Shah Jahan

He was born on 5 January 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.^[9][10] The name Khurram (Persian: خرم‎, lit. 'joyous') was chosen for the young prince by his grandfather, Emperor Akbar, with whom the young prince shared a close relationship.^[10] 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."^[11]

When Khurram was born, Akbar considering him to be auspicious insisted the prince be raised in his household rather than Salim's and was thus entrusted to the care of Ruqaiya Sultan Begum. Ruqaiya assumed the primary responsibility for raising Khurram^[12] 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]."^[13]

However, after the death of his grandfather Akbar in 1605, he 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 in court chronicles.^[14][15] On the death of Jagat Gosain in Akbarabad on 8 April 1619, he is recorded to be inconsolable by Jahangir and mourned for 21 days. For these three weeks of the mourning period, he 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 Quran every morning and gave her husband many lessons on the substance of life and death and begged him not to grieve.^[16]

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 Jahangir. 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.^[17] Khurram was attracted to Hindi literature since his childhood, and his Hindi letters were mentioned in his father's biography, Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri.^[18] In 1605, as Akbar lay on his deathbed, Khurram, who at this point of time was 13,^[source?] 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.^[19] 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 Akbar's health deteriorated.^[20]

In 1605, his father 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.^[source?] Khurram left Ruqaiya's care and returned to his mother's care.^[21] 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.^[22]

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 him.^[23]

During Khusrau's second rebellion, Khurram's informants informed him about Fatehullah, Nuruddin and Muhammad Sharif gathered around 500 men at Khusrau's instigation and lay await for the Emperor. Khurram relayed this information to Jahangir who praised him.^[24]

Jahangir had Khurram weighed against gold, silver and other wealth at his mansion at Orta.^[25]

Due to the long period of tensions between his father 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 of Hissar-Feroza, which had traditionally been the fief of the heir-apparent, to Khurram in 1608.^[26] After her marriage to Jahangir in the year 1611, Nur Jahan gradually became an active participant in all decisions made by Jahangir and gained extreme powers in administration, so much so that it was obvious to everyone both inside and outside that most of his decisions were actually hers. Slowly, while Jahangir became more indulgent in wine and opium, she was considered to be the actual power behind the throne. Her 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 who favoured her son-in-law Shahryar Mirza for the succession to the Mughal throne over him. In the last years of Jahangir's life, Nur Jahan was in full power, and the emperor had left all the burden of governance on her. She tried to weaken Khurram's position in the Mughal court by sending him on campaigns far in Deccan while ensuring several favours were being bestowed on her son-in-law. Khurram after sensing the danger posed to his status as heir-apparent rebelled against his father in 1622 but did not succeed and eventually lost the favour of his father. Several years before Jahangir's death in 1627, coins began to be struck containing Nur Jahan's name along with Jahangir's name; In fact, there were two prerogatives of sovereignty for the legitimacy of a Muslim monarchy (reading the Khutbah and the other being the right to mint coins). After the death of Jahangir in 1627, a struggle developed 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, authority, privileges, honors and economic grants and was put under house arrest on the orders of Khurram and led a quiet and comfortable life till her death.

In 1607, Khurram became engaged to Arjumand Banu Begum (1593–1631), who is also known as Mumtaz Mahal (Persian lit. ' The Exalted One of the Palace'). They were about 14 and 15 when they were engaged, and five years later, got married. The young girl belonged to an illustrious Persian noble family that included Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan, who 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'timād-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 consort of Emperor Jahangir.^[27]

The prince would have to wait five years before he was married in 1612 (1021 AH), 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 a Persian Princess (name not known) entitled Kandahari Begum, the daughter of a great-grandson of the great Shah Ismail I of Persia, with whom he had a daughter, his first child.^[28]

 

In 1612, aged 20, Khurram married Mumtaz Mahal.