The Youngest Son, The Last To Go

Muhammad Kam Baksh, the son of Emperor Aurangzeb, and the ruler of Bijapur, and killed in a battle by his brother Bahadur Shah I, was born today in 1667.

Kam Baksh; Source: Wikipedia

Kam Baksh was born at a time when the Mughal state stood at its apogee of power - Emperor Aurangzeb’s Empire ruled most of the lands, its armies staked out its enemies in the Deccan and Kabul to the north, and its culture was the richest seen in arguably the world. Yet he would die at a time when the perception of the Empire was quite changed, its emperor died of old age, his sons rebelling to capture the throne, and ever resurgent enemies to the north and south.

Kam Baksh was the fifth son of Aurangzeb, born on the 6th of March (some dispute it as 7), 1667. He had quite an ordinary life for a Mughal prince - court prestige, marriages, learning the skills of military and diplomacy, mastering the art of courting etc. His break would come when he would march to Bijapur in the Deccan and take over its throne in 1707, just as his father was dying and another civil war in the Mughal Empire was brewing up.

While in Bijapur, Kam Baksh would seek to conquer ever southward, into Hyderabad, Gulbarga, and Golconda.

At Delhi, Azam Shah, the most senior brother among the lot, had briefly ascended the throne, before being killed by Bahadur Shah I. Bahadur Shah would send a letter to Kam Baksh, describing the event and asking him not to declare independence. Kam Baksh promptly did.

As Bahadur Shah’s army marched nearer and nearer, Kam Baksh would start losing his soldiers to desertion, so much so that when the armies met at the Talab-i-Mir Jumla in Hyderabad, he himself had to take a position in the frontline. Outnumbered, bleeding and weakened, he was captured by Shah’s forces. While Baksh had believed his faith in God and prophecies would carry him through, Bahadur Shah saw a defeated brother, and as he cleaned and fed Kam Baksh, he said,

"I had no desire to see you reduced to this state".

Kam Baksh would soon die, and be buried in Humayun’s Tomb.