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Battle of Agra (1713)

VictorFarrukhsiyar and the Sayyid brothersFarrukhsiyar; Sayyid Abdullah Khan; Sayyid Husain Ali Khan
1713vs
Emperor Jahandar ShahJahandar Shah; Zulfiqar Khan

Less than a year after he took the throne, Jahandar Shah was overthrown by his nephew Farrukhsiyar, backed by the Sayyid brothers of Barha. The battle near Agra began the era of the king-makers.

Date: 10 January 1713Where: Near Agra, Uttar PradeshType: Battle
Photo: Pragya Sharan · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Cite

MLA

“Battle of Agra (1713).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-agra-1713/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Agra (1713). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-agra-1713/

Result

Jahandar Shah was beaten and fled to Delhi, where he was handed over and put to death; Farrukhsiyar became emperor.

01A throne won and lost

Bahadur Shah died in 1712, and his sons fought for the throne. Jahandar Shah won with the help of the great noble Zulfiqar Khan, but his reign was remembered for the influence of his favourite, the singer Lal Kunwar, and the insults heaped on old nobles. Farrukhsiyar, son of his murdered brother Azim-ush-Shan, was in Bengal. Sayyid Husain Ali Khan, governor of Bihar, and his brother Abdullah Khan of Allahabad took up his cause and marched west with him.

02The battle and after

Jahandar Shah came down to Agra with a large army, but it was poorly led. On 10 January 1713 the armies met near the city. The Sayyids’ Barha troops broke Jahandar’s lines, and he fled the field, reaching Delhi in disguise. There Zulfiqar Khan’s father Asad Khan handed him over to Farrukhsiyar, hoping to save his own family. Jahandar was strangled in the Red Fort, and Zulfiqar Khan was also put to death. For the next seven years the Sayyid brothers ruled in the emperor’s name.

Why it matters

The battle made the Sayyid brothers masters of the Mughal court; in 1719 they made the alliance with the Marathas that let Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath’s army march into Delhi.

Places near the battlefield 5

Agra and the Agra FortStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Agra and the Agra Fort

The Mughal capital on the Yamuna, where Shivaji was held under house arrest in 1666 and escaped, and which the Jats, the Marathas and finally the British each took in turn. The Taj Mahal and the red sandstone fort face each other across a bend of the river.

Dauji Temple, BaldeoStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Dauji Temple, Baldeo

The chief temple of Balarama in Braj, in the town named after him, with a tall black murti of Dauji and his consort Revati. Its Huranga, the day after Holi, is the last and wildest play of the Braj Holi.

Gokul (Thiruvaippadi)Standing
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Gokul (Thiruvaippadi)

The cowherd village across the Yamuna where Vasudeva carried the newborn Krishna on the night of his birth. The Alvars called it Thiruvaippadi, the holy settlement of the herdsmen, and Andal and Periyalvar sang it as if they lived there.

Dwarkadhish Temple, MathuraStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Dwarkadhish Temple, Mathura

The Pushtimarg temple near Vishram Ghat built in 1814 by Seth Gokul Das Parikh with the support of Daulat Rao Scindia. Its Hindola swing festival in Shravan is the great sight of Mathura in the monsoon.

Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi, MathuraRebuilt
The Mughal era and the resistance

Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi, Mathura

The prison-cell of Kamsa where Shri Krishna was born at midnight. The Katra Keshavdev mound carried great temples that were destroyed in 1018 and 1670; the Shahi Idgah stands on part of it, and a new temple complex stands beside.