Who was the last Mughal emperor of India?

Concept

The "last Mughal emperor" is the final ruler of the Mughal dynasty before the British formally abolished the imperial title. To identify him, look for the emperor whose reign ended with the dynasty itself being terminated rather than being succeeded by another Mughal ruler.

Application

1. The throne passed in chronological order: Aurangzeb (d. 1707) was followed by a long line of weaker successors during the dynasty's decline.

2. Bahadur Shah II, titled Bahadur Shah Zafar, ascended in 1837 and ruled only as a nominal sovereign confined largely to the Red Fort in Delhi.

3. During the Revolt of 1857 the rebelling sepoys proclaimed him their symbolic figurehead.

4. After the revolt was crushed, the British deposed him, tried him for treason, and exiled him to Rangoon (Yangon) in 1858, where he died in 1862. With his removal the Mughal dynasty was formally extinguished.

Therefore the ruler whose reign closed the dynasty is Bahadur Shah II (Bahadur Shah Zafar).

Contrast

• Aurangzeb — the last of the powerful "Great Mughals" who died in 1707; the dynasty continued for 150 more years after him, so he was not the last emperor.

• Ahmad Shah Bahadur — a mid-18th-century emperor of the declining period, succeeded by further Mughal rulers.

• Alamgir II — another mid-18th-century ruler well before the dynasty ended, again followed by later emperors.