Later Mughal Emperors - Clarity Desk Hub IAS

After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, the mighty Mughal Empire began its gradual disintegration. Why? Because it lacked a clear mechanism for succession, and the later rulers were neither as capable nor as authoritative as the early Mughals.

🟩 Bahadur Shah I (Shah Alam I) | Reign: 1707–1712

👑 Ascension to the Throne

Aurangzeb had three sons. After a power struggle, his 65-year-old son Bahadur Shah finally emerged victorious, defeating Azam Shah (who ruled for just 3 months).

✅ Policy Changes: Reversal of Aurangzeb’s Measures

Bahadur Shah tried to heal the wounds left by Aurangzeb’s rigid and divisive policies:

Adopted religious tolerance—no temple destruction under his rule.
Chose compromise and conciliation over confrontation, especially with powerful regional rulers.

But there was a price:
➡️ His generous grants of jagirs (land assignments) and frequent promotions worsened the financial condition of the empire.

📝 Jagir System: The emperor assigned land revenue to nobles/officers (called Jagirdars) in lieu of their services. But this revenue didn’t go to the treasury—it went directly to the Jagirdar.

🤝 Policies Toward Major Powers

🟨 Rajputs:

Initially tried to control Rajput states directly but later softened his stance and reconciled.

🟧 Sikhs:

Tried to make peace with Guru Gobind Singh, granting him a high mansab (official rank).
But after the Guru’s death, he launched a campaign against the rebel Banda Bahadur, who had now become the leader of the Khalsa Panth.

🟨 Marathas:

His approach was half-hearted:
- He granted Sardeshmukhi (10% tax) to the Marathas.
- But denied them Chauth (25% tax) and did not recognize Shahu as the rightful king.
- This led to internal Maratha conflict between Tara Bai and Shahu.

🟩 Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708): Last Sikh Guru

Founded the Khalsa Panth (1699), transforming Sikhism into a militant brotherhood.
After his death in 1708, the institution of Guruship ended.
Leadership passed on to Banda Singh Bahadur, his disciple, who led armed rebellion against the Mughals.

🟩 Jahandar Shah (1712–1713): A Puppet Ruler

⚔️ Background:

After Bahadur Shah’s death in 1712, another civil war broke out. But something new happened this time:

For the first time, powerful nobles, not just royal princes, played a decisive role in Mughal politics.

💼 Power Behind the Throne: Zulfiqar Khan

Jahandar Shah became emperor with the support of the powerful noble Zulfiqar Khan, who became the de facto ruler as Wazir (Prime Minister).

✅ Zulfiqar Khan’s Reforms

🟩 Religious and Political Reforms:

Abolished Jizyah.
Restored ties with Rajputs and Marathas.
Continued suppression of the Sikhs and Banda Bahadur.

🟦 Financial Reforms:

Tried to limit the Jagir system to improve finances.
Introduced the Ijarah System for land revenue collection.

📌 Ijarah System: A system of revenue farming:

Government leased out revenue rights to private individuals (Ijaradars).
These contractors paid a fixed sum to the state and then collected as much as they could from peasants.

🛑 Result?

State revenue declined, while peasant exploitation increased.

🧠 Historical Context:

This system was earlier used by Delhi Sultans, but abolished by Sher Shah Suri and Akbar.
It was revived under Jahangir, and again under Jahandar Shah.
Later even adopted by British East India Company in early phases.

🤝 Maratha Policy:

In 1711, Daud Khan Panni (deputy governor of the Deccan) signed an agreement with Shahu, the Maratha king.
Zulfiqar Khan ratified this agreement:
- Sardeshmukhi and Chauth were granted to the Marathas.
- But Mughal officials would collect and transfer the taxes, instead of Marathas doing it themselves.

🎯 This was a compromise, but showed Mughal weakness and increasing autonomy of regional powers.

🟩 Farrukh Siyar (1713–1719): A Puppet Emperor in the Making

After Jahandar Shah’s death, his nephew Farrukh Siyar took the throne. But was he powerful? No. The actual credit for his victory goes to two powerful nobles known as the Saiyid Brothers — Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan Barha.

🧠 These two would go down in history as the “Kingmakers of the Mughal Empire”.

⚔️ Key Appointments:

Abdullah Khan → Appointed as Wazir (Prime Minister).
Husain Ali Khan → Became Mir Bakshi (head of military affairs).

