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Shah Jahan
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (b. January 5, 1592, Lahore Fort, Lahore, Mughal Empire [today in Pakistan] – d. January 22, 1666, Agra Fort, Mughal Empire [today in India]), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan, (lit. "King of the World"), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mughals reached the peak of their architectural achievements and cultural glory.
The third son of Jahangir (r. 1605–1627), Shah Jahan participated in the military campaigns against the Rajputs of Mewar and the Lodis of Deccan. After Jahangir's death in October 1627, Shah Jahan defeated his youngest brother Shahryar Mirza and crowned himself emperor in the Agra Fort. In addition to Shahryar, Shah Jahan executed most of his rival claimants to the throne. During his thirty year reign, Shah Jahan commissioned many monuments, including the Red Fort, the Shah Jahan Mosque, and the Taj Mahal, where his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal is entombed.
In foreign affairs, Shah Jahan presided over the aggressive campaigns against the Deccan Sultanates, the conflicts with the Portuguese, and the wars with the Safavids, while maintaining positive relations with the Ottoman Empire. He also suppressed several local rebellions, and dealt with the devastating Deccan famine of 1630-32.
In September 1657, Shah Jahan was ailing from an illness and he appointed his eldest son Dara Shikoh as his successor. This nomination led to a succession crisis among his three sons, after which Shah Jahan's third son Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707) emerged victorious and became the sixth Mughal emperor. After Shah Jahan returned from illness in July 1658, Aurangzeb imprisoned his father in the Agra Fort from July 1658 until his death in January 1666. He was laid to rest next to his wife in the Taj Mahal. His reign is known for doing away with the liberal policies initiated by Akbar. During Shah Jahan's time, Islamic revivalist movements like the Naqshbandi began to shape Mughal policies.
Shah Jahan was born on January 5, 1592, in Lahore, present-day Pakistan, as the ninth child and third son of Prince Salim (later known as "Jahangir" upon his accession) by his wife, Jagat Gosain. The name "Khurram" (Persian for "joyous") was chosen for the young prince by his grandfather, Emperor Akbar, with whom the young prince shared a close relationship. Jahangir stated that Akbar was very fond of Khurram and had often told him "There is no comparison between him and your other sons. I consider him my true son."
When Khurram was born, Akbar, considering Khurram to be auspicious, insisted that the prince be raised in his household rather than in Salim's and was thus entrusted to the care of Ruqiaya Sultan Begum. Ruqaiya assumed the primary responsibility for raising Khurram and is noted to have raised Khurram affectionately. Jahangir noted in his memoirs that Ruqaiya had loved his son, Khurram, "a thousand times more than if he had been her own [son]."
However, after the death of his grandfather Akbar in 1605, Khurram returned to the care of his mother, Jagat Gosain, whom he cared for and loved immensely. Although separated from her at birth, he had become devoted to her and had her addressed as Hazrat (honored one) in court chronicles. On the death of Jagat Gosain in Akbarabad on April 8, 1619, Khurram was recorded to be inconsolable by Jahangir and mourned his mother for 21 days. For these three weeks of the mourning period, Khurram attended no public meetings and subsisted on simple vegetarian meals. His consort Mumtaz Mahal personally supervised the distribution of food to the poor during this period. She led the recitation of the Qur'an every morning and gave her husband many lessons on the substance of life and death and begged him not to grieve.
As a child, Khurram received a broad education befitting his status as a Mughal prince, which included martial training and exposure to a wide variety of cultural arts, such as poetry and music, most of which was inculcated, according to court chroniclers, by Akbar. According to his chronicler Qazvini, prince Khurram was only familiar with a few Turki words and showed little interest in the study of the language as a child. Khurram was attracted to Hindi literature during his childhood, and his Hindi letters are mentioned in his father's (Jahangir's) Tuzuk-e Jahangiri.
In 1605, as Akbar lay on his deathbed, Khurram, who at this point of time was 13, remained by his bedside and refused to move even after his mother tried to retrieve him. Given the politically uncertain times immediately preceding Akbar's death, Khurram was in a fair amount of physical danger from political opponents of his father. He was at last ordered to return to his quarters by the senior women of his grandfather's household namely Salima Sultan Begum and his grandmother Mariam-uz-Zamani as the health of Akbar deteriorated.
