Study history, study history. In history lie all the secrets of statecraft.
(Winston Churchill )
Usually it is considered that Aurangzeb was the last
effective Mughal ruler of Sub continent and after that came lesser Mughals who
are of least importance, but I think they are of more importance and should be
mentioned more as these were the emperors who sowed the seeds for the entrance
of British or created conducive environment for the downfall of Mughals in
India. So they must be read and mentioned more than their predecessors who we
all know were mighty rulers and ruled with blood and iron strategy.
Aurangeb Alamgir died
in 1707 at the age of 89. After him started the war of succession and
Azam Khan declared himself the emperor but was killed by
Muazam or Alam Shah l or Bahadur Shah l.
Towards Sikhs he was also very lenient and awarded high
Mansab to tenth Sikh guru Gobind Singh. The things started to get ugly with
Sikhs when Banda Sing Bahadur started a revolt after the death of Guru Gobind
Singh in 1708. It was during fight between Mughals and Sikhs that Bahadur Shah
l died in 1712. Banda Singh Bahadur was finally executed somewhere in 1716 to
1718. Logically speaking this is the
point where actually the lesser Mughals or the insignificant rulers start. The
major reason for this was that after 1712 no prince or future candidate got
enough time under the stable rule of his father to absorb skills required for a
king or had enough time to command nobles to let them know where the power
resided. Hence nobles became the king makers and made Jahandar Shah the new
king without any substantial powers.
Jahandar shah (1712-1713) came into power
with the help of Zulfiqar khan Nusrat jang who ruled from behind the scenes
actually. Jahandar ruled for just 11 months before he was defeated by his
nephew Farukhsiyar the son of brother of jahandar, Azim us shan. He had very
much liked for Lal Kanwar a dancing girl converted into king’s consort. He was
killed in prison by Farukhsiyar.
Farrukhsiyar (son of Azimu
sh shan son of Bahdur shah) 1713-1719 had his uncle Jahandar Shah killed in the battle of
Agra and proclaimed the throne of Mughal Empire. Sayyed Brothers (Abdullah Khan
and Hussain Ali Khan) were the king makers this time, one became the Wazir and
the other commander in chief. Soon their actions perturbed Farukhsiyar and the
hostility began between them.
He
was the first king to allow East India company to trade freely in India and
gave them Dastaks (passes) for free movement of English goods. This was done
because one of the surgeons of East India company had cured Farukhsiyar of a
disease and as a reward he gave this permission.
He
was the person who broke the power of Sikhs in Punjab and created a power
vacuum in Punjab for Nadir Ali and Ahmed Shah Abdali to fill in.
Ajit
Singh was successful to enter Red Fort one night and kill Farukhsiyar (This
single incident alone was enough to send a message how much weakened the
Mughals had become
Rafi ud Darajat (son of Rafi us Shan son of Bahadur Shah) 1719 A
puppet king in the hands of Ajit Singh and Sayyed brothers. He was suffering
from tuberculosis, yet he was made king. Here is a very important point that
should be taken into account. Kings were made by others and were not struggling
themselves for the throne so three things happened
1.
The king makers selected the weakest one to
rule, otherwise a stronger one would have fought for himself, or would have
turned the table after becoming the king, so choose the weakest one was the
norm, the health, state of mind or anything was not taken into consideration,
the only criteria to become a king had been the most unfit person.
2.
The king that used to come into power didn’t
kill his competitors as he did not come into power own his own so there used to
start revolts and war at thousands of fronts as Mughals if nothing were very
fertile at least to leave 20, 20 candidates for the throne. Initially only war
of accession used to happen but now it became a usual thing to continue
throughout the years
Rafi ud darjat died after 3 months of
ruling either killed or died of TB. He wished his elder brother to be made the
king and it was granted.
3.
The king makers could not sit on the throne as
Mughals still held a huge loyal public to their name and any other person
sitting on the throne would have invited miserable fate for himself, so it was
easy to run the matters of state with a puppet king for the public to stay calm
and be fooled (any resemblance to current era politics of Pakistan would be a
co incident only)
Shah jahan ll (son of rafi us shan son of Bahadur shah) 1719 also
known as Rafi ud Daulah. He ruled for 2 months and died in September 1719 of
tuberculosis. He was not allowed to attend any person if there was not at least
one of the sayyed brothers present besides him. This was the state of affairs
of once great Mughals just after 12 years when they once controlled almost all
of the Hindustan.
He was an artist who was forcefully made to be an emperor by
the Sayyed brothers. Muhammad Ibrahim who claimed to be the rightful heir to
the throne was defeated in the battle of Hasanabad.
Muhammad Shah did a lot in the field of art and literature.
It was in his reign that Urdu was made the official language of the court and
court dresses were replaced with sherwani.
Ahmed Shah Bahadur (son of Muhamad Shah) 1748-1754 ascended the throne in the age of 22, he never took any military training thanks to his father who never was a fond of fighting but a lover of the art. He had to face a number of internal and external threats. Imad ul Mulk had a major role here. He is said to be the de facto ruler of the Mughal Empire and is alleged to have blinded the emperor and his mother before throwing them into the prison.
0 Comments