| Alamgir II | |||||||||
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| Padishah Al-Sultan Al-Azam | |||||||||
 Portrait by Sukha Luhar,c. 1756 | |||||||||
| Mughal emperor | |||||||||
| 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 (1699-06-06)6 June 1699 Burhanpur,Mughal Empire | ||||||||
| Died | 29 November 1759(1759-11-29) (aged 60) Kotla Fateh Shah,Maratha Empire | ||||||||
| Burial | Humayun's Tomb,Delhi, India | ||||||||
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| House | Mughal dynasty | ||||||||
| Dynasty | Timurid dynasty | ||||||||
| Father | Jahandar Shah | ||||||||
| Mother | Anup Bai | ||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam(Hanafi) | ||||||||
Mirza Aziz-ud-Din Muhammad (Persian:عزیزالدین محمد; 6 June 1699 – 29 November 1759), better known by hisregnal nameAlamgir II (Persian:عالمگیر دوم), was the fifteenthMughal emperor from 1754 to 1759. He was the son ofJahandar Shah.
Born Mirza Aziz-ud-Din, the second son of Jahandar Shah, was raised to the throne byImad-ul-Mulk after he deposedAhmad Shah Bahadur in 1754. On ascending the throne, he took the title of Alamgir and tried to follow the approach ofAurangzeb (Alamgir I). At the time of his accession to the throne he was 55 years old. He had no experience in administration or warfare as he had spent most of his life in jail. He was a weak ruler, with all the power resting in the hands of his vizier, Imad-ul-Mulk.
In 1756,Ahmad Shah Durrani invaded India once again and capturedDelhi and plunderedMathura. 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, whileShah Jahan III was placed on the throne.
Alamgir II was born Aziz-ud-Din on 6 June 1699 atBurhanpur and was the second son ofMuizz-ud-Din, himself the son of the future emperorBahadur Shah I. His mother was aRajput princess, Anup Bai, with little clarity about her existence.[4]
Aziz-ud-Din was seven when his great-grandfatherAurangzeb died in theDeccan. After the death of his grandfather Bahadur Shah I and the war of succession that followed, his father Jahandar Shah was defeated by the nextMughal Emperor,Farrukhsiyar.
Aziz-ud-Din was then imprisoned in 1714 byAsaf Jah I under Farrukhsiyar. From 1714 to 1754 he was in captivity. After the death ofAhmad Shah Bahadur, he was released in 1754 by the usurping VizierGhazi ud-Din Khan Feroze Jung III. He perceived Aziz-ud-Din as a frail personality who would not object to his regime. Therefore, on 2 June 1754, Aziz-ud-Din was given the titleAlamgir II by the vizier out of his own recommendation, as he wanted to follow the centralized approach of Aurangzeb.
Imad-ul-Mulk hired Maratha mercenaries to do his bidding[5] and put all the imperial revenues into his own pocket and starved Alamgir II's family. He also persecutedAli Gauhar, the elder son of Alamgir II.
Since then, relations between Alamgir II and Imad-ul-Mulk's regime were so bad that the latter got him assassinated in November 1759.
After the emergence of Alamgir II the Mughal Empire had impulsively began to re-centralize, particularly when manyNawabs sought the gratification of the Mughal Emperor and his co-ordination regarding their resistance to the Maratha. This development was clearly unwelcome byImad-ul-Mulk who sought to strengthen his authoritarianism with the undaunted support of the Marathas. HisAmir-ul-Umara andMir Bakhshi continued to be Mirza Ashraf, the son ofKhan Dowran VII (a noble in the reign of Farrukhsiyar and Muhammad Shah).[6][7]
In the year 1755, the acclaimed Mughal viceroy of Punjab,Moin-ul-Mulk died, his widowMughlani Begum desperately sought the assistance ofAhmad Shah Durrani to halt any succession struggle and to quell the Sikh rebels in the eastern regions.
Ahmad Shah Durrani and his forces then marched intoLahore in the year 1756 and appointed his sonTimur Shah Durrani as the new viceroy atLahore, under the protection of the commander Jahan Khan and also placedAdina Beg as theFaujdar ofDoab. Ahmad Shah Durrani then plundered Sikh and Hindu inhabitants in the unstable and outlawed eastern regions of thePunjab.