In 1605, Khurram's father, Jahangir, succeeded to the throne, after crushing a rebellion by Prince Khusrau. Khurram remained distant from court politics and intrigues in the immediate aftermath of that event. Khurram left Ruqaiya's care and returned to his mother's care. As the third son, Khurram did not challenge the two major power blocs of the time, his father's and his half-brother's; thus, he enjoyed the benefits of imperial protection and luxury while being allowed to continue with his education and training. This relatively quiet and stable period of his life allowed Khurram to build his own support base in the Mughal court, which would be useful later on in his life.
Jahangir assigned Khurram to guard the palace and treasury while he went to pursue Khusrau. He was later ordered to bring Mariam-uz-Zamani, his grandmother and Jahangir's harem to Jahangir.
During Khusrau's second rebellion, Khurram's informants informed him about Fatehullah, Nuruddin and Muhammad Sharif who had gathered around 500 men at Khusrau's instigation and lay await for the Emperor. Khurram relayed this information to Jahangir who praised him.
Due to the long period of tensions between his father, Jahangir, and his half-brother, Khusrau Mirza, Khurram began to drift closer to his father, and over time, started to be considered the de facto heir-apparent by court chroniclers. This status was given official sanction when Jahangir granted the sarkar -- the administrative division -- of Hissar-Feroza, which had traditionally been the fief of the heir-apparent, to Khurram in 1608.
After her marriage to Jahangir in the year 1611, Nur Jahan gradually became an active participant in the decisions made by Jahangir. Slowly, while Jahangir became more indulgent in wine and opium, Nur Jahan was considered to be the actual power behind the throne. Nur Jahan's near and dear relatives acquired important positions in the Mughal court, termed the Nur Jahan junta by historians.
Khurram was in constant conflict with his stepmother, Nur Jahan. Nur Jahan favored her son-in-law Shahryar Mirza for the succession to the Mughal throne over him. She tried to weaken his position in the Mughal court by sending him on campaigns far in Deccan while ensuring several favors were being bestowed on her son-in-law. Khurram, after sensing the danger posed to his status as heir-apparent, rebelled against his father, Jahangir, in 1622 but did not succeed and eventually lost the favor of his father.
A year before Jahangir's death in 1627, coins began to be struck containing Nur Jahan's name along with Jahangir's name. After the death of Jahangir in 1627, a feud followed between Khurram and his half-brother, Shahryar Mirza, for the succession to the Mughal throne. Khurram won the battle of succession and became the fifth Mughal Emperor. Nur Jahan was subsequently deprived of her imperial stature, privileges and economic grants and was put under house arrests on the orders of Khurram. Thereafter, Nur Jahan led a quiet life until her death.
In 1607, Khurram became engaged to Arjumand Banu Begum (1593–1631), who is also known as Mumtaz Mahal (Persian for "the chosen one of the Palace"). They were about 15 and 14 when they were engaged, and five years later, got married. The young girl belonged to an illustrious Persian noble family that had been serving Mughal emperors since the reign of Akbar. The family's patriarch was Mirza Ghiyas Beg, who was also known by his title I'timad-ud-Daulah or "Pillar of the State". He had been Jahangir's finance minister and his son, Asaf Khan - Arjumand Banu's father – played an important role in the Mughal court, eventually serving as Chief Minister. Her aunt Mehr-un-Nissa later became the Empress Nur Jahan, chief wife of Emperor Jahangir.
Khurram would have to wait five years before he was married in 1610, on a date selected by the court astrologers as most conducive to ensuring a happy marriage. This was an unusually long engagement for the time. However, Shah Jahan first married Princess Kandahari Begum, the daughter of a great-grandson of Shah Ismail I of Persia, with whom he had a daughter, his first child.
In 1612, Khurram also married Arjumand Banu Begum, who became known by the title Mumtaz Mahal, on the auspicious date chosen by court astrologers. The marriage was a happy one and Khurram remained devoted to her. She bore him fourteen children, out of whom seven survived into adulthood.
Though there was genuine love between the two, Arjumand Banu Begum was a politically astute woman and served as a crucial advisor and confidante to her husband. Later on, as empress, Mumtaz Mahal wielded immense power, such as being consulted by her husband in state matters and being responsible for the imperial seal, which allowed her to review official documents in their final draft.
