Editing Akbar II

{{short description|Emperor of India from 1806 to 1837}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Akbar II
| title        = King of Delhi<br/> [[Padishah|Badshah]]<br />[[Mughal emperor|Shahanshah-e-Hind]]
| image        = Akbar Shah II of India.jpg
| caption      = Portrait of Akbar Shah II, {{circa|1827}}
| succession   = [[Mughal Emperor]]
| reign        = 19 November 1806 – 28 September 1837
| coronation   = 19 November 1806
| predecessor  = [[Shah Alam II]]
| successor    = [[Bahadur Shah II]]
| birth_name   = Mirza Akbar
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1760|04|22|df=yes}}
| birth_place  = [[Mukundpur]], [[Rewa (princely state)|Rewa State]], [[Maratha Confederacy]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1837|09|28|1760|04|22|df=yes}}
| death_place  = Delhi, [[Mughal Empire]]
| spouse       = Mumtaz Mahal<ref name="Majumdar1939">{{cite book | editor = Jatindra Kumar Majumdar | date = 1939 | title = Raja Rammohun Roy and the Last Moghuls: A Selection from Official Records, 1803–1859 | publisher = Art Press | pages = xxxiii| isbn = 9788170410645}}</ref><br>Anwar Mahal<ref name="Congress1958">{{cite book | author = Indian History Congress | date = 1958 | title = Proceedings, Volume 20 | publisher = Indian History Congress | pages = 316}}</ref><br>Lal Bai<ref name="Husain2006">{{cite book | author = Syed Mahdi Husain | date = 2006 | title = Bahadur Shah Zafar and the War of 1857 in Delhi | publisher = Aakar Books | pages = 36 | isbn = 9788187879916}}</ref>
| issue        = 14 sons including 
Mirza Firuz Bakht <br/>[[Bahadur Shah Zafar|Bahadur Shah II]]<br/> Mirza Buland Bakht <br/>
[[Mirza Jahangir]]<br/>[[Mirza Jahan Shah]]<br/>[[Mirza Nali]]<br>[[Mirza Babur]]<br/>[[Mirza Salim]]<br/>[[Mirza Nazim Shah]]<br/>Mirza Jahan Khushru<ref name="GREAT ESCAPE OF MIRZA JAHAN KHUSRO SON OF AKBAR SANI – HAJI MUHAMMED ISHAQUE DESCENDANT OF GREAT MUGHALS"> {{cite web| url=http://blog.chughtaimuseum.com/?p=10834| title=GREAT ESCAPE OF MIRZA JAHAN KHUSRO SON OF AKBAR SANI – HAJI MUHAMMED ISHAQUE DESCENDANT OF GREAT MUGHALS| date=15 April 2020}}</ref>
<br/>8 daughters
| full name    = Sultan Ibn Sultan Sahib al-Mufazi Wali Ni'mat Haqiqi Khudavand Mujazi Abu Nasir Mu'in al-Din Muhammad Akbar Shah Pad-Shah Ghazi
| father       = [[Shah Alam II]]
| mother       = Qudsia Begum
| signature    = Seal of Mughal emperor Akbar Shah II.jpg
| signature_type = Seal
| religion     = [[Sunni Islam]] {{small|([[Hanafi]])}}
| dynasty      = [[Timurid dynasty]]
| era dates    = 18th and 19th centuries
| regnal name  = Akbar Shah II
| house        = [[Mughal dynasty|House of Babur]]
| burial_place = [[Moti Masjid (Mehrauli)|Moti Masjid]], Delhi, India
}}
{{Mughal}}

'''Akbar II''' ({{IPA|fa|ak.baɾ}}; 22 April 1760 – 28 September 1837), also known as '''Akbar Shah II''', was the nineteenth [[Mughal emperors|Mughal emperor]] from 1806 to 1837. He was the second son of [[Shah Alam II]] and the father of [[Bahadur Shah II]], who would eventually succeed him and become the last Mughal emperor.

