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Shuja-ud-Daula
Nawab of Oudh Khan Bahadur Asad Jang Arsh Manzil
3rd Nawab of Awadh
Reign	5 October 1754 – 26 January 1775
Predecessor	Safdar Jang
Successor	Asaf-ud-Daulah
Born	19 January 1732 Mansion of Dara Shikoh,Delhi,Mughal Empire
Died	26 January 1775 (aged 43) Faizabad,Kingdom of Oudh (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)
Burial	Gulab Bari, Faizabad, Awadh
Spouse	Nawab Begum Ummat-uz-Zahra Bano "Bahu Begum" Saheba
Issue	Asaf-ud-Daulah Saadat Ali Khan II
Names Jalal-ud-din Haider Abul Mansur Khan Shuja-ud-Daula
House	Nishapuri Branch of the Kara Koyunlu
Father	Safdar Jang
Mother	Nawab Begum Sadar Jahan Ara Begum Saheba

Shuja-ud-Daula (b. (1732-01-19)19 January 1732 – d. (1775-01-26)26 January 1775) was the third Nawab of Oudh and the Vizier of Delhi from 5 October 1754 to 26 January 1775.

Early life

Shuja-ud-Daula was the son of the Mughal Grand Vizier Safdarjung, who chosen by Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur. Unlike his father Shuja-ud-Daula was known from an early age for his abilities to synthesize his subordinates; this skill would eventually cause him to emerge as the chosen Grand Vizier of Shah Alam II.

Shuja-ud-Daula is also known to have assisted Alivardi Khan, Nawab of Bengal, on various occasions when the territories of the latter were being ravaged by Raghoji I Bhonsle and his Marathas. Thus, Shuja-ud-Daula is known to have been a very respected figure among the servicemen of Alivardi Khan.

Nawab of Awadh

After the death of his father in the year 1753, Shuja-ud-Daula was recognized as the next Nawab by Ahmad Shah Bahadur.

Shuja-ud-Daula despised Imad-ul-Mulk, an ally of the Marathas whose regime emerged after the Battle of Sikandarabad with the support of the Sadashivrao Bhau. Imad-ul-Mulk blinded Ahmad Shah Bahadur and placed Alamgir II on the Mughal throne. Alamgir II and his son Prince Ali Gauhar were often persecuted by Imad-ul-Mulk because they refused to abandon their peaceful terms with Ahmad Shah Durrani; they also demanded the resignation of Imad-ul-Mulk, mainly due to his relations with the Marathas.

Shuja-ud-Daulah's household cavalry was composed of the Sheikhzadi, much of whom belonged to the Qidwai clan, who claimed descent from the Bani Israil. Clan-groups such as the Sayyids of Bilgram, Kara-Manikpur, Sheikhs of Kakori, and the Sayyids of Barha served as court officers and soldiers. The troops of Naval Rai, the most vigilant of Shuja-ud-Daulah's commanders, were a contingent of his Barah Sayyids, while the Bilgramis were of the same stock. These clans had not taken any profession other than soldiery. Shuja-ud-Daulah's father had maintained a contingent of 20,000 "Mughal" cavalry, who were mainly Hindustanis, many of whom were chiefly from the Jadibal district in Kashmir and who imitated the Qizilbash in dress and spoke the Persian language. The state also saw a large migration of Kashmiri Shi'as to the Shi'a kingdom of Awadh, both to escape persecution and to secure courtly patronage. This was especially the case with men from the district of Jadibal in Kashmir, who were all Shias, who looked to the state as the sword-arm of the Shi'as in India.

Grand Vizier of the Mughal Empire

Prince Ali Gauhar fled from Delhi when he realized a conspiracy that would eventually lead to the murder of the Mughal emperor Alamgir II. Shuja-ud-Daula welcomed and protected Prince Ali Gauhar, who then declared himself Shah Alam II and officially recognized Shuja-ud-Daula as the Grand Vizier of the Mughal Empire. Together they challenged the usurper Shah Jahan III, who was placed on the Mughal imperial throne by Sadashivrao Bhau and his forces, which plundered much of the Mughal Empire.

Shah Alam II was then advised to lead an expedition that would attempt to retake the eastern regions of the Mughal Empire from Mir Jafar who was supported by the British East India Company. While Shuja-ud-Daula, Najib-ud-Daula and Mirza Jawan Bakht allied themselves with Ahmad Shah Durrani and assisted his forces during the Second Battle of Sikandarabad in the year 1760 and later led a Mughal Army of 43,000 during the Third Battle of Panipat.

Third Battle of Panipat

After escaping from Delhi due to the murder of his father the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II, the young Prince Ali Gauhar was well received by Shuja-ud-Daula. The Nawab of Awadh and the newly appointed Mughal Grand Vizier Shuja-ud-Daula assured Prince Ali Gauhar that he and Najib-ud-Daula would initiate a struggle that would overthrow the Maratha Empire if Prince Ali Gauhar would lead what remained of the Mughal Army against the expanding British East India Company in Bengal.

Shuja's decision about whom to join as an ally in the Third Battle of Panipat was one of the decisive factors that determined the outcome of the war as lack of food due to the Afghans cutting the supply lines of Marathas was one of the reasons that the Marathas could not sustain the day-long battle. Their forces were weak due to starvation and were also fighting facing the sun.

