Ahmad Shah Bahadur
Mughal Emperor
The Emperor Ahmad Shah, equestrian, in the hunting field 1750 San Diego Museum of Art.jpg
The Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur, practices his equestrian skills, in a hunting field in 1750.
13th Mughal Emperor
Reign 29 April 1748 – 2 June 1754
Coronation 4 May 1748 at Red Fort, Delhi
Predecessor Muhammad Shah
Successor Alamgir II
Regent Nawab Bahadur
Born 23 December 1725
Delhi, Mughal Empire
Died 1 January 1775 (aged 49)
Delhi, Mughal Empire
Burial Mausoleum of Mariam Makani, Delhi
Spouse
Gauhar Afruz Banu Begum
Other wives
Issue
Hamid Shah Bahadur
Bidar Bakht Mahmud Shah Bahadur
Tala Said Shah Bahadur
Muhammad Jamiyat Shah Bahadur
Muhammad Dilawar Shah Bahadur
Mirza Rujbi
Mirza Mughlu
Muhtaram-un-Nissa Begum
Dil Afruz Banu Begum
Full name
Abu-Nasir Mujahid ud-din Muhammad Ahmad Shah Bahadur
House Timurid
Father Muhammad Shah
Mother Qudsia Begum
Religion Islam
Ahmad Shah Bahadur, Mirza Ahmad Shah, Mujahid-ud-Din Ahmad Shah Ghazi[1] (23 December 1725 – 1 January 1775) was born to Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. He succeeded his father to the throne as the 13th Mughal Emperor in 1748 at the age of 22. When Ahmed Shah Bahadur came to power the rule of the Mughal Empire was collapsing, furthermore his administrative weaknesses eventually led to the rise of the usurping Feroze Jung III.
Ahmed Shah Bahadur inherited a much weakened Mughal state. He was emperor in title for six years, but left all affairs of state to rivalling factions. He was deposed by the Vizier Feroze Jung III and later blinded along with his mother. He spent the remaining years of his life in prison and died of natural causes in January 1775.
Prince Ahmad was born in 1725 to the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah and his consort Qudsia Begum. The Deccan Wars of 1680-1707 had initiated the final decline of the Mughal Empire well before his birth.
As a young Prince Ahmad developed a weakness for women, though this was restricted under his father's supervision. He is also known to have been an illiterate and never took part in military training. He was strongly supported by his mother,[2] who began to manipulate the imperial court due to the grief of her husband and his inability to consolidate the empire and during the reign of her son who sought the harem more than his duties to the empire.[citation needed]
Emergence
Ahmad Shah Bahadur upon the throne; watercolour painting held by the Bodleian Library
After the death of the Mughal viceroy of Lahore, Zakariya Khan Bahadur, his two sons, Yahya Khan Bahadur and Mian Shah Nawaz Khan, the Emir of Multan, fought each other during for succession. After defeating his elder brother Mian Shah Nawaz Khan declared himself the Mughal viceroy of Punjab. This weakness[clarification needed] was quickly exploited by Ahmad Shah Durrani who initiated another campaign with 30,000 cavalry to assist Shah Nawaz Khan, who was resented for tax-evasion in the Mughal imperial court and opposed by the Grand Vizier, Qamaruddin Khan, who was the father-in-law of Yahya Khan.[citation needed]
In April 1748, Ahmad Shah Abdali joined by Shah Nawaz Khan invaded the Indus River Valley, prompting Muradyab Khan Kalhoro the Subedar of Sindh to dispatch reinforcements to assist the Mughal Army along the river banks. Prince Ahmad and Qamaruddin Khan, Hafiz Rahmat Khan, Safdarjung, Intizam-ud-Daula, Nasir Khan the former Subedar of Ghazni and Kabul, Yahya Khan and Ali Muhammad Khan Rohilla were dispatched by Muhammad Shah to command a large army of 75,000 to confront the 12,000 advancing Durrani's. During the Battle of Manipur (1748),[3] in Sirhind by the river Sutlej both forces fought a decisive battle and Prince Ahmad was nominally victorious, he was thereupon conferred with the title Bahadur, after a Durrani wagon filled with gunpowder exploded.[4] However, the Muhammad Shah seriously mourned the fall of Qamaruddin Khan, who was killed by a stray artillery shell during the battle.[3] After Ahmad Shah Durrani's retreat the Mughal aligned Khanate of Kalat, Nawab Amir of Bhawalpur remained aligned to Alamgir II. Only before the prelude to the Third Battle of Panipat became subjects of the Durrani Empire.[citation needed]
However, Qamaruddin Khan's son Muin ul-Mulk also a recognised war hero from the Battle of Manipur, was placed as the Mughal viceroy of Punjab, by the new Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur.