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In this two-part episode, we turn to the final Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, a poet-king who never expected to rule, yet found himself at the centre of the empire’s last violent upheaval.

By the mid-nineteenth century the Mughal throne was little more than a symbol, with real power in British hands. Inside the Red Fort, Zafar tried to preserve what remained of the old world — a court of poetry, ritual, and uneasy coexistence between Hindu and Muslim elites in a city that had once been the heart of Hindustan.

Beyond the palace walls, however, the ground was shifting. When new rifle cartridges rumoured to be greased with cow and pig fat were issued to Indian soldiers, a small change became the spark that lit a rebellion...

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