A History of Agriculture in India v2.c85.s3: Successors, Bahadur Shah and Others
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c85.s3
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Contents
- v2.c85.s3.t1 Muhammad Shah (1719-1748) — 4 parts
Successors, Bahadur Shah and Others
v2.c85.s3.1
Bahadur Shah succeeded in the war of succession and became Emperor of India in 1707. He was followed by a worthless person Jahandar Shah in 1712. In 1712 Farrukhsiyar ascended the throne. Power was, however, in the hands of Sayyids of Barah, Abdullah and Hussain Ali, who murdered Farrukhsiyar in 1719.
Muhammad Shah (1719-1748)
v2.c85.s3.t1.1
In 1719 Muhammad Shah, commonly known as *Rangila*, became the Emperor of India. Feeling insecure, he sought solace in the company of concubines and buffoons. Next year a disastrous earthquake shook Delhi.
v2.c85.s3.t1.2
EARTHQUAKE, 1720
v2.c85.s3.t1.3
‘On the 2nd of Ramzan, 1132 A.H. (27 June 1720), on Friday, during prayers at the mosques, a fearful earthquake was felt,’ reports Khafi Khan. He continues, ‘A noise under the earth was heard, doors and walls shook and roofs rattled. During the day and night nine shocks were felt. It was reported that parts of the fort and many houses were thrown down, and that great numbers of persons were killed in Shahjahanabad and old Delhi. The writer of these leaves went out on horseback to see and ascertain for himself.... He found houses destroyed here and there, parts of the ramparts thrown down and damaged, two gates of the city injured, the parapets of the Fatehpuri mosque damaged, and ten or twelve persons killed and wounded. It was very amazing that for a month and two days the shocks continued, and were felt four or five times in the twenty-four hours. Many persons were so alarmed that they would not sleep under a roof. After this time the force of the shocks decreased; but for four or five months the earth and the houses were found to shake occasionally, until the arrival of the blessed feet of His Majesty, when the shocks gradually ceased.’⁹ In 1739 followed another disaster, the invasion of Nadir Shah, the Persian marauder.
v2.c85.s3.t1.4
⁹ Khafi Khan. Muntakhabu-l Lubab, in Elliot and Dowson, The History of India..., Vol. VII, pp. 496, 497