[#History] Mughal Ruler Shah Jahan

The best thing about Mughals is that they are known today for what they built and what they ruined; but never for what they stood for.

If we think about what they stood for, we would be aghast. They had a history of cold blooded murders, execution of people from other religions, sons fighting war with fathers, and brothers killing brothers for throne.

Here, some history of Shah Jahan, of Taj Mahal fame: 

http://www.rediff.com/news/special/sangeet-som-is-right-foreigners-built-the-taj-mahal/20171017.htm

Some excerpts: 

Shah Jahan was born on January 15, 1592 in Lahore to Mughal emperor Jahangir and his Rajput princess Jagat Gossain, also called Jodh Bai, whose father was Uday Singh Rathor of Marwar. On the sixth day of his birth, the child was named Khurram (Joyous) by Akbar, and was handed over to Ruqaiya Begum -- Akbar's childless wife -- who became his foster mother when the little prince was four years, four months and four days old.

In 1607, when Shah Jahan was 16, he married Arjumand Banu Begum aka Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan had two other wives. However, their children did not survive. Only Mumtaz Mahal gave him an heir. Seven of the royal couple's children survived, four boys and three girls: Jahanara Begum, Dara Shikoh, Shah Shuja, Raushanara Begum, Aurangzeb, Murad Bakhsh and Goharara Begum.

Shah Jahan went to war against his own father Jehangir. Shah Jahan was defeated and was imprisoned. Jehangir later took pity on his son and released him from prison. After Jehangir's death, his wife Nur Jahan passed on the baton to Jehangir's other son, Shahryar, and not Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan took Shahryar on in battle and killed him. He also killed his other brothers, Dawar Bakhsh and Garshasp.

Mumtaz Mahal died on June 17, 1631 while giving birth to her 14th child, Goharara Begum. Devastated by his wife's death, the emperor withdrew from public life for a week. Mumtaz Mahal was buried at Burhanpur on the banks of the Tapti river. Six months later, her body was exhumed and she was re-interred on January 8, 1632, on the banks of the Yamuna where the Taj Mahal was built. Initially, Shah Jahan called her tomb the Rauza-i-Munavvara (the illumined tomb). It was later called Mumtaz Mahal, then the Taj Mahal.

37 creative minds worked on the design on the Taj Mahal. 20,000 labourers toiled day and night from 1631 to 1654. Ustad Isa -- a Turk who either came from Constantinople (today's Istanbul) or from Shiraz or Isfahan in Persia -- is usually credited as the Taj's architect. From Turkey came Ismail Afandi, a designer of hemispheres and a builder of domes. To oversee the finances and the daily supervision of work on the site, the emperor chose Abdul Kari and Mukarrimat Khan, seasoned administrators from Shiraz, Persia. Master calligrapher Amanat Khan -- whose name is located at the base of the Taj's interior dome near the lines from the Quran -- was also a native of Shiraz. The lines, by the way, read, 'Written by the insignificant being, Amanat Khan Shirazi.'

Though he did not impose jiziya on the Hindus (the practice was abolished by Akbar) Shah Jahan, an orthodox Sunni Muslim, was harsh towards Hindus.

According to Abraham Eraly's book, Emperors of the Peacock Throne, '76 temples were destroyed in Benares and so were many churches in Agra.'

'Shah Jahan also prohibited Muslims from changing their religion but encouraged conversions to Islam by offering stipends and other favours to converts,' Eraly writes.

Eraly quotes Abdul Hamid Lahori, who wrote Padshanama during Shah Jahan's time and notes, 'Shah Jahan also issued an order that if a Hindu had a Muslim wife he could keep her only if he became a Muslim, otherwise he was to be fined and his wife separated.'

'He also directed that Hindus should keep to their own style of dress, tying their tunics on the left, unlike Muslims, who tied it on the right. Further Hindus were asked to discontinue practices which were offensive to Islam, such as the sale of alcohol, the cremation of the dead of the performance of sati near a Muslim cemetery.'

'He only mellowed down in final years of his reign and that too under the influence of his son, Dara Shikoh, and he presented a stone railing to the great temple built in Mathura by Bir Singh.'

Shah Jahan took ill in 1657 and shortly thereafter declared his eldest son, Dara Shikoh, as his successor. This was contested by his other sons and a battle broke out. At the end of the bloody campaign, Aurangzeb triumphed and got killed his all three brothers Shuja, Murad and Dara. After he declared himself emperor, Aurangzeb kept Shah Jahan in prison till death in 1666.

Taken from: 

http://www.rediff.com/news/special/sangeet-som-is-right-foreigners-built-the-taj-mahal/20171017.htm

Shahjahan, Mumtaz and Taj Mahal

I just happened to see an interesting discussion. The thread starter made a post which made following four points:

1. Mumtaj was Shahajahan's 4th wife

2. Shahajahan killed Mumtaj's husband to marry her

3. Mumtaj died in her 14th delivery

4. He then married to Mumtaj's sister.

Specifically, the post was asking if Shahjahan really loved Mumtaz Mahal and if Taj Mahal is a much hyped symbol of love?

