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The
last Mughal king, Bahadur Shah, better known as Bahadur Shah
Zafar, was born in 1775 at Delhi. He was the son of Akbar Shah from his
Hindu wife Lalbai. Bahadur Shah, after the death of his father, was placed on
the throne in 1837 when he was little over 60 years of age. He was last in the
lineage of Mughal emperors who ruled over India for about 300 years.
Bahadur Shah Zafar, like his predecessors, was a weak ruler who came to
throne when the British domination over India was strengthening and the Mughal
rule was nearing its end. The British had curtailed the power and privileges of
the Mughal rulers to such an extent that by the time of Bahadur Shah Zafar,
the Mughal rule was confined to the Red Fort. Bahadur Shah
Zafar was obliged to live on British pension, while the reins of real
power lay in the hands of the East India Company.
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