He then marched towards Delhi, in January 1757, the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II with courtiers such as Shah Waliullah, nobles such asNajib-ul-Daula, and the imperial family went to meetAhmad Shah Durrani, whose forces then engaged theMarathas in combat and threatened to overthrow and execute the regime of Imad-ul-Mulk in thesacking of Delhi.
Ahmad Shah Durrani's relations with the Mughal Emperor, strengthened further when his sonTimur Shah Durrani was chosen as the suitor of Alamgir II's daughterZuhra Begum. Ahmad Shah Durrani himself also married Hadrat Begum the daughter of the former Mughal EmperorMuhammad Shah.[8]
Ahmad Shah Durrani returned toKabul leaving his forces led by his son Timur Shah Durrani consolidating themselves inside the garrisons ofLahore where they founded theZamzamacannon with the assistance of Mughal metalsmiths.
He was supported byMohammad Bahawal Khan II (Nawab Amir of Bhawalpur) andMuhammad Nasir Khan I (Khanate of Kalat).[9]
In July 1757, the Marathas led byRaghunathrao rejected the alliance established between theDurrani Empire and theMughal Empire, they were assisted byImad-ul-Mulk and encamped 30 km opposite to theRed Fort and occupied all the villages by theJamuna they began to besiege Delhi.
The Marathas fought against Alamgir II's incumbentMir Bakhshi ("Paymaster")Najib-ul-Daula along with his lieutenants Qutub Shah and Aman Khan and aMughal Army of 2,500 garrisoned inside the metropolis of Delhi. The angry Maratha set ferries ablaze and stopped food supplies from entering Delhi, while Najib-ul-Daula positioned his heavy artillery outside the vicinity of the Red Fort.
Unable to gain any assistance fromAhmad Shah Durrani, who was engaged in quelling various rebellions nearHerat; Najib-ul-Daula surrendered after resisting the combined brigands of Maratha Confederacy for more than five months, he conceded defeat and withdrew toNajibabad. When the Marathas entered Delhi the emperor Alamgir II and his royal family had somehow fled toBharatpur State. The Marathas looted and plundered the city and the people of Delhi. Mosques and Shrines built by the Mughals were desecrated; and thePeshwa conspired to place Vishwasrao upon the Mughal throne.
Imad-ul-Mulk was reappointedMir Bakhshi and with the support of the Marathas.[10] Not long after entering Delhi the Marathas encountered aJat regiment sent bySuraj Mal who now began to claim sovereignty over Delhi. The Jat also plundered Delhi but soon afterwards made it possible for Alamgir II and the Mughal royal family to return to Delhi from Bharatpur.
However, despite losing control of Delhi, Najib-ul-Daula and his associates, such as Qutub Khan and Abdus Samad Khan the MughalFaujdar ofSirhind, continued to challenge the Maratha Confederacy and its allies during confrontations atSaharanpur and Shahabad Markanda. In response the Marathas sacked the inhabitants ofTaraori,Karnal andKunjpura.[10]
The Maratha attack upon Kunjpura triggered a military response by Ahmad Shah Durrani. Whose forces crossed the sacred rivers of India in search of their Maratha opponents.
In the year 1756, Alamgir II sympathised with the cause of his loyalNawabs ofKurnool,Cuddapah andSavanur, when their assigned territories were ravaged and plundered until 1757 by theMaratha chieftainBalaji Baji Rao.
Alamgir II grieved the death ofAlivardi Khan the famousNawab of Bengal, who annually pledged 5 milliondams to the imperial court. His successorSiraj-ud-Daula was recognised as the next Nawab of Bengal, but he faced internal rivals who refused to consider thefirman granted by Alamgir II to Siraj-ud-Daula. These internal conflicts would lead Siraj-ud-Daula to hastily annexCalcutta from theEnglish East India Company, without the permission of the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II andSalabat Jung. Siraj-ud-Daula was quickly defeated by Clive who recapturedCalcutta and defeated Siraj-ud-Daula during theBattle of Plassey in the year 1757. After the annihilation of his entire army Siraj-ud-Daula fled and was killed by the forces of the treacherousMir Jafar. The deceased Siraj-ud-Daula's pretensions were criticised in the Mughal imperial court byGhulam Husain Tabatabai, and Alamgir II refused to recognise Mir Jafar as the next Nawab of Bengal. In response to the imperial court's decision Mir Jafar thus consolidated and allied with the manipulativeImad-ul-Mulk against the imperial family.