Someone replied that nothing in the original post was true and quoted some Wikipedia articles. I take interest in historical stuff and thought to do some search. I won’t quote Wikipedia because it is too unreliable for the short term. Anyone can write and save anything there and it remains there till moderator deletes/cleans-up. So I searched only in books as available on Google books and here is what I find:

For the four pieces mentioned in the original post:

1. Mumtaj was Shahajahan's 4th wife

Most easily found resources say that Shahjahan had only 3 wives. But the below book clearly names his three “other” wives. Therefore, it looks that indeed Shahjahan had at least four wives. I have highlighted the portion in red:

Book “Royal Mughal Ladies and Their Contributions”, By Soma Mukherjee, Page 43 mentions, “Three of Shahjahan’s secondary wives, Akbarabadi Mahal, Fatehpuri Mahal and Sarhindi Mahal built mosques in Delhi.” [Ref]

 

The number of four also looks more logical because since Islam allows 4 wives, the king won’t have left this ‘opportunity’ gone by. Anyways, the book clearly mentions that he had at least four legal wives.

2. Shahajahan killed Mumtaj's husband to marry her

In my small research I couldn’t find references for this but it is a historical fact that Shahjahan had killed all his brothers and their families in order to become king himself. This fact itself is enough to tell us how bloodthirsty he was and in case he killed Mumtaj’s (original name Arjumand Banu Begum) family too, it won’t come as a surprise to me.

Book “The Story of the World: Early modern times from…” By Susan Wise Bauer, Page 68 mentions this point in Q&A: [Ref]

Q: How did Shah Jahan protect his claim to the throne?

A: He put all his rivals to death – including his own brothers!

 

It is mentioned everywhere that Shahjahan and Mumtaz (Arjumand Banu Begum) were in love for 5 years after which only they got married. Also it is written that Mumtaz was the niece of the famous queen of Jehangir - Nur Mahal. Jehangir was Shahjahan’s father  and hence Nur Jahan was Shahjahan’s step-mother. As soon as Shahjahan had become ruler after Jahangir’s death, he had imprisoned his step-mother Nur Jahan also. So will it be a surprise that he did excesses to Nurjahan’s family? (all these facts are mentioned everywhere including in Wikipedia)

3. Mumtaj died in her 14th delivery

This is true and mentioned everywhere.

4. He then married to Mumtaj's sister.

I am not sure about this and it looks that he didn’t marry another girl after Mumtaz’s death. He had at least two other wives alive including Akbarabadi Mahal after Mumtaj’s death. But the reason can be more curious than simply his unconditional love.

Mumtaj Mahal died in 1631, and then Shahjahan got busy building Taj Mahal during 1632-1653. By the time Taj Mahal was built, Shahjahan was 60 years old (he was born in 1592). We don't expect him to remarry at the age of 60; do we? Of course he couldn’t marry more women before Taj Mahal was complete otherwise the building would be a ridicule. Anyways he had his other wives alive for him. Now just 5 years after Taj Mahal was built (1658), one of his sons Aurangzeb entered Agra, imprisoned him, and his life was at constant threat. We don't expect Shahjahan to marry inside the prison; do we?

I am not sure if he married Mumtaj’s sister but there is a disturbing account of references available which tell that he had an illicit relationship with his own daughter Jahanara Begum. I got this text: The European traveler Francois Bernier wrote, "Begum Sahib, the elder daughter of Shah Jahan was very beautiful... Rumor has it that his attachment 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." Joannes de Laet was the first European to write about this rumor. Peter Mundy and Jean Baptiste Tavernier wrote about the same allegations.

May be the author wrote sister instead of actually writing “daughter”? 

The same is mentioned in numerous books:

1. Travels in the Mogul Empire - Page 11, Francois Bernier [Ref]
2. The Peacock Throne: the drama of Mogul India - Page 118, Waldemar Hansen [Ref]
3. Royal Mughal ladies and their contributions - Page 58. Soma Mukherjee [Ref]
4. Domesticity and power in the early Mughal world - Page 43, Ruby Lal [Ref]
5. The Taj Mahal is a temple palace, Purushottam Nagesh Oak [Ref]
6. Taj Mahal: passion and genius at the heart of the Moghul empire, Diana Preston, Michael Preston [Ref]

Though the fact remains that even after marrying Mumtaj Mahal, Shahjahan had gone on marrying other women. (His other marriages had also happened after his marriage to Mumtaj Mahal.) But then kings and rulers marry also for political reasons and at their whims, so I would give him a benefit of doubt…

In my opinion Taj Mahal may still be a good example of “love” but not of a good “lover”. Shahjahan’s character seems too dark and ugly. But who says murderers and corrupt people can’t love their wife truly? I see it this way…

I see Taj Mahal as a symbol of love, but not a symbol of love belonging to any particular lovers.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization associated with the author. The portions of the book quoted have been taken from openly available Google books. There is no attempt to hurt the feelings of readers and any unintended ones are regretted. You are welcome to share your own personal opinion on this article in the comments section.