Mumtaz Mahal died at the age of 38 on June 7, 1631, while giving birth to Gauhar Ara Begum in Burhanpur. She died of a postpartum hemorrhage, which caused considerable blood-loss after a painful labor of thirty hours. Contemporary historians note that Princess Jahanara, aged 17, was so distressed by her mother's pain that she started distributing gems to the poor, hoping for divine intervention, and Shah Jahan was noted as being "paralyzed by grief" and weeping fits. Her body was temporarily buried in a walled pleasure garden known as Zainabad, originally constructed by Shah Jahan's uncle Prince Daniyal along the Tapti River. Her death had a profound impact on Shah Jahan's personality and inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal, where she was later reburied.
Khurram had taken other wives besides Mumtaz Mahal, among which were Kandahari Begum (m. October 28, 1610) and Izz un-Nisa Begum (m. September 2, 1617), the daughters of Muzaffar Husain Mirza Safawi and Shahnawaz Khan, son of Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, respectively. But according to court chroniclers, his relationship with his other wives was more out of political consideration, and they enjoyed only the status of being royal wives.
Khurram is also recorded to have married his maternal half-cousin, Lilavati Bai, daughter of Sakat Singh Rathore of Kharwa. The marriage took place when Khurram was in rebellion against his father, Jahangir.
Prince Khurram showed extraordinary military talent. The first occasion for Khurram to test his military prowess was during the Mughal campaign against the Rajput state of Mewar, which had been a hostile force against the Mughals since Akbar's reign. In December 1613, at an auspicious hour, Prince Khurram was sent to Mewar.
After a year of a harsh war of attrition, Rana Amar Singh I surrendered conditionally to the Mughal forces and became a vassal state of the Mughal Empire. In 1615, Khurram presented Kunwar Karan Singh, Amar Singh's heir to Jahangir. Khurram was sent to pay homage to his mother and stepmothers and was later rewarded by Jahangir. The same year, his mansab was increased from 12000/6000 to 15000/7000, to equal that of his brother Parvez's and was further increased to 20000/10000 in 1616.
In 1616, on Khurram's departure to Deccan, Jahangir awarded him the title Shah Sultan Khurram.
In 1617, Khurram was directed to deal with the Lodis in the Deccan to secure the Empire's southern borders and to restore imperial control over the region. On his return after successes in these campaigns, Khurram performed koronush before Jahangir who called him to jharoka and rose from his seat to embrace him. Jahangir also granting him the title of Shah Jahan (Persian: "King of the World") and raised his military rank to 30000/20000 and allowed him a special throne in his Durbar, an unprecedented honor for a prince. Edward S. Holden writes, "He was flattered by some, envied by others, loved by none."
In 1618, Shah Jahan was given the first copy of Jahangirnama by his father who considered him "the first of all my sons in everything."
Inheritance of power and wealth in the Mughal Empire was not determined through primogeniture, but by princely sons competing to achieve military successes and consolidating their power at court. This often led to rebellions and wars of succession. As a result, a complex political climate surrounded the Mughal court in Khurram's formative years. In 1611 his father married Nur Jahan, the widowed daughter of a Persian noble. She rapidly became an important member of Jahangir's court and, together with her brother Asaf Khan, wielded considerable influence. Arjumand (Mumtaz Mahal) was Asaf Khan's daughter and her marriage to Khurram consolidated Nur Jahan and Asaf Khan's positions in court.
Court intrigues, however, including Nur Jahan's decision to have her daughter from her first marriage wed Prince Khurram's youngest brother Shahzada Shahryar and her support for his claim to the throne led to much internal division. Prince Khurram resented the influence Nur Jahan held over his father and was angered at having to play second fiddle to her favorite Shahryar, his half-brother and her son-in-law. When the Persians besieged Kandahar, Nur Jahan was at the helm of the affairs. She ordered Prince Khurram to march for Kandahar, but he refused. As a result of Prince Khurram's refusal to obey Nur Jahan's orders, Kandahar was lost to the Persians after a forty-five-day siege. Prince Khurram feared that in his absence Nur Jahan would attempt to poison his father against him and convince Jahangir to name Shahryar the heir in his place. This fear brought Prince Khurram to rebel against his father rather than fight against the Persians.