Throughout Alamgir II's reign French commandantde Bussy andLally and their allies such asSalabat Jung andHyder Ali greatly contributed to the advancement of forces in the Deccan opposed to the utter dominance of theMaratha renegades, their achievements had earned them fame throughout the influential circles within the Mughal Empire. In the year 1756, Salabat Jung's forces utilised heavy muskets known asCatyocks, which were attached to the ground, it was known to have fired more rapidly than a cannon.[11] These new weapons would completely reverse fortunes of the Maratha rebels. Soon after theBattle of Plassey, the French commander De Bussy, also entitledSaif-ud-Daula Umdat-ul-Mulk andMansabdar of 7000, by the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II. He captured theNorthern Circars from the British along with his assistant Hyder Jung the "Vakil" (attorney) representing the French within the Mughal Empire and Salabat Jung. However theNorthern Circars were retaken by Forde in the year 1758 and De Bussy was recalled to France. Fearing the worst, Salabat Jung reconciled with theEnglish East India Company and recognised their protectorate and was soon overthrown by his own brotherNizam Ali Khan.
In 1754, theDurrani governor of Kashmir,Sukh Jiwan Mal, expelled his deputy and asserted independence. To ratify his claim, he asked Alamgir II to recognise him as the sole representative of Kashmir. Alamgir II, in an agreement, conferred the title ofRaja upon Sukh Jiwan.
Adina Beg, the formerNazim ofDoaba, was appointed as the governor ofPunjab byNana Saheb I after his victory over the Durranis. Adina, who rather served as an autonomous ruler, was designated as theNawab of Punjab by Alamgir II as he bestowed upon him the title ofZafar Jang Bahadur.
In the year 1758, theMughal Army ofFaiz Mohammad Khan theNawab of Bhopal was treacherously attacked by his step-motherMamola Bai who suddenly besieged the Mughal garrison at Fortress of Raisen in 1758, according to the layout of theMarathas. The outraged Mughal Emperor Alamgir II, then issued afirman supporting Faiz Mohammad Khan was theNawab of Bhopal the only chosen administrator of Raisen, the emperor also granted the titleBahadur to Faiz Mohammad Khan the Nawab of Bhopal. However the fort remained under the control of Mamola Bai and the renegade Nanasaheb Peshwa. The fortress of Raisen was quickly retaken by Faiz Mohammad Khan in the year 1760, after the tragic assassination of Alamgir II and afterSadashivrao Bhau threatened to ravageBhopal prior to theThird Battle of Panipat. It is believed that Faiz Mohammad Khan's Sepoys were among those who had cut off the various supply routes of the Marathas just before the Third Battle of Panipat.
Najm-ad-Dawla supported British presence inCambay. Turning much of his estate into an international "safe zone". Although it is likely that he too had to face threats from the Maratha climax.
In1758,Hyder Ali and hisSepoys capturedBangalore from "Khande Rao of theMaratha Confederacy".
In honour of his achievements during theCarnatic Wars, the king gave him the title "Nawab Haider Ali Khan Bahadur".
In 1758 the Marathas led byRaghunathrao occupiedLahore after extracting an extortion of imperial wealth fromImad-ul-Mulk, together they conspired the overthrow of youngTimur Shah Durrani.Raghunathrao drove out Jahan Khan andTimur Shah Durrani, the son and viceroy ofAhmad Shah Durrani. Timur Shah Durrani and his forces were forced to retreat from Lahore to Peshawar under the force of attacks fromSikhs and Marathas. This victory made the belligerent Peshwa, grandiosely sack Delhi, and stated his intentions of placingVishwasrao on the Mughal throne.[12]
Many of his actions had angered the people of India. Fearing a backlash in the summer of the year 1759Prince Ali Gauhar escaped from Delhi.
