BAHADUR SHAH II  ., the last of the

Mogul emperors of Hindustan, 1837-1857 . He was a titular emperor only, since from the time of the defeat of Shah Alam at Buxar in 1764 all real power had resided with the East India Company ; but all proclamations were still worded under " The King's Realm and the Company's rule." His sole importance is due to the use made of his name during the Mutiny of 1857 . Always feeble in character, he was at that time old, and, from the first, was wholly at the mercy of the mutinous soldiery in Delhi, who were controlled by a council called the Barah Topi, or Twelve Heads . His papers, seized after the fall of Delhi, are full of senile complaint of the disrespect and discourtesy which he suffered from them . At the time of the assault he fled to the Tomb of Humayun, 6 m. from Delhi, where he was captured by Major Hodson . In January 1858 he was brought to trial for rebellion and for complicity in the murder of Europeans . The trial lasted more than two months . The substance of the king's defence was that he had been a mere instrument in the hands of the mutineers . On the 29th of March he was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for life . He was transported to Rangoon, and died there on the 7th of November 1862 .