Bahadur Shah Zafar: The Last Mughal Emperor and Poet
بہادر شاہ ظفر
Updated
Bahadur Shah Zafar (بہادر شاہ ظفر, 1775–1862) was the last Mughal emperor and a poet of real distinction, who wrote under the pen-name Zafar (victory). His court was the last great centre of Urdu poetry in Delhi, and his fall in 1857 ended three centuries of Mughal rule.
Life
Zafar was born in Delhi on 24 October 1775 and became emperor in 1837, by then a ruler in name only, with the East India Company holding real power. He was a Sufi, a calligrapher and a poet; his teachers in poetry were Zauq and, later, Ghalib.
In May 1857 rebel soldiers arrived in Delhi and proclaimed the old emperor their leader. When the British retook the city in September, his sons were shot and he was tried and exiled to Rangoon, where he died on 7 November 1862. The fate of his family is told in Khwaja Hasan Nizami's Tears of the Begums and Writings of 1857, whose first piece shows the emperor on his last night in the Fort.
Poetry
Zafar left four divans of ghazals, many of them simple, sorrowful and close to speech. The best known, the lament lagtaa nahiiñ hai dil miraa ujRe dayaar meñ ("My heart finds no rest in this ruined land"), with its closing complaint that the poet could not find two yards of earth for his grave in the street of the beloved, is often read as his farewell from exile, though scholars dispute whether he actually wrote it.
Read it here
短篇小说（阿夫萨纳） · 1922
前两章免费贵妇们的眼泪
بیگمات کے آنسو
赫瓦贾·哈桑·尼扎米
1857年兵变的故事。霍加·哈桑·尼扎米寻访莫卧儿王朝最后的王子与公主们——他们被逐出红堡，抛进烈火中的德里——让他们亲口讲述自己的遭遇：一位当了旅馆管家的王子，在集市上乞讨的公主们，巴哈杜尔·沙的一个女儿。此书在作者生前一再重印，是乌尔都语散文中最温柔动人的篇章。此处全文译出，并附作者1930年的后记；序言与第一个故事可免费阅读。
19 章EnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربية中文Русский
短篇小说（阿夫萨纳）
前两章免费1857年纪事
۱۸۵۷ء کی تحریریں
赫瓦贾·哈桑·尼扎米
《贵妇们的眼泪》的姊妹篇：霍加·哈桑·尼扎米另外十一篇关于莫卧儿德里陷落的文字，从未收入那部名著。托钵僧皇帝巴哈杜尔·沙在离开红堡的那一夜交出圣物；一封以他的口吻写给威尔士亲王的祝福信；一位耳聋的王子推着板车运砖，站上治安法官的公堂；一位以割草为生的皮尔；一位在报馆扫地的王子；两位身陷囹圄的王子；绿衣女子的战斗。全文译出；前两篇可免费阅读。
11 章EnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربية中文Русский
Questions and answers
Who was the last Mughal emperor?
Bahadur Shah Zafar (1775–1862), who reigned from 1837 until the British deposed and exiled him after the uprising of 1857.
Where is Bahadur Shah Zafar buried?
In Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar, where he died in exile in 1862.
Was Bahadur Shah Zafar a poet?
Yes. He wrote Urdu ghazals under the pen-name Zafar, and Zauq and Ghalib were his teachers in poetry.
More guides
- Mirza Ghalib: Life, Poetry and Letters · The most quoted poet of Urdu, and the witness of Delhi's fall in 1857.
- Tears of the Begums (Begamat ke Aansoo): Stories of 1857 · What became of the last Mughal princes and princesses after Delhi fell in 1857.
- Writings of 1857 by Khwaja Hasan Nizami: A Guide · Eleven more pieces on the fall of Mughal Delhi, never gathered into Tears of the Begums.
- The Great Urdu Poets: From Wali and Mir to Faiz and Faraz · Three centuries of Urdu poetry in one list, with where to read each poet.