In 1622, Prince Khurram raised an army and marched against his father and Nur Jahan. He was defeated at Bilochpur in March 1623. Later he took refuge in Udaipur Mewar with Maharana Karan Singh II. He was first lodged in Delwada Ki Haveli and subsequently shifted to Jagmandir Palace on his request. It is believed that the mosaic work of Jagmandir inspired Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) to use mosaic work in the Taj Mahal of Agra.
In November 1623, Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) found safe asylum in Bengal Subah after he was driven from Agra and the Deccan. Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) advanced through Midnapur and Burdwan. At Akbarnagar, he defeated and killed the then Subahdar of Bengal, Ibrahim Khan Fath-i-Jang, on April 20, 1624. He entered Dhaka and "all the elephants, horses, and 4,000,000 rupees in specie belonging to the Government were delivered to him". After a short stay, Prince Khurram then moved to Patna. His rebellion did not succeed in the end and he was forced to submit unconditionally after he was defeated near Allahabad.
Although the prince was forgiven for his errors in 1626, tensions between Nur Jahan and her stepson continued to grow beneath the surface. Upon the death of Jahangir in 1627, the wazir Asaf Khan, who had long been a quiet partisan of Prince Khurram, acted with unexpected forcefulness and determination to forestall his sister's plans to place Prince Shahryar on the throne. He put Nur Jahan in close confinement. He obtained control of Prince Khurram's three sons who were under her charge. Asaf Khan also managed palace intrigues to ensure Prince Khurram's succession to the throne. Prince Khurram succeeded to the Mughal throne as Abu ud-Muzaffar Shihab ud-Din Mohammad Sahib ud-Quiran ud-Thani Shah Jahan Padshah Ghazi, or Shah Jahan.
Shah Jahan's regnal name is divided into various parts. Shihab ud-Din, meaning "Star of the Faith", Sahib al-Quiran ud-Thani, meaning "Second Lord of the Happy Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus". Shah Jahan, meaning "King of the World", alluding to his pride in his Timurid roots and his ambitions. More epithets showed his secular and religious duties. He was also Khalifat Panahi ("Refuge of the Caliphate"), but Zill-i Allahi, or the "Shadow of God on Earth".
Shah Jahan's first act as ruler was to execute his chief rivals and imprison his stepmother Nur Jahan. Upon Shah Jahan's orders, several executions took place on January 23, 1628. Those put to death included his brother Shahryar; his nephews Dawar and Garshasp, sons of Shah Jahan's previously executed brother Prince Khusrau; and his cousins Tahmuras and Hoshang, sons of the late Prince Daniyal Mirza. These executions allowed Shah Jahan to rule his empire without contention.
Evidence from the reign of Shah Jahan states that in 1648 his army consisted of 911,400 infantry, musketeers, and artillery men, and 185,000 Sowars commanded by princes and nobles.
Shah Jahan's cultural and political initial steps have been described as a type of the Timurid Renaissance, in which he built historical and political bonds with his Timurid heritage mainly via his numerous unsuccessful military campaigns on his ancestral region of Balkh. In various forms, Shah Jahan appropriated his Timurid background and grafted it onto his imperial legacy.
During Shah Jahan's reign, the Marwari horse was introduced, becoming Shah Jahan's favorite, and various Mughal cannons were mass-produced in the Jaigarh Fort. Under his rule, the empire became a huge military machine and the nobles and their contingents multiplied almost fourfold, as did the demands for more revenue from their citizens. However, due to Shah Jahan's measures in the financial and commercial fields, it was a period of general stability -- the administration was centralized and court affairs systematized.
The Mughal Empire continued to expand moderately during Shah Jahan's reign as his sons commanded large armies on different fronts. India, at the time, was a rich center of the arts, crafts and architecture, and some of the best of the architects, artisans, craftsmen, painters and writers of the world resided in Shah Jahan's empire.
A famine broke out in 1630–32 in Deccan, Gujarat and Khandesh as a result of three main crop failures. Two million died of starvation. Grocers sold dogs' flesh and mixed powdered bones with flour. Parents ate their own children. Some villages were completely destroyed, their streets filled with human corpses. In response to the devastation, Shah Jahan set up langar (free kitchens) for the victims of the famine.
