| Farrukhsiyar | |
|---|---|
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| Reign | 11 January 1713 - 28 February 1719 (6 years, 48 days) |
| Predecessor | Jahandar Shah |
| Successor | Rafi Ul-Darjat |
| Spouse | 1) Nawab Fakhr-un-Nisa Begum Sahiba 2) Indira Kanwar |
| Issue | |
| Jahangir Shah Bahadur Jahan Murad Shah Bahadur Badshah Begum |
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| Full name | |
| Abu'l Muzaffar Muin ud-din Muhammad Shah Farrukh-siyar Alim Akbar Sani Wala Shan Padshah-i-bahr-u-bar | |
| House | Timurid |
| Father | Azim-ush-Shan |
| Mother | Sahiba Nizwan |
| Born | 20 August 1685 Aurangabad, Mughal Empire |
| Died | 29 April 1719 (aged 33) Delhi, Mughal Empire |
| Burial | Humayun's Tomb, Delhi |
| Religion | Islam |
Abu'l Muzaffar Muin ud-din Muhammad Shah Farrukh-siyar Alim Akbar Sani Wala Shan Padshah-i-bahr-u-bar [Shahid-i-Mazlum] (or Farrukhsiyar, 20 August 1685 – 19 April 1719) was the Mughal emperor between 1713 and 1719. Noted as a handsome but weak ruler, easily swayed by his advisers, Farukhsiyar lacked the ability and character to rule independently. His reign witnessed the primacy of the Syed Brothers who became the effective powers of the land, behind the façade of Mughal rule.
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Farrukhn Siyar was born at Aurangabad in Deccan on 20 August 1685. He was the second son of Azim ush Shan, son of former emperor Bahadur Shah I. His mother was Sahiba Niswan, sister of Nawab Shaista Khan, the erstwhile Mughal Subedar of Kashmir. He first married Nawab Fakhr-un-Nisa Begum Sahiba, daughter of Mir Muhammad Taqi Husaini, a Kashmiri nobleman from the Marashi clan, sometime prior to December 1715. In September 1715, Farrukhsiyar married Indira Kanwar, daughter of Maharaja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur.
Jahandar Shah was defeated at Samugarh near Agra on 10 January 1713. Following this, the Syed Brothers, helped Farukhsiyar to secure his throne. He took the throne On 11 January 1713, at the age of 30. His reign marked the ascendancy of the Syed Brothers who monopolized state power and reduced the Emperor to an effective figurehead. The town of Farrukhnagar in Gurgaon district, 32 km south of Delhi, was rechristened after his name, during his reign, here he built a Sheesh Mahal and also a Jama Masjid mosque.
The rogue Sikh leader Banda was finally dealt with, when the experienced Mughal commander Abdus Samad Khan, had him surrounded and besieged at Gurdaspur. Although Banda's followers ferociously resisted their escape attempts were constantly foiled and after an 8 month siege by the Mughal Army, the Sikhs surrendered on December 17, 1715. Banda and his followers were then taken to Delhi and executed by the orders of Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar in the year 1716.[1]
Farrukhsiyar, is also known to have sent a letter to the Ottomans which was received by the Grand Vizier providing a graphic description of the informing him of the efforts of the Mughal commander Syed Hassan Ali Khan Barha and the Rajput and Maratha rebellion.[2]
It was during Farrukhsiyar's reign, in 1717, that the British East India Company purchased duty-free trading rights in all of Bengal for a mere three thousand rupees a year. It is said that the Company's surgeon, William Hamilton, cured Farrukhsiyar and the Emperor was moved to grant trading rights to the Company.[3] Another story tells of a bribe to a eunuch of the seraglio and a rumoured British Naval attack on the Moghul navy at Surat.[4] This order, which the Company hailed as the golden firman, was not of much practical use. Even though the Company claimed duty exemptions based on this firman, the Mughal governors of Bengal, from Murshid Quli Khan onwards, ignored this order of their suzerain and continued to collect customs duty from the East India Company.
Farrukhsiyar met a humiliating and bloody end, his constant plotting eventually led the Syed Brothers to officially depose him as the Emperor. Farrukhsiyar was imprisoned and starved; later, on 28 February 1719, he was blinded with needles at the orders of the Syed Brothers. Farrukhsiyar was strangled to death on the night of April 27/28, 1719. After accomplishing his assassination, the Syed Brothers placed his first-cousin, Rafi Ul-Darjat on the throne. Rafi-ud-durjat's father and Farukhsiyar's father had been brothers.
| Preceded by Jahandar Shah |
Mughal Emperor 1713–1719 |
Succeeded by Rafi Ul-Darjat |