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Names
	Sultan Azhar-ud-Din Muhammad Azim Mirza Azim-ush-Shan Bahadur

Azim-ush-Shan
Azim-ush-Shan
Mirza
	Azim-ush-Shan holding a jewelled sarpech c. 1710
Subahdar of Bengal
Reign	22 September 1697 – 18 March 1712
Predecessor	Ibrahim Khan II
Successor	Murshid Quli Khan
Monarch	Aurangzeb; Azam Shah; Bahadur Shah I
Born	Muhammad Azim-ud-Din; 15 December 1664; Agra Fort, Agra Subah, Mughal Empire
Died	18 March 1712 (aged 47); Ravi River, Kangra, Mughal Empire
Burial	Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, India
Spouses	Yash Kanwarji; (m. 1678); Aisha Begum (m. 1692; died 1709); Gati Ara Begum; (m. 1709); Sahiba Niswan;
Issue	Muhammad Karim Mirza; Humayun Bakht Mirza; Ruh-ul-Daula Mirza; Ahsanullah Mirza; Farrukhsiyar;
Names
Names
	Sultan Azhar-ud-Din Muhammad Azim Mirza Azim-ush-Shan Bahadur
House	House of Babur
Dynasty	Mughal Dynasty
Father	Shah Alam I
Mother	Amrit Kanwarji Rathore daughter of Raja Roop Singh of Kishangarh, Rajputana, Ajmer Subah
Religion	Sunni Islam

Mirza Azim-ush-Shan (15 December 1664 – 18 March 1712) was the second son of the 8th Mughal Emperor Shah Alam I better known as Bahadur Shah I by his second wife a Rathore Rajput Princess Amrit Kanwarji of Kishangarh. He was the great grandson of Shah Jahan and the grandson of Aurangzeb during whose reign he was the imperial subahdar (governor) of Bengal Subah from the year 1697 to his death in 1712.

Reign

In 1697, Azim-ush-Shan was appointed the viceroy of Bengal Subah, Bihar and Odisha by Emperor Aurangzeb.^[4] Shortly afterwards, he took successful military initiative against Rahim Khan. Azim gave the East India Company permission to build Fort William in Calcutta (presently Kolkata) in 1696. Using Mughal permission, the Dutch also built Fort Gustavas in Chinsura and the French built Fort Orleans in Chandernagore (presently Chandannagar).^[4]

Azim got into conflict with Murshid Quli Khan, the newly appointed Diwan of Bengal, over imperial financial control. Considering the complaint of Murshid Quli Khan, Aurangzeb ordered Azim to move to Bihar. Murshid Quli Khan later transformed his succession as a semi-independent princely state known as Nawab of Bengal.^[4] In 1703, he transferred the capital to Rajmahal and then again to Pataliputra (present-day Patna). He renamed Pataliputra to Azimabad after his own name.^[4]

In 1712, at the time of his father's death, he immediately proclaimed himself emperor but the other three princes, Jahandar Shah, Jahan Shah and Rafi-ush-Shan, united and waged war against Azim. In the battle, a shot from a heavy gun struck the trunk of the elephant that Azim was on, leading the elephant to run towards Ravi River and falling into quick sand, which killed both the elephant and Azim.^[5]

Wives and children

Prince Azim-ush-Shan married as his first wife a Kachwaha Rajput Princess the last of her clan Kunwari Yash Kanwarji daughter of Kunwar Kirat Singh and first Raja of Kaman under the Kingdom of Amber he was the second son of Mirza Raja Jai Singh I and younger brother of his successor Mirza Raja Ram Singh I in the year 1678. She was the mother of his first born child Prince Muhammad Karim Mirza.^[6] She died at Delhi on 19 February 1721.^[6]

His second wife Aisha Begum was the daughter of Ruhullah Khan Yazdi the Mir Bakhshi of the imperial Mughal army. She was the granddaughter of Khalilullah Khan. The marriage took place on 26 June 1692.^[7] She was the mother of Prince Humayun Bakht Mirza and Prince Ruh-ud-Daula Mirza. Azim-ush-shan is said to have been very fond of her. On 24 May 1709 she gave birth to twins a boy and a girl. She died at Daulatabad in Deccan on 15 July 1709 and was subsequently buried there near the tomb of Sufi Saint Burhanuddin Gharib.^[6]

His third wife was Gati Ara Begum the daughter of his uncle Prince Muhammad Azam Shah. The wedding took place on 1 November 1709.^[8] She too died at Delhi on 12 June 1724 at the age of over 40.^[6]

His fourth wife was Sahiba Niswan, a Kashmiri lady and the sister of Khwaja Inayatullah entitled Shaista Khan. She was the mother of the 10th Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar. Upon Farrukhsiyar's accession to the throne on 11 January 1713, she occupied an eminent position in the imperial harem.^[3] She too died at Delhi in February 1729 having outlived her son by nearly ten years.^[6] along with her husband and co-wives as well.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Azim-ush-Shan

8. Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Shah Jahan I, Mughal Emperor

4. Muhi-ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor

9. Mumtaz Mahal

2. Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Bahadur Shah I, Mughal Emperor

10. Taj-ud-Din Khan, Raja of Rajauri^[10]

5. Nawab Bai Begum

1. Azim-ush-Shan

24. Raja Kishan Singh of Kishangarh

12. Bharmal Rathore of Babera^[11]

6. Raja Roop Singh of Kishangarh^[9]

3. Amrit Kanwarji

References

^ Mughal title Mirza, the title of Mirza and Khan or Padshah, which were the titles of the Mongol rulers.
^ ^a ^b ^c Irvine, William (1971). Later Mughal. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 144.
^ ^a ^b Cheema, G. S (2002). The Forgotten Mughals: A History of the Later Emperors of the House of Babar, 1707–1857. Manohar Publishers and Distributors. p. 179. ISBN 9788173046018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Chatterjee, Anjali (2012). "Azim-us-Shan". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
^ Irvine, William (1971). Later Mughal. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 177.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Irvine, p. 144.
^ Sarkar, Jadunath (1947). Maasir-i-Alamgiri: A History of Emperor Aurangzib-Alamgir (reign 1658–1707 AD) of Saqi Mustad Khan. Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta. p. 209.
^ Irvine, p. 35.
^ Irvine, p. 128.
^ Charles Francis Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Delhi, Jalandhar, Peshawar and Derajat Divisions of the Panjab (1890), p. 396
^ Vijay Kumar Mathur, Marvels of Kishangarh paintings: from the collection of the National Museum, New Delhi (2000), p. 8