📝 Mir Bakshi was in charge of recruiting, maintaining army records, and commanding military expeditions.

🔥 Campaign Against Sikhs:

Banda Bahadur, who was leading Sikh resistance in Punjab, was finally defeated in 1715 and executed in 1716.

But trouble brewed between Farrukh Siyar and the Saiyid brothers. Why? Because the emperor wanted to rule independently — but the brothers were too powerful. They treated the emperor more like a rubber stamp.

💥 Power Struggle and Assassination (1719):

Tensions escalated.
The Saiyid brothers, with the support of Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath, deposed and killed Farrukh Siyar in 1719.
🛑 First time in Mughal history that an emperor was killed by nobles!

They installed two puppet princes — both died of tuberculosis. Finally, they placed Muhammad Shah (18 years old) on the throne.

🟦 The Saiyid Brothers (1713–1720): “Kingmakers” of the Mughal Throne

While they were powerful and initially reform-minded, their rule had mixed outcomes:

✅ Religious Policy:

Abolished Jizyah again.
Removed pilgrim taxes in many areas.
Followed a policy of conciliation with Rajputs and Marathas.

❌ Administrative Collapse:

The empire’s administrative machinery broke down:
- Lawlessness spread.
- Salaries to officials and soldiers were unpaid.
- Paralysis of central authority became visible.

🤝 Maratha Treaty with Shahu:

The Saiyid brothers signed a key agreement with Maratha King Shahu:

✅ What Shahu Got:

Swarajya: Territories once ruled by Shivaji.
Right to collect Chauth (25%) and Sardeshmukhi (10%) from six Deccan provinces:
- Aurangabad, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, Hyderabad, Khandesh.

🔁 In return, Shahu agreed:

To pay an annual tribute of ₹10 lakh to Mughals.
To send 15,000 soldiers in support.
To curb rebellions and plundering in the Deccan.

🧠 This agreement formally acknowledged Maratha sovereignty, even while pretending loyalty to the Mughals.

🔻 Fall of the Saiyid Brothers (1720)

Other nobles — led by Nizam-ul-Mulk — began conspiring against the Saiyids.
They accused them of being anti-Mughal and anti-Islamic.
The young emperor Muhammad Shah himself wanted freedom from their control.

⚔️ What happened?

In 1720, Husain Ali Khan was assassinated.
Abdullah Khan tried to resist but was defeated near Agra.

The era of kingmakers ended — but the empire’s disintegration had already begun.

🟩 Muhammad Shah “Rangeela” (1719–1748): The Final Opportunity Lost

Muhammad Shah came to the throne as a teenager. His reign of nearly 30 years was the last realistic chance to save the Empire.

⚖️ What was the situation at the beginning?

The Mughal name still commanded respect.
The army (especially artillery) was still powerful.
Rajputs were loyal, and Marathas were still in the south.
North Indian administration was weak, but not dead.

But Muhammad Shah had no vision. He loved luxury, music, poetry, and earned the nickname “Rangeela” (the colourful one).

🧱 Rise of Independent States:

Nizam-ul-Mulk became Wazir in 1722 and tried hard to reform the Empire.
But the emperor and corrupt nobles obstructed him.
Finally, Nizam left Delhi and established the state of Hyderabad in the Deccan (1724).

🎯 This marked the beginning of the physical break-up of the Mughal Empire.

Other powerful nobles followed suit:

Hyderabad (Nizam)
Awadh (Saadat Khan)
Bengal (Murshid Quli Khan)

They ruled independently, but still pretended loyalty to the Mughal emperor in Delhi.

🟥 Ahmad Shah Bahadur (1748–1754): Weakness at Its Peak

👑 Background:

Fourteenth Mughal Emperor.
Son of Muhammad Shah.
Reigned for 6 ineffective years.

But he wasn’t really in control. Power lay in the hands of:

His mother, Udham Bai
Her paramour, Javed Khan, a powerful court eunuch

📉 Consequences:

Ahmad Shah was weak and indecisive.
Administration collapsed even further.
Into this vacuum entered a new Wazir: Imad-ul-Mulk.

💥 End of Ahmad Shah:

In 1754, Imad-ul-Mulk deposed him, blinded both the emperor and his mother, and imprisoned them.
Ahmad Shah died in captivity in 1775.