In 1632, Shah Jahan captured the fortress at Daulatabad, Maharashtra and imprisoned Husain Shah of the Nizam Shahi Kingdom of Ahmednagar. Golconda submitted in 1635 and then Bijapur in 1636. Shah Jahan appointed Aurangzeb as Viceroy of the Deccan, consisting of Khandesh, Berar, Telangana, and Daulatabad. During his viceroyalty, Aurangzeb conquered Baglana, then Golconda in 1656, and then Bijapur in 1657.
A rebellion of the Sikhs led by Guru Hargobind took place and in return, Shah Jahan ordered their destruction. Although Guru Hargobind Shahib defeated the Mughal army in the Battle of Amritsar, the Battle of Kartarpur, the Battle of Rohilla, and the Battle of Lahira, Shah Jahan and his sons captured the city of Kandahar in 1638 from the Safavids, prompting the retaliation of the Persians led by their ruler Abbas II of Persia, who recaptured it in 1649. The Mughal armies were unable to recapture it despite repeated sieges during the Mughal-Safavid War. Shah Jahan also expanded the Mughal Empire to the west beyond the Khyber Pass to Ghazna and Kandahar.
When Shah Jahan became ill in 1658, Dara Shikoh (Mumtaz Mahal's eldest son) assumed the role of regent in his father's stead, which swiftly incurred the animosity of his brothers. Upon learning of his assumption of the regency, his younger brothers, Shuja, Viceroy of Bengal, and Murad Bakhsh, Viceroy of Gujarat, declared their independence and marched upon Agra in order to claim their riches. Aurangzeb, the third son, gathered a well-trained army and became its chief commander. Aurangzeb faced Dara's army near Agra and defeated him during the Battle of Samugarh. Although Shah Jahan fully recovered from his illness, Aurangzeb declared him incompetent to rule and put him under house arrest in Agra Fort.
Jahanara Begum Sahib, Mumtaz Mahal's eldest surviving daughter, voluntarily shared Shah Jahan's 8-year confinement and nursed him in his dotage. In January 1666, Shah Jahan fell ill. Confined to bed, he became progressively weaker until, on January 30, 1666, he commended the ladies of the imperial court, particularly his consort of later years Akbarabadi Mahal, to the care of Jahanara. After reciting the Kal'ma (Laa ilaaha ill allah) and verses from the Qur'an, Shah Jahan died. He was 74 years old.
Shah Jahan's chaplain Sayyid Muhammad Qanauji and Kazi Qurban of Agra came to the fort, moved Shah Jahan's body to a nearby hall, washed it, enshrouded it, and put it in a coffin of sandalwood.
Princess Jahanara had planned a state funeral which was to include a procession with Shah Jahan's body carried by eminent nobles followed by the notable citizens of Agra and officials scattering coins for the poor and needy. Aurangzeb refused to accommodate such ostentation. Instead, Shah Jahan's body was taken to the Taj Mahal and was interred there next to the body of Shah Jahan's beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.
Shah Jahan left behind a grand legacy of structures constructed during his reign. He was one of the greatest patrons of Mughal architecture. Indeed, Shah Jahan's reign ushered in the golden age of Mughal architecture. Shah Jahan's most famous building was the Taj Mahal, which he built out of love for his wife, the empress Mumtaz Mahal.
The structure of the Taj Mahal was drawn with great care and architects from all over the world were called for this purpose. The building took twenty years to complete and was constructed from white marble underlaid with brick. Upon Shah Jahan's death, his son Aurangzeb had him interred in it next to Mumtaz Mahal. Among his other constructions are the Red Fort also called the Delhi Fort or Lal Qila in Urdu; large sections of Agra Fort; the Jama Masjic; the Wazir Khan Mosque; the Moti Masjid; the Shalimar Gardens; sections of the Lahore Fort; and the Mahabat Khan Mosque in Peshawar. Shah Jahan also constructed the Mini Qutub Minar in Hastsal; the Jahangir mausoleum—his father's tomb, the construction of which was overseen by his stepmother Nur Jahan; and the Shahjahan Mosque. He also had the Peacock Throne, Takht e Taus, made to celebrate his rule. Shah Jahan also placed profound verses of the Qur'an on his masterpieces of architecture.
