AHMAD SHAH

in full Ahmad Shah Bahadur Mujahid-ud-din Abu Nasr born Dec. 24, 1725, Delhi died Jan. 1, 1775, Delhi ineffectual Mughal emperor of India from 1748 to 1754, who has been characterized as a good-natured imbecile, without personality, training, or qualities of leadership. He was entirely dominated by others, including the queen mother, Udham Bai, and the eunuch superintendent of the harem, the emperor's vicar Javid Khan. Twice during his reign, the Afghan Ahmad Shah Durrani plundered the northwest Punjab area, extorting money and land from him. At a demonstration by the Marathas in Sikandarabad, he fled, abandoning the women of his family to captivity. In 1750 Ahmad Shah's wazir (vizier), Safdar Jang, who had been defeated by Afghans of the Doab, joined the Marathas of southwest India in attempting to gain the spoils of Ahmad Shah's empire. Ahmad Shah was blinded and deposed by the Marathas and their allies in 1754, after which he lived in confinement until his death.