Zafar, Bahadur Shah: The Last Mughal

 Mirza Abul Muzaffar Mohammad Sirajuddin

(1775-1862)

Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal emperor of the subcontinent and the second son of Akbar Shah II and Lal Bai., who chose Zafar for a nom de plume; he was born in the red fort of Delhi. He received his early education there in Arabic and Persian, as well as in the arts of combat, and archery. He grew up with a deep interest in poetry, music, spiritualism, and calligraphy. He had a fine hand as a calligrapher and sent copies of his handwritten Quran to the prominent mosques of Delhi as a gift.  He came to the throne at the ripe age of sixty-two only to rule a namesake empire that had lost its power and glory and had shrunk to the vicinity of the fort itself. A liberal emperor, who respected all faiths, loved peace and was projected as a supporter of the 1857 uprising, was charged by the British government for treason and his role in a huge rebellion against the British Empire. 

With the entry of the British army into the city, he sought his refuge in the mausoleum of Humayun where he surrendered along with his wife Zeenat Mahal and two sons. He was arrested, imprisoned, and made to suffer a series of ignominies: the beheading of his three sons and a grandson; the hanging of their heads in display for long hours; the exile, imprisonment, and death of many princes in distress; and his own presentation before the British soldiers and others as a prisoner. Following legal proceedings spread over forty-two days for raising a rebellion and indulging in treason against the British, a death sentence was pronounced against him which was later converted into an exile. In 1858, he was deported to Rangoon, now Yangon, the capital city of modern-day Myanmar, then British-controlled Burma, and was accompanied by his wife Zeenat Mahal, his two sons, and a daughter-in-law.  He spent the last four years of his life in this exile in utter misery and humiliation. The spot where he was buried remained untraceable till a mausoleum was erected in 1991 at a place which could possibly be the spot where he was buried. Zafar’s crown, taken away from the red fort along with many other gems and jewels of the royalty, is kept as an exhibit in the Royal Collection in London.  
Zafar was a sensitive poet who reflected ruefully on the decline of the Mughal Empire. His poetry is marked by a deep sense of pity and pathos, and for being a record of the miserable human predicament. He sought the advice of Mirza Naseer, then Zauq on his poetry. After the demise of Zauq, it was Ghalib who became his mentor. He also wrote an annotation of Sheikh Saadi’s Gulistan. Some critics have mentioned that much of his poetry was not written by him but was passed on to him by his mentors which does not hold well as the tone and tenor of his poetry is without any doubt only his own and does not echo this mentor. Zafar has left behind a huge collection of ghazals in four volumes which constitute his Kulliyat.

The great Mughal empire had lost much of its influence and territory by the end of the 1700s. When Zafar came to the throne in 1837, his rule extended only to Delhi and its surroundings. But for his subjects, he always remained Badshah - the King. Like other Mughal emperors, he's said to be a direct descendent of Mongol rulers such as Genghis Khan and Timur. During the Siege of Delhi when the victory of the British became certain, Zafar took refuge at Humayun's Tomb, in an area that was then at the outskirts of Delhi. Company forces led by Major William Hodson surrounded the tomb and Zafar was captured on 20 September 1857. With his death, one of the world's greatest dynasties came to an end. Only a handful of relatives were present when Bahadur Shah Zafar II breathed his last in a shabby wooden house in Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1862. that very day, his British captors buried him in an unmarked grave in a compound near the famous Shwedagon Pagoda. Though local people knew Zafar was buried somewhere inside the compound of the local cantonment - where he and his family members were confined - they didn't find it until 1991. Workers digging for a drain came across a brick structure which turned out to be the former king's grave. It was later renovated with the help of public donations.

کتنا ہے بد نصیب ظفرؔ دفن کے لیے...

دو گز زمین بھی نہ ملی کوئے یار میں....

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