The Shah Jahan Mosque in Thatta, Sindh province of Pakistan (100 km / 60 miles from Karachi) was built during the reign of Shah Jahan in 1647. The mosque is built with red bricks with blue colored glaze tiles probably imported from another Sindh's town of Hala. The mosque has overall 93 domes and it is the world's largest mosque having such a number of domes. It was built keeping acoustics in mind. A person speaking inside one end of the dome can be heard at the other end when the speech exceeds 100 decibels.
Shah Jahan's relationship with Mumtaz Mahal has been heavily adapted into Indian art, literature and cinema. Shah Jahan personally owned the royal treasury, and several precious stones, including the Kohinoor (Koh-i-noor). The Koh-i-Noor (from Persian meaning "Mountain of Light"), also spelled Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12 g). Today the Koh-i-noor is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.
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Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal (lit. "the exalted one of the Palace"), born Arjumand Banu Begum (b. April 27, 1593, Agra, Mughal Empire [in today's India] – b. June 17, 1631) was the empress consort of the Mughal Empire from January 19, 1628 to June 17, 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World, was commissioned by her husband to act as her tomb.
Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjumand Banu Begum in Agra to a family of Persian nobility. She was the daughter of Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan, a wealthy Persian noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire, and the niece of Empress Nur Jahan, the chief wife of Emperor Jahangir and the power behind the emperor. She was married at the age of 19 on May 10, 1612 (or June 16, 1612) to Prince Khurram, later known by his regnal name Shah Jahan, who conferred upon her the title "Mumtaz Mahal" (Persian: "the exalted one of the palace"). Although betrothed to Shah Jahan since 1607, she ultimately became his second wife in 1612. Mumtaz and her husband had 14 children, including Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's favorite daughter), and the Crown prince Dara Shikoh, the heir-apparent, anointed by his father, who temporarily succeeded Shah Jahan until deposed by Mumtaz Mahal's sixth child, Aurangzeb, who ultimately succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor in 1658.
Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 in Burhanpur, Deccan (present-day Madhya Pradesh), during the birth of her 14th child, a daughter named Gauhar Ara Begum. Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built as a tomb for her. The Taj Mahal is considered to be a monument of undying love. As with other Mughal royal ladies, no contemporary likenesses of her are accepted.
Mumtaz Mahal was born as Arjumand Banu on April 27, 1593 in Agra to Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan and his wife Diwanji Begum, the daughter of a Persian noble, Khwaja Ghias-ud-din of Qazvin. Asaf Khan was a wealthy Persian noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire. His family had come to India impoverished in 1577, when his father Mirza Ghias Beg (popularly known by his title of I'timad-ud-Daulah), was taken into the service of the Emperor in Agra.
Asaf Khan was also the older brother of Empress Nur Jahan, making Mumtaz a niece, and later, a step daughter-in-law of Nur Jahan, the chief consort of Emperor Jahangir, Shah Jahan's father. Mumtaz's older sister, Parwar Khanum, married Sheikh Farid, the son of Nawab Qutubuddin Koka, the governor of Badaun, who was also the emperor Jahangir's foster brother. Mumtaz also had a brother, Shaista Khan, who served as the governor of Bengal and various other provinces in the empire during Shah Jahan's reign.
Mumtaz was remarkable in the field of learning and was a talented and cultured lady. She was well-versed in Arabic and Persian languages and could compose poems in the latter. She was reputed to have a combination of modesty and candor, a woman warmly straightforward yet bemusedly self-possessed. Early in adolescence, she attracted the attention of important nobles of the realm. Jahangir must have heard about her, since he readily consented to Shah Jahan's engagement with her.
Mumtaz Mahal was betrothed to Shah Jahan around April 5, 1607, when Mumtaz was 14 years old at the time and Shah Jahan was 15. They were, however, married five years after the year of their betrothal on May 10, 1612 (or June 7, 1612) in Agra. After their wedding celebrations, Shah Jahan, "finding her in appearance and character elect among all the women of the time", gave her the title Mumtaz Mahal (Persian: lit. "the exalted one of the Palace"). During the intervening years between their betrothal and marriage, Shah Jahan had married his first wife, Princess Kandahari Begum in 1610. In 1617, after marrying Mumtaz, Shah Jahan took a third wife, Izz-un-Nissa Begum (titled Akbarabadi Mahal), the daughter of a prominent Mughal courtier. According to the official court historians, both the marriages were political alliances.
