The Mughal war of succession (1707–1709) or the Mughal Civil War was a period of political disorder and armed conflict over succession in the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

following the death of the sixth Mughal emperor

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

in March 1707.

History

Emperor Aurangzeb died on 3 March 1707 in

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impre ...

after a 49-year reign without having formally declared a crown prince. His three sons

Bahadur Shah I Bahadur Shah I (Muhammad Mu'azzam; 14 October 1643 – 27 February 1712) or Shah Alam I, was the eighth Mughal Emperor from 1707 to 1712. He was the second son of the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who he conspired to overthrow in his youth ...

Muhammad Azam Shah Mirza Abu'l Fayaz Qutb-ud-Din Mohammad Azam (28 June 1653 – 20 June 1707), commonly known as Azam Shah, was briefly the seventh Mughal emperor from 14 March to 20 June 1707. He was the third son of the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his ...

, and

Muhammad Kam Bakhsh Mirza Muhammad Kam Bakhsh (; 7 March 1667 – 14 January 1709) was the youngest son of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, born to his wife Udaipuri Mahal. Early life Kam Bakhsh was born on 7 March 1667 at Delhi. He was the fifth son of sixth Mughal e ...

fought each other for the throne. Azam Shah declared himself successor to the throne, but was defeated in battle by Bahadur Shah. In the meantime Kam Bakhsh moved to

Bijapur Bijapur (officially Vijayapura) is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural importa ...

where he established his own empire. His forces were later engaged in battle by Bahadur Shah's army and Kam Bakhsh died of his wounds sustained in battle.

Principals

* Prince Muzzam at Jamrud along with his sons Prince

Jahandar Shah Jahandar Shah (Mirza Mu'izz-ud-Din Beg Muhammad Khan; 10 May 1661 – 11 February 1713) was briefly the ninth Mughal emperor from 1712 to 1713. He was the son of Emperor Bahadur Shah I, and the grandson of Emperor Aurangzeb. Jahandar Shah w ...

, Prince

Azim-ush-Shan Mirza Azim-ush-Shan (15 December 1664 – 18 March 1712) was the second son of the 8th Mughal Emperor Shah Alam I and his Rajput wife Amrit Kanwar. He was the great grandson of Shah Jahan and the grandson of Aurangzeb during whose reign he was ...

at Bengal, Prince

Rafi-ush-Shan Rafi-ul-Qadr (Persian: رفیع القدر) (29 – 1671 March 1712), better known by his title, Mirza Rafi' ush-Shan Bahadur, was the third son of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah I. Life and mughal service Rafi' ush-Shan Bahadur was born in De ...

at Malakand Fort, Prince Jahan Shah at Agra Fort, Muzzam Rule (Kabul Subah, Bengal Subah, and Malakand Fort). Consort – Nizam Bai (daughter Of Raja of Amber). * Prince Azam Shah at Ahmednagar His sons Prince Bidar Bakht at At Gujarat, Prince Jawan Bakht At Gujarat, Prince Sikandar Along his father, Prince Wala Jah at Belapur Fort in Deccan Subah, Azam Rule (Gujarat, and Mirza Part of Deccan). Consort – Sabana Begum (daughter of Persian Ruler). * Prince Kam Bakhsh At Bijapur with his All sons And Support by Aurangzeb queen consort Diwani Begum. Consort – Jamilat Begum (daughter of Sulan Nazir Mirza Of Bihar) * Prince Musa Khawja at Lahore with his Brothers, Prince Umar Mirza at Badakhshan, Prince Sultan Muzzam at Deccan Half Part, Prince Akbar and Prince Nasir with his father Aurangzeb, Khawja (Multan, Orisha, Mathura, Badakhshan, Berar, Half Deccan, Kanthkot Fort). Consort – Najib begum (Daughter Of Wali ahd Azam shah). * Prince Hasim Mirza at Khandesh With his Only Brother Imam and Support By Nadira Begum the chief consort Of Mughal Empire (Khandesh)

Conflict between Azam Shah and Bahadur Shah I

Aurangzeb left a will advising his sons to divide the empire among themselves. At the time of his death his eldest son

inhabited

Jamrud Jamrūd (Pashto/) or Jam () is a town in the Khyber District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, on the western fringe of Peshawar city, Jamrud is the doorway to the Khyber Pass which is just to the west of the to ...

, 12-miles west of

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

. His second son

lived in

Khafi Khan Muhammad Hashim (c. 1664–1732), better known by his title Khafi Khan, was an Indo-Persian historian of Mughal India. His career began about 1693–1694 as a clerk in Bombay. He served predominantly in Gujarat and the Deccan regions, including the ...

suggested that whoever reached the capital city of Agra first would capture the throne. The distances to Agra from Jamrud and Ahmednagar were 715 and 700 miles, respectively. Azam Shah and Bahadur Shah were involved in the

Battle of Jajau The Battle of Jajau was fought between the two Mughal princes and half-brothers Bahadur Shah I and Muhammad Azam Shah on 20 June 1707. In 1707, their father Aurangzeb died without having declared a successor; instead leaving a will in w ...

, south of

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

, on 20 June 1707. Azam Shah and his three sons were killed in the battle and were buried with other royals in

Humayun's Tomb Humayun's tomb (Persian language, Persian: ''Maqbara-i Humayun'') is the tomb of Emperor of Hindustan, Emperor Mirza Nasir al-Din Muhammad commonly known as Humayun situated in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife and ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Conflict between Bahadur Shah and Kam Bakhsh

Bahadur Shah's half-brother,

, marched to

in March 1707 with his soldiers. When the news of Aurangzeb's death spread through the city, the city's monarch, King Sayyid Niyaz Khan surrendered the fort to Baksh without a fight. Once on the throne, Kam Bakhsh proclaimed the

Bakshi Bakshi may refer to: Indian title Bakshi is a historical title used in India, deriving from Persian word for "paymaster", and originating as the title of an official responsible for distributing wages in Muslim armies. * Bakshi Ghulam Mohamm ...

