Akbar Shah II
Encyclopedia
Akbar Shah II also known as Mirza Akbar, was the second-to-last of the Mughal emperors of India
. He held the title from 1806 to 1837. He was the second son of Shah Alam II
and the father of Bahadur Shah Zafar II.
Akbar had little real power due to the increasing British
control of India through the East India Company
. Shortly before his death he sent Ram Mohan Roy
as an ambassador to Britain. During his regime, in 1835, the East India Company (EIC) discontinued calling itself the lieutenant of the Mughal Emperor and issuing coins in his name. The Persian lines in the Company's coins to this effect were deleted.
His grave lies, next to the dargah
of 13th century, Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
at Mehrauli
, in a marble enclosure, along with that of Bahadur Shah I
(also known as Shah Alam I) and Shah Alam II
.
at Mukundpur
, Rewa
, while his father was in exile. On 2 May 1781, at the Red Fort, the prince was made Crown Prince
with the title of Wali Ahd Bahadur, after the death of his elder brother. When Ghulam Qadir captured Delhi, he was forced to dance along with other princes and princesses and humiliated, as well as starved. When Jahan Shah IV fled, he was proclaimed puppet Emperor with the title of Akbar Shah II, and was to remain acting emperor even after the reinstation of his father, till December 1788.
, to whom he refused to grant an audience on terms other than those of subject and sovereign, although honourable to him, increasingly frustrated the British, who regarded him as merely their pensioner. The British therefore reduced his titular authority to 'King of Delhi' in 1835 and the East India Company ceased to act as the mere lieutenants of the Mughal Empire as they did from 1803 to 1835. Simultaneously they replaced Persian text with English text on the company's coins, which no longer carried the emperor's name.
The British encouraged the Nawab of Oudh and the Nizam
of Hyderabad
to take royal titles in order to further diminish the Emperor's status and influence. Out of deference, the Nizam did not, but the Nawab of Oudh did so. To appeal against his treatment by the East India Company (which was not widely recognised or accepted in India), Akbar Shah appointed the Bengali reformer Ram Mohan Roy, who was planning a visit to England, as the Mughal envoy to the Court of St. James, conferring on him the title of Raja. Ram Mohan Roy submitted a well argued memorial on behalf of the Mughal ruler, but to no avail.
His grave lies, next to the dargah
of 13th century, Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
at Mehrauli
, Delhi
in a marble enclosure, along with that of Bahadur Shah I
(Shah Alam I) and Shah Alam II
.
, son of Bahadur Shah Zafar son of Akbar Shah II escaped to neighboring areas in fear of capture by the British. Prince Mirza Mughal
, the heir apparent was himself killed in battle. Many princes settled in various provinces of India, but some settled in Burma and Bengal
since a large number of imperial family members, along with Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar were exiled to Rangoon in Burma. In 1858, after the Imperial family was abolished, the capital of the Empire
was moved to Bengal
and remained as such till 1912.
Akbar Shah II was born in Mukundpur, REWA, MP INDIA
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
. He held the title from 1806 to 1837. He was the second son of Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II , also known as Ali Gauhar, was a Mughal emperor of India. A son of Alamgir II, he was exiled to Allahabad in December 1759 by Ghazi-ud-Din, who appointed Shah Jahan III as the emperor. Later, he was nominated as the emperor by Ahmad Shah.Shah Alam II was considered the only and...
and the father of Bahadur Shah Zafar II.
Akbar had little real power due to the increasing British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
control of India through the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. Shortly before his death he sent Ram Mohan Roy
Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the father of modern India...
as an ambassador to Britain. During his regime, in 1835, the East India Company (EIC) discontinued calling itself the lieutenant of the Mughal Emperor and issuing coins in his name. The Persian lines in the Company's coins to this effect were deleted.
His grave lies, next to the dargah
Dargah
A Dargah is a Sufi shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint. Local Muslims visit the shrine known as . Dargahs are often associated with Sufi meeting rooms and hostels, known as khanqah...
of 13th century, Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
Qutub ul Aqtab Hazrat Khwaja Syed Muhammad Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki was a renowned Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the disciple and the spiritual successor of Moinuddin Chishti as head of the Chishti order. Before him the Chishti order in India...
at Mehrauli
Mehrauli
Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in the South West district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is located close to Gurgaon.-History:...
, in a marble enclosure, along with that of Bahadur Shah I
Bahadur Shah I
Bahadur Shah was a Mughal Emperor, who ruled India from 1707 to 1712. His original name was Qutb ud-Din Muhammad Mu'azzam later titled as Shah Alam by his father. He took the throne name Bahadur Shah in 1707. His name Bahādur means "brave" & "hero" in Turko-Mongol languages...
(also known as Shah Alam I) and Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II , also known as Ali Gauhar, was a Mughal emperor of India. A son of Alamgir II, he was exiled to Allahabad in December 1759 by Ghazi-ud-Din, who appointed Shah Jahan III as the emperor. Later, he was nominated as the emperor by Ahmad Shah.Shah Alam II was considered the only and...
.
Early life
Prince Akbar was born on 22 April 1760 to Emperor Shah Alam IIShah Alam II
Shah Alam II , also known as Ali Gauhar, was a Mughal emperor of India. A son of Alamgir II, he was exiled to Allahabad in December 1759 by Ghazi-ud-Din, who appointed Shah Jahan III as the emperor. Later, he was nominated as the emperor by Ahmad Shah.Shah Alam II was considered the only and...
at Mukundpur
Mukundpur
Mukundpur is a village in Amarpatan tehsil, Satna District, Madhya Pradesh state, India....
