India: Arabic calligraphy of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor (r. 1837-1857), c. 1850

Bahadur Shah II (Urdu: بہادر شاہ دوم), born Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar (Urdu: ابو ظفر سِراجُ الْدین محمد بُہادر شاہ ظفر), in October 1775 – died November 7, 1862) was last of the Mughal emperors in India, and ruler of the Timurid Dynasty. He was son of Akbar Shah II and Lalbai, who was a Hindu Rajput. He became Mughal Emperor when his father died on September 28, 1837. He was widely known as Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Bahadur Shah Zafar was a noted Urdu poet, and wrote a large number of Urdu ghazals. While some part of his opus was lost or destroyed during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a large collection did survive, and was later compiled into the Kulliyyat-i-Zafar. The court that he maintained, although somewhat decadent and arguably pretentious for someone who was effectively a pensioner of the British East India Company, was home to several Urdu writers of high standing, including Ghalib, Dagh, Mumin, and Zauq.

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GREAT MUGHALS