Shah Jahan

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Shah Jahan
Birth name:Ghiyas-ud-din Shah Jahan
Title:Emperor of Mughal Empire
Birth:January 5, 1592
Place of birth: Lahore, Punjab (Pakistan)
Death:January 22, 1666
Succeeded by:Aurangzeb
Marriage:
Children:


Shahbuddin Mohammed Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan. Persian: شاه ‌جهان), January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) was the ruler of the Mughal Empire in India from 1628 until 1658. The name Shah Jahan comes from Persian شاه ‌جهان meaning "The Ruler of the World". Shah Jahan is best known as the builder of the Taj Mahal, a shrine to his Persian second wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal ("Ornament of the Palace") whom he married on May 10,1612, at the age of 20.

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Rise to power

Shah Jahan was born with the name Prince Khurram to Jahangir and the Hindu Rajput Princess Manmati, and was reportedly close to his grandfather Akbar as a child. Khurram raised an army against Jahangir in 1622, but the insurgency failed. He was forgiven and accepted back into the fold but two of his sons, Prince Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh, were sent to Jahangir's court against the possibility of Prince Khurram revolting again.

After Jahangir's death in 1627, Khurram captured power after a fratricidal war against his weaker brother, Shahryar, who was supported by Jahangir's powerful widow Nur Jehan with the help of Abdul Hassan Asaf Khan I . It was shortly after this that he took the rule name Shah Jahan, February 4 1628.

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Accomplishments

Image:Shah-jahan1.jpgAlthough his father's rule was generally peaceful, the empire was experiencing challenges by the end of his reign. Shah Jahan reversed this trend by putting down a Muslim rebellion in Ahmednagar, repulsing the Portuguese in the Bengal, capturing the Rajput kingdoms of Baglana and Bundelkhand to the west, and the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda in the Deccan and the northwest beyond the Khyber Pass. Shah Jahan's military campaigns drained the imperial treasury. Under his rule, the state became a huge military machine and the nobles and their contingents multiplied almost fourfold, so did the demands for more revenue from the peasantry. However, his political efforts encouraged the emergence of large centers of commerce and crafts--such as Lahore, Delhi, Agra, and Ahmadabad--linked by roads and waterways to distant places and ports. He moved the capital from Agra to Delhi, the traditional seat of Muslim power.

Under Shah Jahan's rule, Mughal artistic and architectural achievements reached their zenith. Shah Jahan was a prolific builder with a highly refined aesthetic. He built the legendary Taj Mahal in Agra as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Among his surviving buildings are the Red Fort and Jama Masjid in Delhi, the Shalimar Gardens of Lahore and buildings at the Lahore Fort.

Although the empire's financial expenditures were excessive when resources were shrinking, by the end of Shah Jahan's reign, the empire was again expanding.

Legend has it that Shah Jahan wanted to build a black Taj Mahal, to match the white one[1]. There is no reputable scholarship to support this hypothesis, however.[2][3][4].

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Decline and fall

When Shah Jahan fell severely ill beginning in 1657, the struggle to succeed him began. His second son, Shah Shuja declared himself emperor in Bengal. Aurangzeb also challenged his father and the expected successor, Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb's elder brother. Despite strong support from Shah Jahan, who had recovered enough from his illness to remain a strong factor in the struggle for supremacy, and Dara's victories over Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb finally defeated Dara. Dara attempted to rally support after this defeat, but was betrayed and turned over to his brother. Aurangzeb beheaded Dara Shikoh on the charge of heresy and, it is said, had his severed head taken to their father. He also ordered the execution of his brother Murad Baksh, who had briefly fought along with Aurangzeb against Dara Shikoh in the battle of Samogarh.

Aurangzeb put his father under house arrest in Agra Fort tended only by his eldest daughter Jahanara Begum. The conditions of Shah Jahan's five years detention are the subject of disagreement and legend. Some say that the Fort was a luxurious residence, others say it was restrictive. Aurangzeb permitted him to retain "the whole of his female establishment, including the singing and dancing women" (Bernier, p.166 and p. 21) Legends include one that says that though the Taj is not directly visible from the Sheesh Mahal (Agra) in the Agra Fort, it is constructed such that it can be seen in its multitude of mirrors. It is also rumored that Shah Jahan died in Muasamman Burj, a tower with a marble balcony with an excellent view of the Taj Mahal. Note that these stories are directly contradictory.

