Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c55.s5.3

v4.c55.s5.3

But a shrunken income, made doubly painful by his growing miserliness, was not the only trouble in Shah Alam's household after his restoration to the throne. The polygamist was not happy with his numerous progeny. Soon after making Mahādji his regent, he had approached that chief and the English Government with a proposal for setting aside the claims of his eldest son Jawān Bakht and declaring a younger son, Akbar Shah as his heir. The reason was the superstitious belief that as the fugitive and penniless Shah Alam had learnt of his father's death and crowned himself Emperor (on 23rd Dec. 1759), while Akbar was in his mother's womb, this prince was born under the most auspicious star and he would bring glory to the imperial house if he filled the throne. But the Governor-General and Sindhiā alike refused to violate the rule of primogeniture. The question, however, was finally laid at rest by the death of Jawān Bakht in self-chosen exile at Benares on 31st May 1788.