By all accounts, Shah Jahan was so taken with Mumtaz that he showed little interest in exercising his polygamous rights with his two other wives, other than dutifully siring a child with each. According to the official court chronicler, Motamid Khan, as recorded in his Iqbal Namah-e-Jahangiri, the relationship with his other wives "had nothing more than the status of marriage. The intimacy, deep affection, attention and favor which Shah Jahan had for Mumtaz exceeded what he felt for his other wives." Likewise, Shah Jahan's historian Inayat Khan commented that 'his whole delight was centered on this illustrious lady [Mumtaz], to such an extent that he did not feel towards the others [i.e. his other wives] one-thousandth part of the affection that he did for her.'
Mumtaz had a loving marriage with Shah Jahan. Even during her lifetime, poets would extol her beauty, grace, and compassion. Despite her frequent pregnancies, Mumtaz travelled with Shah Jahan's entourage throughout his earlier military campaigns and the subsequent rebellion against his father. She was his constant companion and trusted confidant, leading court historians to go to unheard lengths to document the intimate and erotic relationship the couple enjoyed. In their 19 years of marriage, they had 14 children together (eight sons and six daughters), seven of whom died at birth or at a very young age.
Upon his accession to the throne in 1628 after subduing his half brother, Shahryar Mirza, Shah Jahan designated Mumtaz as his chief empress with the title of Padshah Begum ("First Lady"), Malika-i-Jahan ("Queen of the World") and Malika-uz-Zamani ("Queen of the Age") and Malika-i-Hindustan ("Queen of the Hindustan"). Mumtaz's tenure as empress was brief, spanning only three years due to her untimely death. Nonetheless, Shah Jahan bestowed her with magnanimous luxuries. She was also the only wife of Shah Jahan to be addressed as " Hazrat " being the mother of the heir apparent. For example, no other empress residence was as decorated as Khas Mahal (part of Agra Fort), where Mumtaz lived with Shah Jahan. It was decorated with pure gold and precious stones and had rose-water fountains of its own. Each wife of the Mughal emperor was given a regular monthly allowance for her gastos (housekeeping or travelling expenses). The highest such allowance on record is the one million rupees per year given to Mumtaz Mahal by Shah Jahan. Apart from this income, he gave her a lot of high-income lands and properties.
Shah Jahan consulted Mumtaz in both private matters and the affairs of the state, and she served as his close confidant and trusted adviser. At her intercession, he forgave enemies or commuted death sentences. His trust in her was so great that he gave her the highest honour of the land – his imperial seal, the Mehr Uzaz, which validated imperial decrees. Mumtaz was portrayed as having no aspirations to political power, in contrast to her aunt, Empress Nur Jahan, the chief consort of Emperor Jahangir, who had wielded considerable influence in the previous reign.
In addition to having an uncontested and great influence on Shah Jahan, often intervening on behalf of the poor and destitute, Mumtaz Mahal also enjoyed watching elephant and combat fights performed for the court. Mumtaz patronized a number of poets, scholars and other talented persons. A noted Sanskrit poet, Vansidhara Mishra, was the Empress's favorite. On the recommendation of her principal lady-in-waiting, Sati-un-Nissa, Mumtaz Mahal provided pensions and donations to the daughters of poor scholars, theologians, and pious men. It was quite common for women of noble birth to commission architecture in the Mughal Empire, so Mumtaz devoted some time to a riverside garden in Agra, which is now known as Zahara Bagh. It is the only architectural foundation that can be connected to her patronage.
Mumtaz Mahal died from postpartum hemorrhage in Burhanpur on June 17, 1631 while giving birth to her 14th child, after a prolonged labor of around 30 hours. She had been accompanying her husband while he was fighting a campaign in the Deccan Plateau. Her body was temporarily buried at Burhanpur in a walled pleasure garden known as Zainabad originally constructed by Shah Jahan's uncle Daniyal on the bank of the Tapti River. The contemporary court chroniclers paid an unusual amount of attention to Mumtaz Mahal's death and Shah Jahan's grief at her demise. In the immediate aftermath of his bereavement, the emperor was reportedly inconsolable. Apparently, after the death of Mumtaz, Shah Jahan went into secluded mourning for a year. When he appeared again, his hair had turned white, his back was bent, and his face worn. Mumtaz's eldest daughter, Jahanara Begum, gradually brought her father out of grief and took her mother's place at court.
