greatest Urdu poets in Indian history. He wrote a large number of Urdu Ghazals, out of these Urdu poetry, a large chunk was lost and destroyed during the unrest of 1857-1858, yet a large collection still survive, which was later on compiled as Kulliyyat-i Zafar. The court that he maintained, arguably pretentious and decadent for a ruler whose writ extended only to Delhi's Red Fort, was home to other writers of high standing in Urdu and South Asian literature, including Ghalib, Dagh, Mumin, and Zauq (Dhawq).
Modern India has respected him as one of the first nationalists, who actively opposed the foreign rule of the British in the Indian soil. Several movies in Hindi/Urdu were made depicting his role during the rebellion as hero. Some streets have been named after him.One of such road is Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi and Bahadur Shah Zafar Road in Lahore, Pakistan. A statue of Bahadur Shah Zafar has been erected at Vijayanagram Palace at Bhelupura in Varanasi. The road leading from Bhelupura Police Station to Durgakund Tank has also been named as Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. From 1959, an academy named as All India Bahadur Shah Zafar Academy has been working in this regard to spread among people the knowledge of his contribution in the first national freedom movement of India.
In Bangladesh, the Victoria Park of old Dhaka has been renamed as Bahadur Shah Zafar Park to depict the respect innate in the hearts of the Bangladeshis for him.

Wives

Bahadur Shah Zafar is known to have had four wives. In order of marriage they are
^[4]

★ Begum Ashraf Mahal

★ Begum Akhtar Mahal

★ Begum Zeenat Mahal

★ Begum Taj Mahal

Descendants

At least three lines of descent from Bahadur Shah Zafar are known:

★ Delhi line -- son: Mirza Fathul Mulk Bahadur (alias Mirza Fakhru); grandson: Mirza Farkhunda Jamal; great-grandchildren: Hamid Shah and Begum Qamar Sultan; great-great-granddaughters (daughters of Begum Qamar Sultan): Begum Tahira Sultan & Pakizah Sultan Begum.

★ Howrah line -- son: Jawan Bakht, grandson: Jamshid Bakht, great-grandson: Mirza Muhammad Bedar Bakht (married Sultana Begum). Currently she owns 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).
There are also descendants of other Mughal kings beside Bahadur Shah Zafar II. Most of them used to have or inherited governor's or courtier's positions; some were viziers or worked in the court of the Shah. When the Mutiny came most of them fled the capital and changed their family name from Mirza, Mughal, Beg, etc. to something more common. Some escaped to distant principalities and held courtier's positions there. Examples include Jalaluddin Mirza's line of Bengal Zamindari under the Maharaja of Dighapatia and the Toluqari family, which claims to be Baron Gardner's descendants as well.

Epitaph

The following poem was written by Bahadur Shah Zafar as his epitaph; this is an English translation.
My heart is not happy in this despoiled land

Who has ever felt fulfilled in this transient world
Tell these emotions to go dwell elsewhere

Where is there space for them in this besmirched (bloodied) heart?

The nighthingale laments neither to the gardnerer nor to the hunter

Imprisonment was written in fate in the season of spring

I had requested for a long life a life of four days

Two passed by in pining, and two in waiting.

How unlucky is Zafar! For burial

Even two yards of land were not to be had, in the land (of the) beloved.^[5]
Another verse reads:
Zafar, no matter how smart and witty one may be, he is not a man

Who in good times forgot God, and who in anger did not fear Him.

See also

★ Mughal Emperor

★ Urdu poetry

★ List of Indian monarchs

★ List of Urdu poets

★ Indian rebellion of 1857

References

1. "Khwaja Hasan Nizami's Book"
2. The Dargah of Bahadur Shah Zafar in Rangoon.
3. Nawab Zeenat Mahal
4. Bahadur Shah Zafar Ka Afsanae Gam
5. Jee Nehein Lagta Ujrey Diyaar Mein

External links

★ Bahadur Shah Zafar at Kavita Kosh

★ BBC Report on Bahadur Shah's possible descendants in Hyderabad

★ An article on Bahadur Shah's descendants in Delhi and Hyderabad

★ Another article on Bahadur Shah's descendants in Hyderabad

★ An article on Bahadur Shah's descendants in Kolkata

★ Extracts from a book on Bahadur Shah Zafar, with details of exile and family

★ Links to further websites on Bahadur Shah Zafar

★ Poetry on urdupoetry.com

★ Extract of talk by Zafar's biographer William Dalrymple (British Library)