, Rewa
Rewa (princely state)
Rewa was a princely state of India, surrounding its eponymous capital, the town of Rewa.-Description:With an area of about 13,000 mi², Rewa was the largest princely state in the Bagelkhand Agency and the second largest in Central India Agency. The British political agent for Bagelkhand resided...
, while his father was in exile. On 2 May 1781, at the Red Fort, the prince was made Crown Prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
with the title of Wali Ahd Bahadur, after the death of his elder brother. When Ghulam Qadir captured Delhi, he was forced to dance along with other princes and princesses and humiliated, as well as starved. When Jahan Shah IV fled, he was proclaimed puppet Emperor with the title of Akbar Shah II, and was to remain acting emperor even after the reinstation of his father, till December 1788.
Reign
Emperor Akbar Shah II presided over an empire titularly large but in effect limited to the Red Fort in Delhi alone. The cultural life of Delhi as a whole flourished during his reign. However, his attitude towards East India Company officials, especially Lord HastingsFrancis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings
Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings KG PC , styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762 and as The Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783 and known as The Earl of Moira between 1793 and 1816, was an Irish-British politician and military officer who served as...
, to whom he refused to grant an audience on terms other than those of subject and sovereign, although honourable to him, increasingly frustrated the British, who regarded him as merely their pensioner. The British therefore reduced his titular authority to 'King of Delhi' in 1835 and the East India Company ceased to act as the mere lieutenants of the Mughal Empire as they did from 1803 to 1835. Simultaneously they replaced Persian text with English text on the company's coins, which no longer carried the emperor's name.
The British encouraged the Nawab of Oudh and the Nizam
Nizam
Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad popularly known as Nizams of Hyderabad was a former monarchy of the Hyderabad State, now in the states of Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , and Maharashtra in India...
of Hyderabad
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...
to take royal titles in order to further diminish the Emperor's status and influence. Out of deference, the Nizam did not, but the Nawab of Oudh did so. To appeal against his treatment by the East India Company (which was not widely recognised or accepted in India), Akbar Shah appointed the Bengali reformer Ram Mohan Roy, who was planning a visit to England, as the Mughal envoy to the Court of St. James, conferring on him the title of Raja. Ram Mohan Roy submitted a well argued memorial on behalf of the Mughal ruler, but to no avail.
His grave lies, next to the dargah
Dargah
A Dargah is a Sufi shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint. Local Muslims visit the shrine known as . Dargahs are often associated with Sufi meeting rooms and hostels, known as khanqah...
of 13th century, Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki
Qutub ul Aqtab Hazrat Khwaja Syed Muhammad Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki was a renowned Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the disciple and the spiritual successor of Moinuddin Chishti as head of the Chishti order. Before him the Chishti order in India...
at Mehrauli
Mehrauli
Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in the South West district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is located close to Gurgaon.-History:...
, Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
in a marble enclosure, along with that of Bahadur Shah I
Bahadur Shah I
Bahadur Shah was a Mughal Emperor, who ruled India from 1707 to 1712. His original name was Qutb ud-Din Muhammad Mu'azzam later titled as Shah Alam by his father. He took the throne name Bahadur Shah in 1707. His name Bahādur means "brave" & "hero" in Turko-Mongol languages...
(Shah Alam I) and Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II , also known as Ali Gauhar, was a Mughal emperor of India. A son of Alamgir II, he was exiled to Allahabad in December 1759 by Ghazi-ud-Din, who appointed Shah Jahan III as the emperor. Later, he was nominated as the emperor by Ahmad Shah.Shah Alam II was considered the only and...
.
Princes: Descendants in his line
After the mutiny, cousins of Mirza MughalMirza Mughal
HH Prince Mirza Mughal was an Imperial Prince of the Royal Family of India; the fifth son of Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, the 12th and last Mughal emperor. His mother, Sharif-ul-Mahal Sayyidini, came from an Aristocratic Sayyid family that claimed descent from The Prophet Muhammad...
, son of Bahadur Shah Zafar son of Akbar Shah II escaped to neighboring areas in fear of capture by the British. Prince Mirza Mughal
Mirza Mughal
HH Prince Mirza Mughal was an Imperial Prince of the Royal Family of India; the fifth son of Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, the 12th and last Mughal emperor. His mother, Sharif-ul-Mahal Sayyidini, came from an Aristocratic Sayyid family that claimed descent from The Prophet Muhammad...
, the heir apparent was himself killed in battle. Many princes settled in various provinces of India, but some settled in Burma and Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
since a large number of imperial family members, along with Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar were exiled to Rangoon in Burma. In 1858, after the Imperial family was abolished, the capital of the Empire
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
was moved to Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
and remained as such till 1912.
See also
- Mughal Emperors
- Bahadur ShahBahadur ShahBahadur Shah may refer to*Bahadur Shah of Gujarat *Bahadur Shah I , Mughal Emperor*Bahadur Shah II , the last Mughal Emperor and final ruler of the Timurid dynasty...
- Sepoy Mutiny of 1857
- Mirza NaliMirza NaliMirza Nali , was the Crown Prince before Bahadur Shah II. He was the son of Akbar Shah II who became an outlaw after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. He took refuge in parts of Hindustan....
- Jalaluddin MirzaJalaluddin MirzaJalaluddin Mirza was a prince of the Mughal Royal Family, Gurkhan-e-Mirza.Most of his life was spent hiding from the British. He took refuge under the Zamindari Dighapatia family in Natore, Rajshahi. He had four sons and two daughters. His son Mirza Zafar eventually came to be an official in the...
- Mirza ZafarMirza ZafarMirza Zafar was a prince of the Mughal royal family. He was an officer in King Dighapatia's court, and in 1876 upon the death of his father became the prince of the Timurid Dynasty In Bengal...
Akbar Shah II was born in Mukundpur, REWA, MP INDIA