Agitated by the daring escape, Imad-ul-Mulk andSadashivrao Bhau reckoned that Alamgir II was about to advance his son Prince Ali Gauhar, to dispossess and overthrow their regime.
After detailed consideration Imad-ul-Mulk and an angry mob of various ethnic groups plotted to murder the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II and the assassinations of prominent members of his family in the winter of 1759.[13]
The defeat of Alamgir II's son-in-law, Timur Shah Durrani by the Marathas in the year 1760, provoked the wrath ofAhmad Shah Durrani, who launched a massive campaign gathering more troops than ever before. In response to Imad-ul-Mulk andSadashivrao Bhau;Najib-ud-Daula and his firm alliance of principal Muslim nobles in the Mughal Empire and Ahmad Shah Abdali recaptured Delhi and placed it under the nominal authority ofShah Alam II. In the southHyder Ali and hisMysore Army ferociously attacked the Maratha. Meanwhile,Shah Alam II anticipated the collapse of the Maratha and declaredShuja-ud-Daula hisGrand Vizier and Najib-ud-Daula as his honoraryMukhtar Khas (Chief Representative).[14][15] These developments eventually culminated into rise of religious and political loyalties that eventually clashed at the "Third Battle of Panipat" in the year 1761.
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In 1756, the Seven Years' War had broken out and Alamgir II was supported by various international belligerents of that war. It was the first global war in which the Mughal emperor had his involvement apart from the boundaries of India. Alamgir II was initially involved in that war because the British were hasty in their attempts to conquerBengal Subah.
In 1755, De Bussy received letter from new Mughal Emperor Alamgir II requestingFrench assistance to put down theMaratha Confederacy. Alamgir II asked if it was possible for De Bussy to dispatch a French contingent of 1000 strong to protect theMughal Empire's capital atDelhi. Alamgir II also promised to pay a hefty sum for the maintenance of the French and even promised to settle disputes in theCarnatic Wars in favour of theFrench East India Company.[16]
In 1757, Alamgir II had successfully achieved peace between theDurrani Emirate and the Mughal Empire. Alamgir II even secured a matrimonial alliance[17] when Timur Shah Durrani marriedGauhar Afroz Begam the daughter of the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II in February 1757[citation needed] andAhmad Shah Durrani marriedHazrat Begum the daughter of the former Mughal EmperorMuhammad Shah in 1757.[18]
in the year 1751, theSwedish East India Company was operating in Surat as a co-belligerent of Alamgir II. They were probably instrumental in assisting the firstNawab of Junagadh.
It is believed that Alamgir II even tried to reconcile theEnglish East India Company and the French East India Company before his death in 1759.
The newly appointed MughalGrand Vizier after Ahmad Shah Durrani's invasion wasNajib-ud-Daula who tried to consolidate the remains of the Mughal Empire by uniting distantFaujdars (commanders), Nawab's andNizams into a common cause against theMarathas. Fearing their wrath the deposedImad-ul-Mulk aligned himself with the Maratha leaderSadashivrao Bhau and launched a counterattack against Najib-ud-Daula which lasted 15 days and resulted in the defeat of Najib-ud-Daula who was driven north.
Imad-ul-Mulk then feared that the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II would recallAhmad Shah Durrani, or use his son PrinceAli Gauhar, to dispossess him of his newfound power with the Marathas. Therefore, Imad-ul-Mulk plotted to murder the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II and his family. A few Mughal Princes, including Ali Gauhar desperately managed to escape before assassination. In November 1759, the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II was told that a pious man had come to meet him, Alamgir II, ever so eager to meet holy men, set out immediately to meet him at Kotla Fateh Shah, he was stabbed repeatedly by Imad-ul-Mulk's assassins. The Mughal Emperor Alamgir II's death was mourned throughout the Mughal Empire, particularly by the Muslim populace.
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Alamgir II | ||
| Preceded by | Mughal Emperor 2 June 1754– 29 November 1759 | Succeeded by |
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