एक दुखी परिवार –  37

Shahjahan

Shahabuddin Muhammad Shah Jahan (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666) was the fifth Mughal Emperor of India from 1628 to 1658. Born Prince Khurram, he was the son of Emperor Jahangir and his Hindu Rajput wife, Taj Bibi Bilqis Makani (13 May 1573 – 18 April 1619).

He was chosen as successor to the throne after the death of his father in 1627. He has been rated by the historians as  one of the greatest Mughals. 

Like Akbar, he was eager to expand his vast empire. 

In 1658, he fell ill and was confined by his son and successor Aurangzeb in Agra Fort until his death in 1666.

Shah Jahan was a more Orthodox Muslim than his father and grandfather. Their respective degree escalated generations after generations. Instead of decrying this negative pregression, historians have found Akbar to be the best in the matter of religious tolerance, though all Mughal emperors wore varying degree, not of tolerance, but of pretension thereof in the covert form of intolerance., 

Jahangir's  policies towards non-Muslims were less liberal than   Akbar and Shahjahan was even worse whereas Auranzeb surpassed all his predecessors.

The period of Shahjahan's  reign was considered the golden age of Mughal architecture. Shah Jahan is credited by historians for erecting many monuments, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, built in 1632–1654 as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. That is what historians say. The other view that pragmatic analysts hold is that these monuments , like numerous others in the predecessor reigns, were really pre-existing structures which were modified or renovated into the forms they bear for the posterity to misconceived the same to be contributions of the Muslim emperors.

Early life

Born on 5 January 1592, Shah ab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram which was Shah Jahan's birth name, was the third son born to Emperor Jahangir, his mother was a Rajput princess from Marwar called Princess Manmati – her official name in Mughal chronicles being Bilquis Makani.

 The name "Khurram" was chosen for the young prince by his grandfather, Emperor Akbar, with whom the young prince shared a close relationship.

Just prior to Khurram’s birth, a soothsayer had reportedly predicted to childless Empress Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, Akbar's first wife, that the still unborn child was destined for imperial greatness.

So, when Khurram was born in 1592 and was only six days old, Akbar ordered that the prince be taken away from his mother and handed him over to Ruqaiya so that he could grow up under her care and Akbar could fulfill his aging wife's wish, to raise a Mughal emperor.

 Ruqaiya assumed the primary responsibility for Khurram's upbringing and he grew up under her care. 

Her step-son, Jahangir, had noted that Ruqaiya loved Khurram "A thousand times more than if he had been her own son."

Khurram remained with her, until he had turned 13. After the death of Akbar, the young prince was, finally, allowed to return to his father's household, and thus, be closer to his biological mother.

(Cont.    .)