Mahmud Shah Bahadur, also known as Shah Jahan IV was the

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

for a brief period in 1788 after

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His powe ...

was deposed by

Ghulam Kadir Ghulam Kadir, fully Ghulam Abd al Qadir Ahmed Khan ( ur, غلام عبد القادر احمد خان, unknown – 3March 1789), was a leader of the Afghan Rohilla during the late 18th century in the time of the Mughal Empire. He is particularl ...

, Mahmud Shah Bahadur was the son of a former Mughal Emperor,

Ahmad Shah Bahadur Ahmad Shah Bahadur , also known as Mirza Ahmad Shah or Mujahid-ud-Din Ahmad Shah Ghazi (23 December 1725 – 1775 AD), was the fourteenth Mughal Emperor, born to Emperor Muhammad Shah. He succeeded his father to the throne in 1748, at the age ...

. He himself became emperor for a brief period in 1788 as a puppet of Ghulam Kadir, after Shah Alam II had been deposed and blinded. He was allegedly put to death in 1790 by order of Shah Alam II, supposedly for usurping his authority in 1788.

Early life

Born as Prince Bidar Bakht, he was the eldest surviving child of Emperor Ahmad Shah. Sometime afterwards, he was granted the title of ''Mahmud Shah Bahadur'' and was also known as ''Banka'', a term used then in Mughal India referring distinguished warriors or champions. He was given the governorship of Punjab in 1753 on the death of the erstwhile governor Mir Mannu, though he remained in court. Upon his fathers's deposition, he was imprisoned in the Salimgarh Palace-prison in June 1754.

Reign and aftermath

In 1788 the Rohilla chieftain, Ghulam Qadir usurped power in Delhi and began subjecting the reigning Mughal Emperor

to verbal, physical and psychological abuse. To find a legitimate means of doing such acts, and due to the machinations of the former Empress Badshah Begum the emperor was deposed and Prince Mahmud Shah was enthroned as ''Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Jahan Shah'' on 31 July 1788. His reign was a titular one. On the day of his accession the whole Red Fort Palace was ransacked by Ghulam Qadir's men. Cruelties and torture were later on perpetrated on the whole

Timurid Timurid refers to those descended from Timur (Tamerlane), a 14th-century conqueror: * Timurid dynasty, a dynasty of Turco-Mongol lineage descended from Timur who established empires in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ** Timurid Empire of C ...

family, sparing not even Badshah Begum or the new emperor. Porters carrying water for the deposed monarch were stopped and rebuked by the Rohilla. Finally, the arrival of Mahadji Shinde's troops forced Ghulam Qadir to flee, who took the emperor with him. He was subsequently deposed by the Shinde after the conquest of Delhi, on 16 October 1788, in favor of Shah Alam II. Ghulam Qadir took him to Mirat where, in desperation at his failures, he threatened to execute the hapless prince and other captives from the Imperial family that he had taken with him but was prevented from doing so by his own bodyguard, Manyar Singh. Thence the Rohilla fled leaving behind the captive princes. When Mirat was captured by Shinde's forces on 18 December, Mahmud Shah was once more imprisoned in the Salimgarh Fort. He died in 1790, allegedly on the orders of Shah Alam II for his role in the 1788 disturbances. He left behind two daughters.

References

Bibliography

* Mughal emperors 1790 deaths 1749 births {{India-royal-stub