(general of the armed forces) Ahsan Khan. His advisor Taqarrub Khan was made chief minister. Kam Bakhsh proclaimed himself Emperor Kam Bakhsh – Protector of Faith (Padshah Kam Bakhsh-i-Dinpanah). He then conquered Kulbarga and Wakinkhera. Taqarrub Khan formed a conspiracy to eliminate Ahsan Khan, alleging that meetings of Ahsan Khan, Saif Khan (Kam Bakhsh's archery teacher), Arsan Khan, Ahmad Khan, Nasir Khan and

Rustam Dil Khan Rustam Dil Khan (died September 1708) was a noble of the Mughal Empire during the reign of emperor Aurangzeb. His activities were centred around the Subah, Mughal province of Hyderabad Subah, which he administered as deputy ''subahdar'' (governo ...

(all of them Kam Bakhsh's former teachers and members of the then court) to discuss public business were a conspiracy to assassinate Kam Bakhsh "while on his way to the Friday prayer at the great mosque". After informing Kam Bakhsh of the matter, he invited

for dinner and had him arrested en route. Rustam Dil Khan was crushed under the feet of an elephant, Saif Khan's hands were amputated, and Arshad Khan's tongue was cut off. Ahsan Khan ignored warnings by close friends that Kam Bakhsh would arrest him, which then occurred and he was imprisoned and his property seized. In April 1708, Shah's envoy Malabar Khan came to Kam Bakhsh's court. When Taqarrub Khan told Kam Bakhsh that Malabar Khan intended to dethrone him, Kam Bakhsh invited the envoy and his entourage to a feast and executed them. In May 1708, Bahadur Shah sent a letter to Kam Bakhsh warning that he hoped would prevent him from proclaiming himself an independent sovereign. Bahadur Shah then began a journey to the

Tomb of Aurangzeb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immurement'', althou ...

to pay his respects to his father. Kam Bakhsh replied, thanking him "without either explaining or justifying is actions. When Bahadur Shah reached

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

on 28 June 1708, he learned that Kam Bakhsh had attacked

Machilipatnam Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar (), is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the Tehsil, mandal ...

(Bandar) in an attempt seize over three million rupees worth of treasure hidden in its fort. The

subahdar Subahdar, also known as Nazim, was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty, Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the Mughal era who was alternately designated as Sahib- ...

of the province,

Jan Sipar Khan Mir Bahadur Dil (died 1700), known by the title Jan Sipar Khan (), was a noble of the Mughal Empire. He was active during the reign of emperor Aurangzeb, and held offices in the Deccan region of the empire. His most notable position was in the S ...

, refused to hand over the money. Enraged, Kam Bakhsh confiscated his properties and ordered the recruitment of four thousand soldiers for the attack. In July, the garrison at the

Gulbarga Fort The Gulbarga Fort is located in Kalaburagi in the Kalaburagi district of North Karnataka. The fort was originally constructed by the Hindu monarch Raja Gulchand, and it was subsequently significantly enlarged in 1347 by Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah o ...

declared its independence and garrison leader Daler Khan Bijapuri "reported his desertion from Kam Bakhsh". On 5 November 1708 Bahadur Shah's camp reached

Bidar Bidar ( ) is a city and headquarters of the Bidar district in Karnataka state of India. Bidar is a prominent place on the archaeological map of India, it is well known for architectural, historical religious and rich heritage sites. Pictures ...

, 67 miles (108 km) north of Hyderabad. Historian William Irvine wrote that as his "camp drew nearer desertions from Kam Bakhsh became more and more frequent". On 1 November, Kam Bakhsh captured Pam Naik's (zamindar of Wakinkhera) holdings after Naik abandoned his army. On 20 December 1708, Kam Bakhsh marched towards Talab-i-Mir Jumla, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, with "three hundred camels, ndtwenty thousand rockets" for war with Bahadur Shah. He made his son Jahandar Shah commander of the advance guard, later replacing him with Khan Zaman. On 12 January 1709, Bahadur Shah reached Hyderabad and prepared his troops. Although Kam Bakhsh had little money and few soldiers left, the royal astrologer had predicted that he would "miraculously" win the battle. At sunrise the following day, Bahadur Shah's army charged towards Kam Bakhsh. His 15,000 troops were divided into two bodies: one led by Mumin Khan, assisted by Rafi-ush-Shan and Jahan Shah, and the second under

Zulfiqar Khan Nusrat Jung Muhammad Ismail (1649/1657 – 11 February 1713), known by his title Zulfiqar Khan, was a leading noble and military general of the Mughal Empire. His father was Asad Khan, '' wazir'' (prime minister) to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. During Auran ...

. Two hours later Kam Bakhsh's camp was surrounded, and Zulfiqar Khan impatiently attacked him with his "small force". With his soldiers outnumbered and unable to resist the attack, Kam Bakhsh joined the battle and shot two quivers of arrows at his opponents. According to Irvine, when he was "weakened by the loss of blood", Bahadur Shah took him and his son Bariqullah prisoner. A dispute arose between Mumin Khan and Zulfikar Khan Nusrat Jung over who had captured them, with Rafi-us-Shan ruling in favour of the latter. Kam Bakhsh was brought by palanquin to Bahadur Shah's camp, where he died the next morning.

Notes

References