page_title: Ahmad Shah Bahadur
section_title: Emergence
hierarchical_section_title: Ahmad Shah Bahadur / Emergence
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of an emperor (Ahmad Shah Bahadur 1725-1775?) enthroned, facing left. Watercolour from an album of Indian pictures. Shelfmark: MS. Ouseley Add. 166
context_page_description: Ahmad Shah Bahadur, also known as Mirza Ahmad Shah or Mujahid-ud-Din Ahmad Shah Ghazi was born to Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. He succeeded his father to the throne as the 13th Mughal Emperor in 1748 at the age of 22. When Ahmed Shah Bahadur came to power, the Mughal Empire was collapsing. Furthermore, his administrative weaknesses eventually led to the rise of the usurping Feroze Jung III.
  Ahmed Shah Bahadur inherited a much weakened Mughal state. He was emperor in title for
  six years, but left all affairs of state to rivalling factions. He was deposed by the Vizier Feroze Jung III and later blinded along with his mother. He spent the remaining years of his life in prison and died of natural causes in January 1775.
context_section_description: After the death of the Mughal viceroy of Lahore, Zakariya Khan Bahadur, his two sons, Yahya Khan Bahadur and Mian Shah Nawaz Khan, the Emir of Multan, fought each other during for succession. After defeating his elder brother Mian Shah Nawaz Khan declared himself the Mughal viceroy of Punjab. This weakness was quickly exploited by Ahmad Shah Durrani who initiated another campaign with 30,000 cavalry to assist Shah Nawaz Khan, who was resented for tax-evasion in the Mughal imperial court and opposed by the Grand Vizier, Qamaruddin Khan, who was the father-in-law of Yahya Khan.
  In April 1748, Ahmad Shah Abdali joined by Shah Nawaz Khan invaded the Indus River Valley, prompting Muradyab Khan Kalhoro the Subedar of Sindh to dispatch reinforcements to assist the Mughal Army along the river banks. Prince Ahmad and Qamaruddin Khan, Hafiz Rahmat Khan, Safdarjung, Intizam-ud-Daula, Nasir Khan the former Subedar of Ghazni and Kabul, Yahya Khan and Ali Muhammad Khan Rohilla were dispatched by Muhammad Shah to command a large army of 75,000 to confront the 12,000 advancing Durrani's. During the Battle of Manipur (1748), in Sirhind by the river Sutlej both forces fought a decisive battle and Prince Ahmad was nominally victorious, he was thereupon conferred with the title Bahadur, after a Durrani wagon filled with gunpowder exploded. However, the Muhammad Shah seriously mourned the fall of Qamaruddin Khan, who was killed by a stray artillery shell during the battle. After Ahmad Shah Durrani's retreat the Mughal aligned Khanate of Kalat, Nawab Amir of Bhawalpur remained aligned to Alamgir II. Only before the prelude to the Third Battle of Panipat became subjects of the Durrani Empire.
  However, Qamaruddin Khan's son Muin ul-Mulk also a recognised war hero from the Battle of Manipur, was placed as the Mughal viceroy of Punjab, by the new Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur.
caption: Ahmad Shah Bahadur upon the throne; watercolour painting held by the Bodleian Library
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