Farrukhsiyar

It does not seem improbable that the Mughal Empire, which was at its most expansive during the reign of Aurangzeb, was soon to be disintegrated after his death. The reason for this is the accession of the weak rulers after his death in 1707. One such ruler was Farrukhsiyar who was feeble and fickle minded.

Farrukhsiyar was the son of Azim-ush-shan and grandson of Bahadur Shah I, son and successor of Aurangzeb.  He succeeded to the Mughal throne in 1713 with the help of powerful Saiyid Brothers.

Historian Khafi khan writes about him. He “had no will of his own. He was young, inexperienced and inattentive to the business of the state”.

Farrukhsiyar was a weak ruler and suffered from a sense of insecurity. He ordered the murder of Zulfiqr Khan, who became the most powerful noble during the reign of Bahadur Shah I and Jahandar Shah, the successor of Bahadur Shah I. In order to thwart any plans by Saiyid Brothers to displace him, prominent members of the imperial family, who were kept in prisons, were blinded on the emperor’s orders. Another important event of his rule was the execution of the Sikh leader Banda Bahadur who was tortured to death by the Mughals in 1716.

However, Farrukhsiyar was no able to check the growing power of the Saiyid Brothers who, with the help of Ajay Singh of Marwar, who had married his daughter to the emperor, deposed and murdered him in 1719.