Mumtaz Mahal's personal fortune (valued at 10 million rupees) was divided by Shah Jahan between Jahanara Begum, who received half, and the rest of her surviving children. Burhanpur was never intended by her husband as his wife's final resting spot. As a result, her body was disinterred in December 1631 and transported in a golden casket escorted by her son Shah Shuja, the deceased empress's head lady-in-waiting, and the distinguished courtier Wazir Khan, back to Agra. There, it was interred in a small building on the banks of the Yamuna River. Shah Jahan stayed behind in Burhanpur to conclude the military campaign that had originally brought him to the region. While there, he began planning the design and construction of a suitable mausoleum and funerary garden in Agra for his wife. It was a task that would take 22 years to complete. It would be the Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan to be built as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal. It is seen as an embodiment of undying love and marital devotion. English poet Edwin Arnold describes it as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passion of an emperor's love wrought in living stones." The beauty of the monument is also taken as a representation of Mumtaz Mahal's beauty and this association leads many to describe the Taj Mahal as feminine. Since Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decorations on graves, the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan are placed in a relatively plain crypt beneath the inner chamber with their faces turned to the right and towards Mecca.
The Ninety Nine Names of God are found as calligraphic inscriptions on the sides of the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the crypt including, "O Noble, O Magnificent, O Majestic, O Unique, O Eternal, O Glorious…". There are many theories about the origin of the name of this tomb and one of them suggests that 'Taj' is an abbreviation of the name Mumtaz.
Shah Jahan had not intended to entomb another person in the Taj Mahal, however, Aurangzeb had Shah Jahan buried next to the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal rather than build a separate tomb for his father. This is evident from the asymmetrical placement of Shah Jahan's grave on one side of his wife's grave which is in the center.
The Taj Mahal (lit. "Crown of the Palace"), is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628–1658) to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centerpiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643, but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated which in 2020 would be approximately one billion United States dollars. The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by the court architect to the emperor, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. Various types of symbolism have been employed in the Taj to reflect natural beauty and divinity.
The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". It is regarded by many as the best example of Mughal architecture and a symbol of India's rich history. The Taj Mahal attracts more than 6 million visitors a year and, in 2007, it was declared a winner of the New 7 Wonders of the World (2000–2007) initiative.
Due to the global attention that it has received and the millions of visitors it attracts, the Taj Mahal has become a prominent image that is associated with India, and in this way has become a symbol of India itself.
Along with being a renowned symbol of love, the Taj Mahal is also a symbol of Shah Jahan's wealth and power, and the fact that the empire had prospered under his rule. Bilateral symmetry dominated by a central axis has been used by rulers as a symbol of a ruling force that brings balance and harmony, and Shah Jahan applied that concept in the making of the Taj Mahal. Additionally, the plan is aligned in the cardinal north–south direction and the corners have been placed so that when seen from the center of the plan, the sun can be seen rising and setting on the north and south corners on the summer and winter solstices respectively. This makes the Taj a symbolic horizon.
The planning and structure of the Taj Mahal, from the building itself to the gardens and beyond, is symbolic of Mumtaz Mahal's mansion in the garden of Paradise. The concept of Gardens of Paradise is extended into the building of the mausoleum as well. Colorful vines and flowers decorate the interior, and are filled in with semi-precious stones using a technique called pietra dura, or as the Mughals called it, parchin kari. The building appears to slightly change color depending on the time of day and the weather. The sky has not only been incorporated in the design through the reflecting pools but also through the surface of the building itself. This is another way to imply the presence of Allah at the site.
The planning of the entire compound of the Taj Mahal appears to symbolize both earthly life and the afterlife, a subset of the symbolization of the divine. The plan has been split into two—one half is the white marble mausoleum itself and the gardens, and the other half is the red sandstone side meant for worldly markets. Only the mausoleum is white so as to represent the enlightenment, spirituality and faith of Mumtaz Mahal. The white also appears to symbolize the purity of real love. Koch has deciphered that symbolic of Islamic teachings, the plan of the worldly side is a mirror image of the otherworldly side, and the grand gate in the middle represents the transition between the two lives.
The Taj Mahal is also seen as a feminine architectural form, and is thought to embody Mumtaz Mahal herself.