Akbar had little de facto power due to the increasing British influence in India through the [[East India Company]]. He sent [[Ram Mohan Roy]] as an ambassador to Britain and gave him the title of Raja. During his regime, in 1835, the East India Company discontinued calling itself subject of the Mughal Emperor and [[Khutba wa sikka|issuing coins in his name]]. The Persian lines in the company's coins to this effect were deleted.

Akbar II was credited with starting the [[Hindu–Muslim unity]] festival [[Phool Walon Ki Sair]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dec 8 |first1=TNN / |title=Akbar, Dara Shikoh had set examples of Hindu-Muslim unity {{!}} Varanasi News – Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/akbar-dara-shikoh-had-set-examples-of-hindu-muslim-unity/articleshow/17526760.cms |website=The Times of India |date=8 December 2012 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Akbar and his religious policy |url=http://www.ijssh.org/vol6/660-B00018.pdf}}</ref> His grave lies next to the [[dargah]] of 13th-century Sufi saint [[Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki]] at [[Mehrauli]].

==Early life==
[[File:Shah Alam II (1759-1806), the blind mughal Emperor, seated on a golden throne..jpg|thumb|upright|left|The crown prince seated next to his blinded father [[Shah Alam II]] (c. 1800)]]

Prince Mirza Akbar was born on 22 April 1760 to Emperor [[Shah Alam II]] at [[Mukundpur]], [[Satna]], while his father was in exile. On 2 May 1781, at the [[Red Fort]], the prince was made [[Crown prince]] with the title of ''[[Wali Ahd]] Bahadur'', after the death of his elder brother. In 1782, he was appointed the viceroy of Delhi until 1799. When the [[Rohilla]] leader [[Ghulam Kadir|Ghulam Qadir]] captured Delhi in 1788, the young Prince Mirza Akbar was forced to [[nautch]] dance along with other Mughal princes. He witnessed how the members of the imperial Mughal family were humiliated, as well as starved. When [[Mahmud Shah Bahadur|Shah Jahan IV]] fled, Mirza Akbar was titular Emperor with the title of ''Akbar Shah II'', and was to remain acting emperor even after the reinstatement of his father [[Shah Alam II]], till January 1789.

==Reign==
[[File:Silver Rupee from the Bombay Presidency, struck in the name of Mughal emperor Akbar II, photographed from a personal collection in West Bengal, India, September 17, 2024.jpg|thumb|Silver Rupee from the Bombay Presidency, struck in Ahmedabad, in the name of Mughal emperor Akbar II.]]
[[File:Silver Rupee of Bhopal State struck in the name of Mughal emperor Muhammad Akbar II, minted in Daulatgarh, having the trident symbol in horizontal position.jpg|thumb|Silver Rupee of the [[Bhopal State]], struck in the name of Mughal emperor Akbar II, minted in Daulatgarh, having the trident symbol in horizontal position.]]
[[File:Silver Rupee of Bharatpur state, struck in the name of Mughal emperor Akbar II, Mahe Indrapur Mint.jpg|thumb|Silver Rupee of [[Bharatpur State]], struck in the name of Mughal emperor Akbar II, Mahe Indrapur Mint.]]
[[File:Jade bowl of akbar shah national museum india.JPG|thumb|Jade bowl inscribed with the name of the emperor]]
[[File:Tombs of Shah Alam and Akbar II, c1890s.jpg|thumb|The tombs of Akbar II and his father Shah Alam II in [[Mehrauli|Zafar Mehal, Mehrauli]], Delhi|alt=]]

Emperor Akbar II presided over an empire titularly large but in effect limited to the [[Red Fort]] in Delhi alone. The cultural life of Delhi as a whole flourished during his reign. However, his attitude towards East India Company officials, especially [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings|Lord Hastings]], to whom he refused to grant an audience on terms other than those of subject and sovereign, although honourable to him, increasingly frustrated the British, who regarded him as merely their pensioner. The British therefore reduced his titular authority to 'King of Delhi' in 1835 and the East India Company ceased to act as the mere lieutenants of the Mughal Empire as they did from 1803 to 1835. Simultaneously they replaced Persian text with English text on the company's coins, which no longer carried the emperor's name.

