Alamgir II: General Knowledge and important points for competitive examinations.
- He was also known as Mirza Aziz-ud-Din Muhammad.
- Alamgir II was born on 6 June 1699 at Burhanpur.
- His father was Jahandar Shah and his mother was a jat, Anup Bai.
- His great-grandfather was Aurangzeb who died in Deccan. At this time Alamgir II was 7 years old.
- 1754: He ascended the throne with the help of Imad-ul-Mulk. Imad-ul-Mulk deposed Ahmad Shah Bahadur and put Mirza Aziz-ud-Din in power. Mirza Aziz-ud-Din was the Jahandar Shah’s second son.
- Alamgir II was the fifteenth Mughal emperor who ruled from 1754 to 1759.
- He was a weak ruler. His wazir, Imad-ul-Mulk had controlled the real power. So initially, Alamgir II was essentially a puppet ruler.
- He wanted to adopt Aurangzeb’s centralized policy. He started to regain some control over the northwest, Punjab, Deccan and Bengal regions.
- 1756: Ahmad Shah Abdali attacked and captured Delhi at this time. Abdali also plundered Mathura. This attack weakened the Mughal Empire. However, no direct battle was fought between Ahmad Shah Abdali and Alamgir II.
- Many Nawabs started to support Alamgir II for resisting the Marathas. However, this did not go well with Imad-ul-Mulk. Because Imad-ul-Mulk wanted to strengthen his power with the help of the Marathas.
- Relations between Alamgir II and Imad-ul-Mulk were further down when Imad-ul-Mulk collaborated with Marathas. Due to this, the Marathas dominated the whole of northern India.
- Imad-ul-Mulk kept all the imperial income and left Alamgir II’s family without resources. He also harassed Ali Gauhar who was the eldest son of Alamgir II.
- Alamgir II with his courtiers and nobles meet Ahmad Shah Durrani. They decided to fight against Marathas and execute Imad-ul-Mulk.
- During Alamgir II’s reign, the Battle of Plassey took place in 1757 (between the British East India Company and Nawab of Bengal).
- 1759: Wazir Imad-ul-Mulk killed Alamgir II. Alamgir II’s eldest son Ali Gauhar escaped to Delhi.
- Imad-ul-Mulk left Delhi after the rise of Najib-ud-Daula who allied with the Mughal army. This ultimately resulted in the coronation of Shah Alam II as the new Mughal Emperor.
- Khutba is recited in his name.
Extra Info: Siraj-ud-Daula was recognized as the next Nawab of Bengal after the death of Alivardi Khan. Alivardi Khan was an ally of Mughals at that time. But Mir Jafar killed Siraj-ud-Daula. Alamgir II did not recognize him as a Nawab of Bengal. Also, Imad-ul-Mulk aligned with Mir Jafar. And Bengal went out of control from the Mughals.
Extra Info: Imad-ul-Mulk planned the murder of the young Ali Gauhar. He gave the Bengali Nawab Mir Jafar orders to push Ali Gauhar as far as Patna. So that, Mughal Crown Prince Ali Gauhar could be assassinated or captured.