Muhammad Shah: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|13th Emperor of the Mughal Empire (reigned 1719-1748)}}

| image = Muḥammad Sháh on horseback.jpg

| alt = Muhammad Shah

| caption = Muhammad Shah

| succession = 13th [[Mughal emperors|Mughal Emperor]]

| reign = 27 September 1719 – 26 April 1748

|coronation = 29 September 1719 at [[Red Fort]]

|predecessor= [[Shah Jahan II]]

|reg-type1 =Viziers

|regent1 ={{ubl|[[Syed Brothers|Syed Abdullah Khan Barha]] (1719 - 1720)|Amir Khan (1720 - 1722)|[[Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I|Nizam-ul-Mulk]] (1722 - 1748)}}

|regent = [[Syed Brothers]] (1719–1720)

|successor = [[Ahmad Shah Bahadur]]

|birth_name = Roshan Akhtar<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica" />

|birth_date = 7 August 1702

|birth_place = [[Ghazna]], [[Afghanistan]]

|death_date = {{death date and age|1748|4|26|1702|8|7|df=yes}}

|death_place = [[Battle of Manupur (1748)|Battle of Manupur]]

|spouse=[[Badshah Begum]]

|spouse-type =Consort

| issue = Shahriyar Shah Bahadur<br />[[Ahmad Shah Bahadur]]<br />Taj Muhammad<br />Badshah Begum<br />Jahan Afruz Banu Begum<br />[[Hazrat Begum]]  

|full name =Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah

|father = [[Jahan Shah (Mughal prince)|Jahan Shah]]

|mother = Fakhr-un-Nissa Begum<ref name="malik">{{cite book|last1=Malik|first1=Zahir Uddin|title=The reign of Muhammad Shah, 1719-1748|date=1977|publisher=Asia Pub. House|location=London|isbn=9780210405987|page=407}}</ref>

| religion = [[Islam]]

|spouses=[[Sahiba Mahal]]<br/>[[Qudsia Begum]]<br />Fatehpuri Mahal<ref name="malik"/><br />Roshanabadi Mahal<ref name="malik"/>

|spouses-type=Wives

|house= [[Mughal dynasty|Mughal]]

| place of burial = Mausoleum of Muhammad Shah, Nizamuddin Awliya, [[Delhi]]

|}}

'''Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah''' ({{lang-fa|{{Nastaliq|ناصرالدین محمد شاه}}}})<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica">{{cite web|title=Muhammad Shah|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad-Shah|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=18 September 2017|language=en}}</ref> (born '''Roshan Akhtar''' ({{lang-fa|{{Nastaliq|روشن اختر}}}}))<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica" /> (7 August 1702 – 26 April 1748)<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica" /> was the thirteenth [[Mughal emperor]], who reigned from 1719 to 1748.<ref name="sen2">{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra |title=A Textbook of Medieval Indian History |publisher=Primus Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-9-38060-734-4 |pages=193}}</ref> He was son of [[Jahan Shah I|Khujista Akhtar]], the fourth son of [[Bahadur Shah I]]. With the help of the [[Sayyid brothers]], he ascended the throne at the young age of 17. He later got rid of them with the help of [[Asaf Jah I]] – Syed Hussain Ali Khan was murdered at Fatehpur Sikri in 1720 and Syed Hassan Ali Khan Barha was fatally poisoned in 1722.<ref name="Shaharyar_Begums_2000">{{cite book|title=The Begums of Bhopal|author=Shaharyar M. Khan|edition=illustrated|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2000|isbn=978-1-86064-528-0|page=18}}</ref> Muhammad Shah was a great patron of the arts, including musical, cultural and administrative developments.  His pen-name was '''Sadā Rangīla''' ''(Ever Joyous)'' and he is often referred to as "Muhammad Shah Rangila", also sometimes as "Bahadur Shah Rangila" after his grand father Bahadur Shah I.<ref name="google">{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com.pk/search?aq=f&sugexp=chrome,mod=15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Sitar#hl=en&q=muhammad+shah+music&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbm=bks&source=og&sa=N&tab=wp&ei=9z_IT93OIcXh4QSmykw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=7d73d82afbf6b9e8&biw=1024&bih=667|title=Sitar - Google Search|access-date=17 January 2014}}</ref>

On 21 February 1722, Muhammad Shah appointed the Asaf Jah I as Grand Vizier. He advised Muhammad Shah to be "as cautious as [[Akbar]] and as brave as [[Aurangzeb]]". Asaf Jah I resigned his post as the Grand Vizier when Muhammad Shah expressed negligence towards his administration. Asaf Jah I appointed commander Ewaz Khan as the master of the garrison at [[Aurangabad, Maharashtra|Aurangabad]], and much of his logistical duties were carried out by Inayatullah Kashmiri.<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813|author=Mehta, J.L.|year=2005|publisher=New Dawn Press, Incorporated|isbn=9781932705546|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC}}</ref> Asaf Jah I left the imperial court in disgust. In 1723 he set out on an expedition to the Deccan, where he fought [[Mubariz Khan]], the Mughal [[Subedar]] of the Deccan, who kept the ravaging [[Marathas]] at bay. Taking advantage of Mubariz Khan's conventional weaknesses, Asaf Jah I defeated and eliminated his opponent during the [[Battle of Shakar kheda]]. Asaf Jah I then established the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] in 1725.

