page_title: Akbar II
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Akbar II / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Shah Alam II (reigned 1759–1806) seated on a golden throne in Delhi. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper H. 12 13/16 x W. 9 5/16 in. (32.5 x 23.7 cm) Victoria and Albert Museum, IS.114-1986. This evocative portrayal of the blind emperor Shah Alam II (reigned 1759–1806), probably by the court painter Khairullah, highlights the continued preeminence of the Mughal emperor even as his political power was brokered through an alliance with Maratha chief Mahadji Sindhia, whose image also appears in this exhibition. In 1788, the Afghan Rohilla chief Ghulam Qadir had ransacked the palace treasury and blinded the emperor Shah Alam II in a fit of uncontrolled rage. Shah Alam’s son and successor, Muinuddin Muhammad (later Emperor Akbar II), is seated to the right on a throne platform, while on the left are two other courtiers from the emperor’s inner circle leaning on staffs. The gilded and bejeweled structures of the re-created Peacock Throne and Muinuddin’s seat, along with the five Chinese porcelain vases in the center, convey the painter’s attempt to re-create an air of luxury and opulence long associated with the image of the Mughal court.
context_page_description: Akbar II, also known as Akbar Shah II, was the penultimate Mughal emperor of India. He reigned from 1806 to 1837. He was the second son of Shah Alam II and the father of Bahadur Shah II.
  Akbar had little de facto power due to the increasing British influence in India through the East India Company. He sent Ram Mohan Roy as an ambassador to Britain and gave him the title of Raja. During his regime, in 1835, the East India Company discontinued calling itself subject of the Mughal Emperor and issuing coins in his name. The Persian lines in the company's coins to this effect were deleted.
  Akbar II is credited with starting the Hindu-Muslim unity festival Phool Walon Ki Sair. His grave lies next to the dargah of 13th century Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Mehrauli.
context_section_description: Prince Mirza Akbar was born on 22 April 1760 to Emperor Shah Alam II at Mukundpur, Satna, while his father was in exile. On 2 May 1781, at the Red Fort, the prince was made Crown Prince with the title of Wali Ahd Bahadur, after the death of his elder brother. In 1782, he was appointed the viceroy of Delhi until 1799. When the renegade eunuch Ghulam Qadir captured Delhi, the young Prince Mirza Akbar was forced to nautch dance together along with other Mughal princes and princesses. He witnessed how the members of the imperial Mughal family were humiliated, as well as starved. When Mahmud Shah fled, Mirza Akbar was titular Emperor with the title of Akbar Shah II, and was to remain acting emperor even after the reinstatement of his father Shah Alam II, till January 1788.
caption: The crown prince seated next to his blinded father Shah Alam II (c. 1800)
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