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Legacy

Shah Jahan is buried in the Taj Mahal, next to his second wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Shah Jahan had four surviving children: His son the emperor Aurangzeb, and daughters Jahanara Begum, Roshanara Begum and Gauharara Begum. His three sons Murad Baksh, Dara Shikoh and Shah Shuja died or were executed during the war of succession.

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Notable structures associated with Shah Jahan

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European accounts of Shah Jahan's personal life

Numerous accounts of Shah Jahan's personal life were recounted by contemporary European writers.

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Shah Jahan's promiscuity

Like all his ancestors, Shah Jahan's court included many wives, concubines, and dancing girls. Several European chroniclers noted this. Niccolao Manucci wrote that "it would seem as if the only thing Shahjahan cared for was the search for women to serve his pleasure" and "for this end he established a fair at his court. No one was allowed to enter except women of all ranks that is to say, great and small, rich and poor, but all handsome (Manucci, I, p.195)." When he was detained in the Agra Fort, Aurangzeb permitted him to retain "the whole of his female establishment, including the singing and dancing women (Bernier, p.166 and p. 21)". Manucci notes that Shah Jahan didn't lose his "weakness for the flesh" even when he had grown very old (Manucci, I, p.240).

Shah Jahan also had an an affair with Farzana Begum, the sister of his second wife Mumtaz Mahal. It was said that Farzana Begum's son was the son of Shah Jahan, and Manucci wrote, "as for myself, I have no doubt about it, for he was very like Prince Dara (Manucci, II, p.390)." According to Frey Sebastian Manrique, Shah Jahan violated the chastity of the wife of Shaista Khan with the help of his daughter (Manrique, II, pp. 140-44). Shaista Khan was the brother of Mumtaz Mahal.

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Allegations of incest

Several European chroniclers suggested that Shah Jahan had an incestuous relationship with his daughter Jahanara Begum. The European traveller Francois Bernier wrote, "Begum Sahib, the elder daughter of Shah Jahan was very handsome... Rumour has it that his attachement reached a point which it is difficult to believe, the justification of which he rested on the decision of the Mullas, or doctors of their law. According to them it would have been unjust to deny the king the privilege of gathering fruit from the tree he himself had planted (Bernier, p.11)". Joannes De Laet was the first European to write about this rumour. Peter Mundy and Jean Baptiste Tavernier wrote about the same allegations.

However, the historian K.S. Lal pointed out that Aurangzeb may have been involved in "magnifying a rumour into a full-fledged scandal", and wrote: "Aurangzeb had disobeyed Shahjahan, he had incarcerated him for years, but if he really helped give a twist to Shahjahan's paternal love for Jahan Ara by turning it into a scandal, it was the unkindest cut of all his unfilial acts." (Lal 1988) He remarked that in "these circumstances, it is not possible to say anything with finality".

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Literary sources and references

  • Bernier, Francois, Travels in the Mogal Empire (1656-68), revised by V.A. Smith, Archibald Constable, Oford 1934.
  • Tavernier, Jean Baptiste, Travels in India, trs. and ed. by V.Ball, 2 Vols. Macmillan, 1889, 1925.
  • De Laet, Joannes, The Empire of the Great Mogol, trs. byHoyland and Banerjee, Bombay 1928.
  • Peter Mundy. Travels of Peter Mundy in Asia, ed. R.C. Temple, Hakluyt Society, London 1914.
  • Manucci, Niccolao, Storia do Mogor, Eng. trs. by W. Irvine, 4 vols. Hohn Murray, London 1906.
  • Manrique, Travels of Frey Sebastian Manrique, trs. by Eckford Luard, 2 Vols. Hakluyt Society, London 1927.
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External links

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