Bahadur Shah Zafar (24 October 1775-7 November 1862) was the final Padishah of the Mughal Empire from 28 September 1837 to 21 September 1857, succeeding Akbar II.
Biography[]
Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-Din Muhammad was born in Shahjahanabad, Old Delhi, Mughal Empire in 1775, the son of Emperor Akbar II of the Timurid dynasty. Siraj-ud-Din succeeded his father as emperor in 1837, although, by the time of his accession, the Mughal Empire existed in name only, and his authority was limited only to the walled city of Old Delhi. As "Bahadur Shah", he mostly composed Urdu poetry, was provided with a pension by the British East India Company, and allowed the British to collect taxes from Delhi and garrison the city. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, rebellious sepoys and Indian lords proclaimed the tolerant Bahadur Shah to be Emperor of India, and he was freed from his confinement in Delhi on 16 May 1857. The British recaptured Delhi that same year and recaptured Bahadur Shah from Humayun's Tomb on 20 September 1857, and Bahadur Shah was held responsible for aiding and abetting the mutinies of the sepoys and being accessory to the murder of 52 Europeans during the rebel takeover of Delhi. Bahadur Shah was exiled to Rangoon, Burma in 1858, and he died in 1862.