Mirza Khair-ud-din Muhammad Khizr Sultan Bahadur (1834 – 21 September 1857) was a son of the last

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Bahadur Shah II Bahadur Shah II, (Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad; 24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862), usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' ), was the twentieth and last Mughal emperor and a Hindustani poet. His spous ...

. Khizr Sultan was a prominent military leader during the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

. However, that same year he was captured and executed by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, alongside other members of his family.

Life

Born in 1834, Khizr Sultan was the ninth son of

. His mother was a palace

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...

, Rahim Bakhsh Bai. Noted for his physical beauty, Khizr Sultan was described by his tutor

Ghalib Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan (27 December 179715 February 1869), commonly known as Mirza Ghalib, was an Indian poet. Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language, he also produced a significant body of work in Persian. Ghali ...

as being "as beautiful as

Yusuf Yusuf ( ') is a male name meaning " God increases" (in piety, power and influence).From the Hebrew יהוה להוסיף ''YHWH Lhosif'' meaning " YHWH will increase/add". It is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew name Yosef and the English na ...

". He had some talent as a poet, in addition to his skills as a

marksman A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized telescopic sight, scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle (or a sniper ri ...

. He appears to not have been favoured by his father, possibly due to his closeness with his disgraced elder brother, Mirza Fakhru. During a

Durbar Durbar may refer to: * Conference of Rulers, a council of Malay monarchs * Durbar festival, a yearly festival in several towns of Nigeria * Durbar floor plate, a hot-rolled structural steel that has been designed to give excellent slip resistance o ...

in August 1852, Khizr Sultan was publicly rebuked by his father for physically abusing his wife. The prince was described as falling at the emperor's feet and begging for forgiveness. Bahadur Shah angrily struck his son two or three times before pardoning him, warning him to treat his spouse better in the future.

1857 Rebellion

Khizr Sultan was one of several Mughal princes who joined the

Indian rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

against the

in 1857. He was the commander of the Indian troops during the Battle of Badli-ki-Serai in June of that year. Though the rebels seemed initially favoured to win, the defection of one of the leaders of the cavalry resulted in their defeat. Khizr Sultan fled the battlefield, though his soldiers fought on before retreating to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. In September, Khizr Sultan, Bahadur Shah and other members of the Imperial family were taking refuge in

Humayun's Tomb Humayun's tomb (Persian language, Persian: ''Maqbara-i Humayun'') is the tomb of Emperor of Hindustan, Emperor Mirza Nasir al-Din Muhammad commonly known as Humayun situated in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife and ...

when they were captured by the British. He, along with his brother

Mirza Mughal Mirza Mughal, born Muhammad Zahir ud-din Mirza (1817 – 23 September 1857), was a Mughal Empire, Mughal prince. He played a significant role during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He was one of the Mughal princes shot dead at one of the gates o ...

and nephew Mirza Abu Bakht, were taken to the Delhi Gate by Major William Hodson, near an archway later nicknamed " the Bloody Gate". Hodson ordered the three princes to strip naked and, using his revolver, shot each of them twice in the heart, one after the other. Their bodies were hanged in front of the police station for a few days, before being buried unceremoniously.

Family

Khizr Sultan had one son and two daughters: *Mirza Muhammad 'Usman Bahadur (b. 1850); **Mirza Muhammad 'Umar Bahadur; **Umda uz-Zamani Begum; *Khurshid uz-Zamani Begum; *Rahmat Sultan Begum;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khizr Sultan 1834 births 1857 deaths Mughal princes Sons of emperors 19th-century Mughal Empire people