SHAH ALAM (1728-1806)  ,

Mogul emperor of Delhi, son of Alamgir II., was born on the 15th of June 1728, and was originally known as the Shahzada All Gohar . 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 loth of November 18o6 . See W . Francklin, History of the Reign of Shah Alam (Calcutta, 1798) .