Shuja was not very sure about whose side should he take before the Third Battle of Panipat. The Marathas were still further south then and it would have taken them considerable time to reach Shuja's province. In spite of this, his mother was of the opinion that he should join the Marathas as they had helped his father previously on numerous occasions. However, in the end, Shuja decided to join Ahmad Shah Durrani.

As the chosen Grand Vizier of the Mughal Empire, Shuja-ud-Daula commanded a sizeable army of Mughal Sepoy, who cut off the supplies of the Marathas and even defeated them in pitched confrontations during the Third Battle of Panipat and dispatched the Maratha leader Sadashivrao Bhau.

Abdali wrote to Shuja-ud-Daulah:

"It is now incontestably known that the addressee is a native of those parts, but that forsaking the conversation and manners of his native land , he has incorporated himself with the inhabitants of Hindustan. Whatever has come to pass, is altogether right. Whatever has been has been; the future will, by the favour of God, be fortunate.

Battle of Buxar

Shuja is also known for his role in the Battle of Buxar, a battle that was no less definite in Indian history. He along with the forces of Mughal emperor Shah Alam II & Mir Qasim ruler of Bengal were defeated by the British forces in one of the key battles in the history of British East India company.

Allahabad Treaty

He again fought the British with the help of Marathas at Kara Jahanabad and was defeated. On 16 August 1765 AD he signed the Treaty of Allahabad, which said that Kora and Allahabad district would go to Company and the Company would get 5 million rupees from Awadh. The British would be allowed free trade in Awadh and would help each other in case of war with other powers, which was a very shrewd political move by the Company.

To pay for the protection of British forces and assistance in war, Awadh gave up first the fort of Chunar, then districts of Benaras, Ghazipur and finally Allahabad.

Death and burial

Shuja-ud-Daula died on 26 January 1775 in Faizabad, the then capital of Awadh, and was buried in the same city. His burial place is a tomb and known as Gulab Bari (Rose Garden).

Personal life

According to historians, Shuja-ud-Daulah was nearly seven feet tall, with oiled moustaches that projected from his face like a pair of outstretched eagle’s wings, he was a man of immense physical strength. By 1763, he was past his prime, but still reputedly strong enough to cut off the head of a buffalo with a single swing of his sword, or lift up two of his officers, one in each hand. This was something that immediately struck the 18th-century, historian Ghulam Hussain Khan who regarded him as a slight liability, every bit as foolish as he was bold. Shuja, he wrote, ‘was equally proud and ignorant’.

In popular culture

• In the 1994 Hindi TV series The Great Maratha, Shuja's character was portrayed by Benjamin Gilani.
• In the 2019 Bollywood film Panipat, Shuja-ud-Daula is portrayed by Kunal Kapoor.

References

1. Bhatia, O. P. Singh (1968). History of India, from 1707 to 1856. Surjeet Book Depot.
2. Princely States of India
3. Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1945). Shuja-ud-daulah. S.N. Sarkar. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
4. Barua, Pradeep P. (2005). The State at War in South Asia. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 73. ISBN 0803213441.
5. Misra, Amaresh (1998). Lucknow, Fire of Grace: The Story of Its Revolution, Renaissance and the Aftermath. HarperCollins Publishers India. ISBN 9788172232887.
6. Bayly, C. A. (2012). Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion: 1770–1870 (3rd ed.). Delhi: OUP India. ISBN 978-0-19-908873-7.
7. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Asiatic Society (Calcutta, India); Asiatic Society (Calcutta, India). 1832.
8. Henry Dodwell, Sir Richard Burn, Sir Wolseley Haig (1957). The Cambridge History of IndiaVolume 4. Pennsylvania State University.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. Surya Narain Singh. Mittal Publications. 2003. p. 9. ISBN 978-81-7099-908-9.
10. Sarkar, Jadunath (1964) . Fall of the Mughal Empire. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Bombay: Orient Longman. p. 254.
11. Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1933). textsThe First Two Nawabs Of Oudh (a Critical Study Based On Original Sources) Approved For The Degree Of Ph. D. In The University Fo Lucknow In 1932.
12. Hamdani, Hakim Sameer (2022). Shi'ism in Kashmir:A History of Sunni-Shia Rivalry and Reconciliation. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7556-4396-7.
13. Mohan, Surendra (1997). Awadh Under the Nawabs: Politics, Culture, and Communal Relations, 1722-1856. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 978-81-7304-203-4.
14. Cotton, James Sutherland; Burn, Sir Richard; Meyer, Sir William Stevenson (1908). Imperial Gazetteer of India: Provincial Series. Superintendent of Government Printing. Shah Alam ii an shuja-ud-daula.
15. Calendar of Persian Correspondence: Being Letters, Referring Mainly to Affairs in Bengal, which Passed Between Some of the Company's Servants and Indian Rulers and Notables. By India. Imperial Record Department. 1914.
16. Wikisource: Text of Allahabad Treaty
17. HISTORY OF AWADH (Oudh) a princely State of India by Hameed Akhtar Siddiqui
18. Shuja-ud-daula (1754–1775)
19. Dalrymple, William (10 September 2019). The Anarchy. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 978-1526618504.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

Further reading

• Shuja-ud-Daulah – Vol. I, II (1754–1765) by Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava

• 1732 births
• People from Lucknow
• Nawabs of Awadh
• 1775 deaths
• Indian Shia Muslims
• Indian people of Iranian descent
• 18th-century Iranian people
• Indian royalty