Akbar Shah II

Akbar Shah II
16th Mughal Emperor of India
Reign	19 November 1806-28 September 1837 (&1000000000000003000000030 years, &10000000000000313000000313 days)
Coronation	19 November 1806 at Red Fort, Delhi
Predecessor	Shah Alam II
Successor	Bahadur Shah II
Issue
14 sons, several daughters
Full name
'Abu Nasir Mu'in ud-din Muhammad Akbar Shah II
House	Timurid
Father	Shah Alam II
Mother	Qudsia Begum (3rd wife of Shah Alam II)
Born	22 April 1760 (1760-04-22) Mukundpur, Mughal Empire
Died	28 September 1837 (1837-09-29) (age 77) Delhi, Mughal Empire
Burial	Mehrauli, Delhi
Religion	Islam

Akbar Shah II (1760–1837), also known as Mirza Akbar, was the second-to-last of the Mughal emperors of India. He held the title from 1806 to 1837. He was the second son of Shah Alam II and the father of Bahadur Shah Zafar II.

Akbar had little real power due to the increasing British control of India through the East India Company. Shortly before his death he sent Ram Mohan Roy as an ambassador to Britain. During his regime, in 1835, the East India Company (EIC) discontinued calling itself the lieutenant of the Mughal Emperor and issuing coins in his name. The Persian lines in the Company's coins to this effect were deleted.

His grave lies, next to the dargah of 13th century, Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Mehrauli, in a marble enclosure, along with that of Bahadur Shah I (also known as Shah Alam I) and Shah Alam II.

Early life

Prince Akbar was born on 22 April 1760 to Emperor Shah Alam II at Mukundpur, Rewa, while his father was in exile. On 2 May 1781, at the Red Fort, the prince was made Crown Prince with the title of Wali Ahd Bahadur, after the death of his elder brother. When Ghulam Qadir captured Delhi, he was forced to dance along with other princes and princesses and humiliated, as well as starved. When Jahan Shah IV fled, he was proclaimed puppet Emperor with the title of Akbar Shah II, and was to remain acting emperor even after the reinstation of his father, till December 1788.

Reign

Rupee of Muhammad Akbar

The tombs of Shah Alam II and Akbar II in Mehrauli, Delhi

Emperor Akbar Shah II presided over an empire titularly large but in effect limited to the Red Fort in Delhi alone. The cultural life of Delhi as a whole flourished during his reign. However, his attitude towards East India Company officials, especially Lord Hastings, to whom he refused to grant an audience on terms other than those of subject and sovereign, although honourable to him, increasingly frustrated the British, who regarded him as merely their pensioner. The British therefore reduced his titular authority to 'King of Delhi' in 1835 and the East India Company ceased to act as the mere lieutenants of the Mughal Empire as they did from 1803 to 1835. Simultaneously they replaced Persian text with English text on the company's coins, which no longer carried the emperor's name. The British encouraged the Nawab of Oudh and the Nizam of Hyderabad to take royal titles in order to further diminish the Emperor's status and influence. Out of deference, the Nizam did not, but the Nawab of Oudh did so. To appeal against his treatment by the East India Company (which was not widely recognised or accepted in India), Akbar Shah appointed the Bengali reformer Ram Mohan Roy, who was planning a visit to England, as the Mughal envoy to the Court of St. James, conferring on him the title of Raja. Ram Mohan Roy submitted a well argued memorial on behalf of the Mughal ruler, but to no avail.

His grave lies, next to the dargah of 13th century, Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Mehrauli, Delhi in a marble enclosure, along with that of Bahadur Shah I (Shah Alam I) and Shah Alam II.

Princes: Descendants in his line

After the mutiny, cousins of Mirza Mughal, son of Bahadur Shah Zafar son of Akbar Shah II escaped to neighboring areas in fear of capture by the British. Prince Mirza Mughal, the heir apparent was himself killed in battle. Many princes settled in various provinces of India, but some settled in Burma and Bengal since a large number of imperial family members, along with Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar were exiled to Rangoon in Burma. In 1858, after the Imperial family was abolished, the capital of the Empire was moved to Bengal and remained as such till 1912.

Akbar Shah II Timurid Dynasty Born: 1760 Died: 1837
Regnal titles
Preceded by Shah Alam II Mughal Emperor	Mughal Emperor 1806-1837	Succeeded by Bahadur Shah II

See also

• Mughal Emperors
• Bahadur Shah
• Sepoy Mutiny of 1857
• Mirza Nali
• Jalaluddin Mirza
• Mirza Zafar

Akbar Shah II was born in Mukundpur, REWA, MP INDIA

References

• The New Cambridge History of India.
• Akbar Shah's Rule: Coins Of India.

External links

• Eighth Section of the Series on the Mutiny in Delhi - by Khwaja Hasan Nizami
• THE LATER MUGHALS' (1707-1858)

Persondata
Name	Akbar Shah Ii
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	22 April 1760
Place of birth	Makanpur, Mughal Empire
Date of death	28 September 1837
Place of death	Delhi, Mughal Empire