एक दुखी परिवार –  39

Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.

In 1608, Khurram was engaged to Mumtaz Mahal – when they were 15 and 14 years old, respectively. The young girl belonged to an illustrious Persian noble family which had been serving Mughal Emperors since the reign of Akbar, the family's patriarch was Itimad-ud-Daulah, who 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 was the Empress Nur Jahan and is thought to have played the matchmaker in arranging the marriage.

But for some reason, the prince was not married to Arjumand Banu Begum for five years, which was an unusually long engagement for the time. However, Shah Jahan married Kandahari Begum, the daughter of great-grandson of Shah Ismail of Persia with whom he had a daughter, his first child.

Politically speaking, the betrothal allowed Khurram to be considered as having officially entered manhood, and he was granted several jagirs, including Hissar-Feroze and ennobled to a military rank of 8,000, which allowed him to take on official functions of state, an important step in establishing his own claim to the throne.

In 1612, aged 20, Khurram married Arjumand Banu Begum on an 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. In addition, Khurram had two children from his first two wives.

A depiction of The Taj Mahal, the burial place of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal, is there by artist Edwin Lord Weeks. The Walters Art Museum bears testimony to it.

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, she even is said to have implored Khurram not to have children with his other wives, a call he listened.

 Later on, as empress, Mumtaz Mahal (Persian: the chosen one of the Palace‎) 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.

The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan was accompanied in his empirical command by his three sons: Dara Shikoh, Shah Shuja and Aurangzeb, including their maternal grandfather Asaf Khan IV.

Mumtaz Mahal died, aged 40, while giving birth to Gauhara Begum in Burhanpur, the cause of death being Postpartum hemorrhage,which caused considerable blood-loss after a painful labour 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, himself, was noted as being "paralysed 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 shifted and reburied.

The intervening years had seen Khurram take three other wives, Kandahari Begum (m. 12 December 1609) and Izz un-Nisa Begum (m. 3 September 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.

(Cont.    .)