Ali Gauhar was born to "Shahzada" (Prince) Aziz-ud-Din, son of the deposed Mughal Emperor Jahandar Shah, on 15 June 1728. Alongside his father, he grew up in semi-captivity in the Salatin quarters of the Red Fort. However, unlike the majority of Mughal princes growing up in similar circumstances, he is not recorded to have become a decadent prince by the time his father became emperor, and therefore was naturally given high appointments in the course of his father's reign.
Being proclaimed a rebel by his father, he fled to Shuja-ud-Dowlah, wazir of Oudh, and on the death of his father in 1759 assumed the name of Shah Alam. He joined Shuja-ud-Dowlah against the British, but after his defeat at the battle of Buxar, he sought British protection. In 1765 he granted the diwani (superintendence of the revenue) of Bengal to Lord Clive for the East India Company in return for a payment of 26 lakhs a year. In 1771 he fell into the power of the Mahrattas, was installed emperor of Delhi, and lost the British subsidy. In 1788 the Rohilla chief Ghulam Kadir seized Delhi and put out Shah Alam's eyes. Sindhia restored him to the throne, and after the Mahratta war of 1803 he was again taken under British protection. He died on the 10th of November 1806.
Quotations:
Shah Alam II once remarked: "In reality, various kinds of unbecoming things do happen in my reign, and the people of God loudly say: In the reign of this blind king we suffer from atrocities'. How then do I desrve to be called a king".
"Bravery is better than magnanimity".
"None could dare to see the combat either of the camels or of the elephants among the Hindu chiefs. The sole exception was made in the case of Raja Jai Singh Sawai, who was permitted by Mohammad Shah after taking from huge amount as tribute".
His spouses were Piari Begum, Taj Mahal Begum, Jamil un-nisa Begum, Mubaraq Mahal, Murad Bakht Begum. He had Over 16 sons and 2 daughters.