During this time, the Mughal-Maratha Wars (1728–1763)<ref>{{cite book |title= Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E |author= Tony Jaques |volume= 1 |series= Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |page=xxxix |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-0313335372}}</ref> would cause irreparable devastation to the inhabitants of the ill-administered [[Mughal Empire]]. Despite efforts to counter the rise of rebellions in 1724, by the [[Nawab of Awadh]] [[Saadat Ali Khan I|Saadat Ali Khan]] and the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] [[Subedar]] in [[Bangalore]], Dilawar Khan (r.1726–1756), who established a well-protected bastion in the [[Malabar Coast]]. [[Muhammad Ali Khan]] the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] [[Faujdar]] of [[Rangpur, Gujarat|Rangpur]] and his stern ally Deena Narayan were ambushed out of [[Cooch Behar State|Koch Bihar]] by Upendra Narayan a [[Hindu]] [[Bihari people|Bihari]] and Mipham Wangpo (r.1729–1736) the ruler of [[Bhutan]]. Ali Muhammad Khan Rohilla had established the barons of [[Rohilakhand]]. The [[Nawab of Bhopal]], [[Yar Muhammad Khan Bahadur]], also ratified by the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah in 1728, countered ceaseless raids by the Marathas in Malwa and nearly began to lose half of his territories in the year 1742.

In 1748, [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] of [[Afghanistan]] invaded the Mughal Empire. Heir apparent [[Ahmad Shah Bahadur]], [[Grand Vizier]] [[Qamaruddin Khan]] and his son [[Muin ul-Mulk (Mir Mannu)|Muin ul-Mulk]], [[Ghazi ud-Din Khan Feroze Jung II|Intizam-ud-Daula]] and [[Safdarjung]] were sent with 75,000 men after the defeat of Shahnawaz Khan in Lahore. At the [[Battle of Manupur (1748)]], Durrani's 12,000 men were defeated, and he was forced to retreat. There was a great rejoicing for this event throughout the Mughal Empire.

==Invasion of Nader Shah==

Emperor Muhammad Shah had four wives. His first wife and chief consort was his first-cousin, Princess [[Badshah Begum]], the daughter of Emperor [[Farrukhsiyar]] and his first wife, Gauhar-un-Nissa Begum.<ref name="Sarkar97">{{cite book|last1=Sarkar|first1=Jadunath|title=Fall of the Mughal Empire.|date=1997|publisher=Orient Longman|location=Hyderabad|isbn=9788125011491|page=169|edition=4th}}</ref> He married her after his accession on 8 December 1721 at Delhi,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Awrangābādī|first1=Shāhnavāz Khān|last2=Prashad|first2=Baini|last3=Shāhnavāz|first3=ʻAbd al-Ḥayy ibn|title=The Maāthir-ul-umarā: being biographies of the Muḥammadan and Hindu officers of the Timurid sovereigns of India from 1500 to about 1780 A.D.|date=1979|publisher=Janaki Prakashan|page=652|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xfG1AAAAIAAJ&q=muhmmad+shah+8+december+1721|language=en}}</ref> and gave her the title ''Malika-uz-Zamani'' (Queen of the Age)<ref name="malik"/> by which she was popularly known. On this occasion there was a great ceremony lasting for weeks. She bore him his first son, Shahriyar Shah Bahadur, who died young in 1726.<ref name="malik"/> She was his most influential wife and exercised her opinions on him. Later, Muhammad Shah took a second wife, Sahiba Mahal.

[[File:Buzurjumid leading funeral procession - Khusrau u Shirin by Nizami (1726), f.95v - BL Or.2933.jpg|thumb|left|Funeral.]]

 

The victory of the [[Mughal Army]] during the [[Battle of Manupur (1748)]] came with a heavy price many fell in battle. Initially this was kept a secret. However, when the news reached the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah, he could not speak, suddenly became sick, and did not come out of his apartments for three days. During this period he fasted. His guards could hear him crying out loud and saying: ''"How could I bring about anyone as faithful as he? ([[Asaf Jah I]])"''. He died due to grief on 26 April 1748, his funeral was attended by visiting [[Imam]]s from [[Mecca]].<ref>name="Mughal-Ottoman relations Sharif of Mecca"</ref><ref name="google7">{{cite book|title=Mughal-Ottoman relations: a study of political & diplomatic relations between Mughal India and the Ottoman Empire, 1556-1748|author=Farooqi, N.R.|year=1989|publisher=Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uB1uAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>