Jahan Shah (Mahmud Shah Bahadur)

Title & tenure

Rival claimant during Shah Alam II's deposition (31 July – 11 October 1788)

In office: 31 July 1788 – 11 October 1788

Predecessor:

Shah Alam II (deposed)

Successor:

Shah Alam II (restored)

Biography

Bidar Bakht, a grandson of Ahmad Shah Bahadur given the regnal title Jahan Shah (also recorded as Mahmud Shah Bahadur), was installed as a rival puppet emperor by the Rohilla chieftain Ghulam Qadir after Ghulam Qadir seized Delhi and blinded the reigning emperor, Shah Alam II.

Key events

• Installed by Ghulam Qadir after the Rohilla chieftain's forces occupied Delhi and blinded Shah Alam II in 1788
• Deposed only weeks later when the Maratha general Mahadji Shinde drove out Ghulam Qadir's forces and restored Shah Alam II to the throne

Legacy

Jahan Shah's brief, forced installation is the clearest example of why historians differ on the exact count of Mughal emperors: he is sometimes counted as a formal emperor of the dynasty and sometimes treated merely as Ghulam Qadir's puppet during Shah Alam II's temporary, violent deposition.

How it ended

Removed from the throne in October 1788 when Shah Alam II was restored with Maratha military support; died in 1790.