| Shah Alam II | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Padishah Al-Sultan Al-Azam | |||||
 Shah Alam after his blinding, by Khairallah c. 1793 | |||||
| 17th Mughal Emperor | |||||
| First reign | 10 October 1760 – 31 July 1788 | ||||
| Predecessor | Shah Jahan III | ||||
| Successor | Shah Jahan IV | ||||
| Second reign | 16 October 1788 – 19 November 1806 | ||||
| Predecessor | Shah Jahan IV | ||||
| Successor | Akbar II | ||||
| Born | Mirza Ali Gauhar 25 June 1728 Shahjahanabad, Delhi Subah, Mughal Empire (present-day Old Delhi, Delhi, India) | ||||
| Died | 19 November 1806 (aged 78) Shahjahanabad, Delhi Subah, Mughal Empire | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouses | |||||
| Issue |
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| House | House of Babur | ||||
| Dynasty | Timurid dynasty | ||||
| Father | Alamgir II | ||||
| Mother | Zinat Mahal | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam (Hanafi) | ||||
| Seal | .jpg) | ||||
| Military career | |||||
| Battles / wars | Third Battle of Panipat Bengal War Battle of Delhi (1764) Battle of Buxar Battle of Delhi (1771) Battle of Delhi (1783) Siege of Delhi (1804) | ||||
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Shah Alam II (Persian pronunciation: [ʃɑːh ʔɑː.ˈlam]; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II.[16] Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power was so depleted during his reign that it led to a saying in the Persian language, Sultanat-e-Shah Alam, Az Dilli ta Palam, meaning, 'The empire of Shah Alam is from Delhi to Palam', Palam being a suburb of Delhi.[17][18]
Shah Alam faced many invasions, mainly by the Emir of Afghanistan, Ahmed Shah Abdali, which led to the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) between the Maratha Confederacy, and the Afghan Empire led by Abdali. In 1760, the invading forces of Abdali were driven away by the Marathas, led by Sadashivrao Bhau, who deposed Shah Jahan III, the puppet Mughal emperor of Imad-ul-Mulk, and installed Shah Alam II as the rightful emperor (1760 – 1772).[19][20]
Shah Alam II was considered the only and rightful emperor, but he was unable to return to Delhi until 1772, under the protection of the Maratha general Mahadaji Shinde. He also fought against the East India Company at the Battle of Buxar (1764). In 1788, when he was a prisoner of Ghulam Qadir, he was blinded.
Shah Alam II authored his own Diwan of poems and was known by the pen-name Aftab. His poems were guided, compiled and collected by Mirza Fakhir Makin.[21]
Shah Alam also penned the famous book Ajaib-ul-Qasas, which is considered one of the earliest and most prominent books of prose in Urdu.
- ^ Muhammad Umar (1998). Muslim Society in Northern India During the Eighteenth Century. Available with the author. p. 411. ISBN 9788121508308.
- ^ a b c d e The Genealogist, Volumes 13-14. The Association. 1999. pp. 70, 81, 82.
- ^ Antoine Louis Henri de Polier; Polier (colonel de, Antoine-Louis-Henri) (1947). Pratul Chandra Gupta (ed.). Shah Alam II and His Court: A Narrative of the Transactions at the Court of Delhy from the Year 1771 to the Present Time. S.C. Sarkar and sons. p. 71.
- ^ Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1971). 1754-1771 (Panipat). 3d ed. 1966, 1971 printing. Orient Longman. p. 381.
- ^ J. P. Guha (1962). Delhi; a Handbook for Travellers. R. & K Publishing House. p. 34.
- ^ a b Journal of Indian History, Volume 60. Department of Modern Indian History. 1982. p. 62.
- ^ Muhammad Umar (2001). Urban Culture in Northern India During the Eighteenth Century. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 185.
- ^ a b تاريخ هند عهد وسظى، غير مطبوعه مآخز: جنوبى ايشيائ علاقائ سمينار منعقده ٢٢-٢٦ مارچ ٨٨٩١ كے مقالات. خدا بخش اورينٹل پبلک لائبريرى،. 1999. p. 91.
- ^ Bhagwati Sharan Verma (1997). Art, Archaeology And, Culture of Eastern India: Dr. B.S. Verma Felicitation Volume. Bihar Puravid Parishad. p. 264.
- ^ a b c India. Legislature. Legislative Assembly (1936). The Legislative Assembly Debates: (Official Report), Volume 1. Government of India Press. p. 108.
- ^ Muzaffar Alam; Sanjay Subrahmanyam (2012). Writing the Mughal World: Studies on Culture and Politics. Columbia University Press. p. 462. ISBN 978-0-231-15811-4.
- ^ Hari Ram Gupta (1944). A History of the Sikhs, from Nadir Shah's Invasion to the Rise of Ranjit Singh, 1739-1799: Cis-Sutlej Sikhs, 1769-1799 (2 ed.). Minerva Book Shop. p. 79.
- ^ S. M. Burke; Salim al-Din Quraishi (1995). Bahadur Shah: The Last Moghul Emperor of India. Sang-e-Meel. p. 36.
- ^ Shama Mitra Chenoy (1998). Shahjahanabad, a City of Delhi, 1638-1857. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. p. 82. ISBN 9788121508025.
- ^ a b The Dacca University Studies, Volumes 6-7. University of Dacca. 1943. p. 30.
- ^ Dalrymple, W. (2019),The Anarchy p89, London: Bloomsbury
- ^ Delhi, Past and Present, p. 4, at Google Books
- ^ History of Islam, p. 512, at Google Books
- ^ Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707–1813, p. 140, at Google Books
- ^ S. M. Ikram (1964). "XIX. A Century of Political Decline: 1707–1803". In Ainslie T. Embree (ed.). Muslim Civilization in India. New York: Columbia University Press. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
- ^ Dictionary of Indo-Persian Literature, p. 40, at Google Books