🧱 Alamgir II (1754–1759): A Puppet in the Hands of Nobles

Background: Prince Aziz-ud-Din, a forgotten royal languishing in prison since 1714, was brought out of obscurity by Imad-ul-Mulk, the powerful wazir (prime minister). He was crowned emperor with the regnal title Alamgir II.
Reality: However, Alamgir II had neither administrative experience nor military competence. In effect, he was a mere puppet, a symbolic figurehead while the real power resided with Imad-ul-Mulk, who used the emperor to legitimise his own authority.
This period represents the complete internal hollowing out of the Mughal court — where emperors were installed and discarded at the whims of powerful nobles.

🗡 Shah Alam II (1759–1806): A Courageous Emperor in a Collapsing World

Character: Unlike his predecessor, Shah Alam II (son of Alamgir II) was intelligent and brave. But he inherited a decaying empire — broken by invasions, internal conflicts, and rising regional powers.
The Battle of Buxar (1764): In a rare display of assertion, Shah Alam II joined hands with Mir Qasim (Bengal) and Shuja-ud-Daula (Awadh) to challenge the British East India Company. But this alliance was decisively defeated in the Battle of Buxar, marking a historic turning point.
Treaty of Allahabad (1765): Following his defeat, the emperor lived in Allahabad for six years as a pensioner of the East India Company — an emperor in name, but a dependent in practice.
Return to Delhi (1772): In a symbolic restoration, Mahadji Scindia, a powerful Maratha Sardar, brought Shah Alam back to Delhi and offered him protection. However, the emperor remained a political non-entity, with power wielded by others.
British Control (Post-1803): When the British defeated Daulat Rao Scindia in 1803, Shah Alam II fell completely under British control. Though the Mughal name still commanded ceremonial respect, the emperor was reduced to a figurehead. Coins bore his name, and Friday khutbas were read in his honour — but without any real sovereignty.

🕊 Akbar Shah II (1806–1837): Ritual Without Power

Akbar Shah II succeeded Shah Alam II but ruled during a time when British dominance had tightened its grip over the subcontinent.
By 1835, the East India Company openly discarded the fiction of subordination — it stopped issuing coins in the name of the Mughal emperor, thereby removing the last symbolic act of imperial legitimacy.
Yet Akbar Shah II tried to engage with modernity:
- He sent Raja Ram Mohan Roy as an ambassador to Britain, conferring upon him the title “Raja”.
- He supported Hindu-Muslim unity by initiating the ‘Phool Walon Ki Sair’ festival — an important cultural gesture in a fractured society.
But despite these efforts, the emperor was merely a pensioner of the British — living in the Red Fort, but ruling over nothing.

⚔ Bahadur Shah Zafar (1837–1857): The Poet Emperor and the Last Flame

Bahadur Shah Zafar was the twentieth and final Mughal emperor. A refined poet, patron of the arts, and a dignified old man, he ruled over a court that was cultural, not political.
1857 Revolt: In a dramatic twist of history, the sepoy rebels of the First War of Independence (1857) declared Bahadur Shah Zafar as the Emperor of Hindustan. Suddenly, the forgotten king became a symbol of national resistance.
However, this was short-lived:
- After the British recaptured Delhi, they arrested Bahadur Shah.
- He was tried for treason and murder, and exiled to Rangoon (Burma) along with his family.
- He died there in 1862, marking the emotional and symbolic end of the Mughal dynasty.

🏴‍☠️ The End of the Empire (1858): A Crown in Exile

With the Proclamation of Queen Victoria in 1858, the British formally abolished the Mughal Empire.
The East India Company was dissolved, and India came directly under the rule of the British Crown.
The House of Timur, which once ruled from Kabul to the Deccan with majestic splendour, was now no more.

🧠 UPSC Angle: Why This Period Matters

This final phase is crucial for UPSC because it:
- Highlights the process of imperial decline — both internal (court politics, weak emperors) and external (British expansion).
- Demonstrates the symbolic value of kingship — even powerless emperors retained legitimacy in the eyes of nawabs, subedars, and the masses.
- Connects the Battle of Buxar (1764), Treaty of Allahabad (1765), and Revolt of 1857 — all key milestones in the British consolidation of power.
- Emphasizes continuity of culture and identity even in decline — especially visible in the life and poetry of Bahadur Shah Zafar.