The British encouraged the Nawab of [[Oudh]] and the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] to take royal titles to further diminish the Emperor's status and influence. Out of deference, the Nizam did not, but the [[Nawab of Awadh]] did so.

He is also known to have bestowed the title ''Nawab'' upon the [[Nawab of Tonk]] and [[Nawab of Jaora]].

Akbar II appointed the Bengali reformer Ram Mohan Roy, to appeal against his treatment by the East India Company, conferring on him the title of Raja. Ram Mohan Roy then visited England, as the Mughal envoy to the Court of St. James. Ram Mohan Roy submitted a well-argued memorial on behalf of the Mughal ruler, but to no avail.

The grave of Akbar II lies within a marble enclosure adjoined to the [[Moti Masjid (Mehrauli)|Moti Masjid]] near the [[dargah]] of the 13th century Sufi saint, [[Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki]] at [[Mehrauli]], Delhi. The Mughal emperors [[Bahadur Shah I]], ([[Shah Alam I]]) and [[Shah Alam II]] are also buried here.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Dadlani |first=Chanchal B. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1024165136 |title=From stone to paper : architecture as history in the late Mughal Empire |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-300-23317-9 |location=New Haven [CT] |pages=63 |oclc=1024165136}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Ghulam Murtaza Khan The Delhi Darbar of Akbar II.jpg|Akbar II holding audience on the Peacock Throne.
File:Silver rupee coin of Akbar Shah II.jpg|Silver Rupee coin of Akbar II.
File:Akbar Shah II rides an elephant in a huge procession 1835 San Diego Museum of Art.jpg|Akbar Shah II rides an elephant in a huge procession 1835
File:Akbar Shah II and his four sons.jpg| Akbar Shah II and his four sons
File:Durbar Procession of Mughal Emperor Akbar II (reigned 1806-1837), with British Resident Charles Metcalfe 181644.JPG|Durbar Procession of Mughal Emperor Akbar II, with British Resident Charles Metcalfe, by Udey Ram
File:Painting of Cavalry in Durbar Procession of Mughal Emperor Akbar II.png|Cavalry in Durbar Procession of Mughal Emperor Akbar II
File:Mounted standard-bearers of Akbar Shah II.png|Mounted standard-bearers in the procession of Akbar II
</gallery>

==Descendants==
[[File:India 1835 2 Mohurs (rev).jpg|thumb|275px|An East India Company Double [[Mohur]], struck in 1835, featuring [[Ali]] the lion ([[Sher-e-Ali]]) and the sacred tree of [[Karbala]]]]

After the mutiny, cousins of [[Mirza Mughal]], son of [[Bahadur Shah Zafar]], son of Akbar II, escaped to neighbouring areas in fear of capture by the British. Prince [[Mirza Mughal]], the heir apparent was himself captured and executed by the British near [[Delhi Gate, Delhi|Delhi gate]]. Many surviving princes settled in various provinces of India, but some settled in [[Burma]], [[Bengal]] and [[Deccanis|Deccan]] since a large number of imperial family members, along with Emperor [[Bahadur Shah II]] were exiled to Rangoon in [[Burma]].

==See also==
* [[Akbar I]]
* [[Mirza Nali]]
* [[Jalaluddin Mirza]]
* [[Mirza Zafar]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite journal|last=Whitehead|first=Richard Bertram|author-link=R. B. Whitehead|date=1929|title=Akbar II as Pretender: A Study in Anarchy|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|volume=61 |issue=2|pages=259–272|doi=10.1017/S0035869X00082149 |issn=0035-869X|jstor=25193883|s2cid=163201364 }}

{{Commons category-inline}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Timurid dynasty]]||1760||1837}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Shah Alam II]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Mughal Emperor]]|years=1806–1837}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bahadur Shah II]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Mughal Empire}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akbar Shah Ii}}
[[Category:18th-century Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:Emperors of the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:1760 births]]
[[Category:1837 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:People from Satna district]]
[[Category:19th-century Mughal Empire people]]