Bahadur Shah I

Bahadur Shah I
بهادر شاه
Padishah
Al-Sultan Al-Azam
Bahadur
Bahadur Shah I c. 1691
Mughal emperor
Reign19 June 1707 – 27 February 1712
Coronation15 June 1707
PredecessorAzam Shāh
SuccessorJahāndār Shāh
BornMirza Muhammad Mu'azzam
(1643-10-14)14 October 1643
Shahi Qila, Burhanpur, Mughal Empire
Died27 February 1712(1712-02-27) (aged 68)
Lahore, Subah of Lahore, Mughal Empire
Burial15 May 1712
Consort
(m. 1659; died 1701)
Wives
  • (m. 1660; d. 1692)
  • Chattar Bai
  • Mihr Parwar
  • Amat-ul-Habib
Issue
Names
Abul-Nasir Sayid Qutub-ud-din Mirza Muhammad Muazzam Shah Alam Bahadur Shah Badshah
Regnal name
Shah Alam I
Bahadur Shah I
Posthumous name
"Khuld Manzil" (lit.'Departed to Paradise')
HouseMughal dynasty
DynastyTimurid dynasty
FatherAlamgir I
MotherNawab Bai
ReligionSunni Islam (Hanafi)
Seal

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. He was also the governor of the imperial provinces of Agra, Kabul and Lahore and had to face revolts of Rajputs and Sikhs.

After Aurangzeb's death, Muhammad Azam Shah, his third son by his chief consort Dilras Banu Begum declared himself successor, but was shortly defeated in one of the largest battles of India, the Battle of Jajau and overthrown by Bahadur Shah. During the reign of Bahadur Shah, the Rajput kingdoms of Jodhpur and Amber were annexed again after they had declared independence a few years prior.

Bahadur Shah also sparked an Islamic controversy in the khutba by inserting the declaration of Ali as wasi. His reign was disturbed by several rebellions, the Sikhs under the leadership of Banda Singh Bahadur, Rajputs under Durgadas Rathore and a Mughal prince and Bahadur Shah's half-brother Kam Bakhsh but all of them were successfully quelled.