| Alamgir II | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Padishah Al-Sultan Al-Azam | |||||||||
 Portrait by Sukha Luhar, c. 1756 | |||||||||
| Emperor of Hindustan | |||||||||
| Reign | 3 June 1754 – 29 November 1759 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Ahmad Shah | ||||||||
| Successor | Shah Jahan III | ||||||||
| Regent | Imad-ul-Mulk (1754–1756) | ||||||||
| Mir Bakhshi | Najib-ud-Daulah (1756–1759) | ||||||||
| Born | Mirza Aziz-ud-Din 6 June 1699 Burhanpur, Mughal Empire | ||||||||
| Died | 29 November 1759 (aged 60) Kotla Fateh Shah, Mughal Empire | ||||||||
| Burial | Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, India | ||||||||
| Spouses |
| ||||||||
| Issue |
| ||||||||
| |||||||||
| House | House of Babur | ||||||||
| Dynasty | Timurid dynasty | ||||||||
| Father | Jahandar Shah | ||||||||
| Mother | Anup Bai | ||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam (Hanafi) | ||||||||
| Mughal emperors | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mirza Aziz-ud-Din Muhammad (June 6, 1699 – November 29, 1759), better known by his regnal name Alamgir II, was the fifteenth Mughal emperor from 1754 to 1759. He was the son of Jahandar Shah.
Born Mirza Aziz-ud-Din, the second son of Jahandar Shah, was raised to the throne by Imad-ul-Mulk after he deposed Ahmad Shah Bahadur in 1754. On ascending the throne, he took the title of Alamgir and tried to follow the approach of Aurangzeb (Alamgir I). At the time of his accession to the throne he was 55 years old. He had no experience of administration and warfare as he had spent most of his life in jail. He was a weak ruler, with all powers vested in the hand of his vizier, Imad-ul-Mulk.
In 1756, Ahmad Shah Durrani invaded India once again and captured Delhi and plundered Mathura. While the Marathas became more powerful because of their collaboration with Imad-ul-Mulk, and dominated the whole of northern India. This was the peak of the Maratha expansion, which caused great trouble for the Mughal Empire, already weak with no strong ruler. Relations between Alamgir II and his usurping vizier, Imad-ul-Mulk had now deteriorated, their troubled relation would culminate in the murder of Alamgir by Imad-ul-Mulk. Alamgir II's son Ali Gauhar escaped persecution from Delhi, while Shah Jahan III was placed on the throne.
- ^ Sarkar, Sir Jadunath (1950). Fall of the Mughal Empire: 1754-1771. (Panipat) 2 ed., rev. 1950. M. C. Sarkar. p. 92.
- ^ Jaswant Lal Mehta (1 January 2005). Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 464. ISBN 978-1-932705-54-6.
- ^ Masudul Hasan (1998). History of Islam: Classical period, 1206-1900 C.E. Adam Publishers & Distributors. p. 669.