THE DECLINING OF MOGHUL DYNASTY 1719 ONWARDS

THE DECLINING OF MOGHUL DYNASTY 

 1719 ONWARDS

Muḥammad Shah, in full Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad Shah, original name Roshan Akhtar, (born August 7, 1702, Ghaznā [now Ghaznī], Afghanistan—died April 6, 1748, Delhi [India]), ineffective, pleasure-seeking Mughal emperor of India from 1719 to 1748.

Roshan Akhtar was the grandson of the emperor Bahādur Shah I (ruled 1707–12) and the son of Jahān Shah, Bahādur Shah’s youngest son. Jahān Shah was killed in 1712, early in the succession struggle following Bahādur Shah’s death that ultimately was won by Farrukh-Siyar (ruled 1713–19), Roshan Akhtar’s cousin. In early 1719 Farrukh-Siyar was imprisoned and later killed by the powerful Sayyid brothers ʿAbdullāh and Ḥusayn ʿAlī, and

 in September, after the quick deaths (from disease) of two others whom the brothers had installed on the throne, they made Roshan Akhtar emperor (as Muḥammad Shah).

In 1720 the assassination of Ḥusayn ʿAlī and the defeat of ʿAbdullāh at the battle of Hasanpur (southwest of Delhi) liberated Muḥammad Shah from effective Sayyid control. 

In 1721 he married the daughter of Farrukh-Siyar. After Nizam al-Mulk Āṣaf Jāh, who was the court-appointed vizier, had left court in disgust in 1724, the provinces steadily slipped out of imperial control: Sādāt Khan, the nawab of Oudh (now Ayodhya), became practically independent there; the Afghan Rohilla tribesmen made themselves masters of Rohilkhand (southeast of Delhi); Bengal paid only an annual tribute to Delhi; and the leaders of the Marathas, under the peshwa Baji Rao, made themselves lords of the regions of Gujarat, Malwa, and Bundelkhand and, in 1737, raided Delhi. In 1739 Nāder Shah of Iran took advantage of Mughal neglect of the North-West Frontier areas (now in Pakistan) to rout the Mughals at Karnal and occupy Delhi. In March 1748 Muḥammad Shah defeated the Afghan ruler Aḥmad Shah Durrānī, at Sirhind, thus achieving a success in his final years

After the death of Muhammad Shah, his son Ahmad Shah ascended the throne on April 29, 1748.

 At the time of his accession, he was 23 years old and had no experience in the field of administration. Although Ahmad Shah was the hero of the battle of Sarhind, in which Ahmad Shah Abdali was defeated, he lacked qualities of leadership and was unable to manage the affairs of the state. As a result the administration fell into the hands of his Wazir, Safdar Jang. Safdar Jang was also unable to run the administration proficiently and spent most of his time in internal strife and self-aggrandizement. Safdar Jang later joined the Marhattas against Ahmad Shah in 1750.
Ahmad Shah's short reign was a period of great disturbance. The Rohillas rose in rebellion and Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded Punjab for the second time and marched towards Delhi. In order to avoid the destruction of Delhi, Ahmad Shah made peace with Ahmad Shah Abdali by ceding Punjab and Multan.

Reign

Silver coin issued by Akbar II, Indian Museum

Throne of king Akbar II Red fort Delhi

The tombs of Akbar II and his father Shah Alam II in Mehrauli, Delhi
Emperor Akbar 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
Akbar II appointed the Bengali reformer Ram Mohan Roy, to appeal against his treatment by the East India Company, Ram Mohan Roy then visited 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