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 Ali 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 10th of November 1806.
See W. Francklin, History of the Reign of Shah Alam (Calcutta, 1798).