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Short description

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{{short description|Mughal princess}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Gauhar Ara Begum
| image =
| caption =
| title = [[Shah]]zadi of the [[Mughal Empire]]
| spouse =
| issue =
| house = [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]]
| father = [[Shah Jahan]]
| mother = [[Mumtaz Mahal]]
| birth_date = 17 June 1631
| birth_place = [[Burhanpur]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| death_date = {{death year and age|1706|1631}}
| death_place = [[Delhi]], Mughal Empire
| place of burial=
| religion = [[Sunni Islam]]
| date of burial =
| full name =
| signature =
}}

'''Gauhar Ara Begum''' (17 June 1631 – {{circa}} 1706) was a [[Mughal Empire|Mughal princess]] and the fourteenth and youngest child of the Mughal emperor [[Shah Jahan]] and his wife [[Mumtaz Mahal]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Tillotson|first=Giles |authorlink=Giles Tillotson|title=Taj Mahal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0xU8RR07yGsC&pg=PA31|year=2010|publisher=Profile Books|isbn=978-1-84765-247-8|page=31}}</ref>

Her mother died giving birth to her in 1631. Gauhar Ara, however, survived the childbirth and lived for another three quarters of a century. Little is known about her and whether she was involved in the [[Aurangzeb#War of Succession|war of succession]] for her father's throne.

Gauhar Ara died in 1706, aged about 75.

==Life==
Born on 17 June 1631, the day her mother [[Mumtaz Mahal]] died, Gauhar Ara Begum appears to have kept a fairly low profile throughout the reigns of her father and brother.<ref name=SarkerP191>{{cite book|first=Kobita|last=Sarker|title=Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth: the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R20MAQAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=K.P. Bagchi & Co.|isbn=978-81-7074-300-2|page=191}}</ref> Evidence vaguely indicates that she may have supported her fourth brother [[Murad Bakhsh|Murad Bakhsh's]] bid for the throne during the War of Succession. Were this to be true, this role was unlikely to have been particularly active since, unlike her father and sister [[Jahanara]], she was not imprisoned afterwards by her victorious brother [[Aurangzeb]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Waldemar Hansen|title=The Peacock Throne: The Drama of Mogul India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AV--abKg9GEC&pg=PA394|year=1986|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=978-81-208-0225-4|page=394}}</ref>

As with her sisters, Gauhar Ara Begum was prohibited from marriage by [[Shah Jahan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Faruqui|first=Munis D.|title=The Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504–1719|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlEhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-53675-2|page=38}}</ref> She did however, following her father's downfall, involve herself in the organising of the marriages of her relations. When [[Sipihr Shikoh]], son of her eldest brother [[Dara Shikoh|Dara]] married Aurangzeb's daughter [[Zubdat-un-Nissa]] in 1673, Gauhar Ara and her maternal cousin Hamida Banu Begum arranged the wedding ceremony. She had taken a greater role in 1672 with the marriage of Dara's granddaughter Salima Banu Begum (whom Gauhar Ara had adopted and raised) and Aurangzeb's fourth son Prince [[Muhammad Akbar (Mughal prince)|Muhammad Akbar]]. She took the place of the bride's mother, with the wedding being described as a gala event: "On both sides of the road from the Delhi gate to the mansion of the Begum (i.e. Gauhar Ara) wooden structures were set up for illumination."<ref name=SarkerP191/>

==Death==

Gauhar Ara Begum died in [[Shahjahanabad]] in 1706. Aurangzeb, who was stationed in the [[Deccan]] at the time, was stricken by the death. He was reported to have continuously repeated "Of all the children of Shah Jahan, she and I alone were left."<ref name=SarkerP191/>

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Gauhar Ara Begum'''
|2= 2. [[Shah Jahan|Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Shah Jahan I, Mughal Emperor]]<ref name=SarkerP187>{{harvtxt|Sarker|2007|p=187}}</ref>
|3= 3. [[Mumtaz Mahal]]<ref name=SarkerP187/>
|4= 4. [[Jahangir|Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir, Mughal Emperor]]<ref name=MehtaP418>{{cite book|last=Mehta|first=Jaswant Lal|title=Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India|year=1984|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-TsMl0vSc0gC&pg=PA418|publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd|isbn=978-81-207-1015-3|page=418}}</ref>
|5= 5. [[Jagat Gosain]]<ref name=MehtaP418/>
|6= 6. [[Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan]]<ref name=ThackerayP254>{{cite book|last1=Thackeray|first1=Frank W.|last2=Findling|first2=John E.|title=Events That Formed the Modern World: From the European Renaissance through the War on Terror [5 volumes]: From the European Renaissance through the War on Terror|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2MhulpUa_cC&pg=PA254|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-902-8|page=254}}</ref>
|7= 7. Diwanji Begum<ref name=ThackerayP254/>
|8= 8. [[Akbar|Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, Mughal Emperor]]<ref name=MehtaP374>{{harvtxt|Mehta|1984|p=374}}</ref>
|9= 9. [[Mariam-uz-Zamani]]<ref name=MehtaP374/>
|10= 10. [[Udai Singh of Marwar|Udai Singh]], Raja of [[Jodhpur State|Marwar]]<ref name="BhargavaP58">{{cite book|last=Bhargava|first=Visheshwar Sarup|title=Marwar and the Mughal Emperors (A. D. 1526–1748)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbY9AAAAIAAJ|year=1966|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|page=58|isbn=9788121504003}}</ref>
|11=11. Manrang Devi of [[Gwalior]]<ref name="BhargavaP58"/>
|12= 12. [[Mirza Ghiyas Beg|I'timad-ud-Daulah]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Parihar|first=Subhash|title=Some Aspects of Indo-Islamic Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6hlxZfrFPEoC&pg=PA149|year=1999|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-381-6|page=149}}</ref>
|13= 13. [[Asmat Begam]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shujauddin|first1=Mohammad|last2=Shujauddin|first2=Razia|title=The Life and Times of Noor Jahan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8MGAQAAIAAJ|date=1967|publisher=Caravan Book House|page=1|language=en}}</ref>
|14=14. Ghias ud-din ‘Ali Asaf Khan<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ahmad|first1=Moin-ud-din|title=The Taj and Its Environments: With 8 Illus. from Photos., 1 Map, and 4 Plans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JU9AAAAMAAJ&q=The+Taj+and+Its+Environments:+With+8+Illus.+from+Photos.,+1+Map,+and+4+Plans|date=1924|publisher=R. G. Bansal|page=101|language=en}}</ref>
|15= }}

==In popular culture==
*Gauhar Ara Begum is a principal character in Ruchir Gupta's novel ''Mistress of the Throne'' (2014).

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauhar Ara Begum}}
[[Category:Mughal princesses]]
[[Category:People from Agra]]
[[Category:Mughal nobility]]
[[Category:1631 births]]
[[Category:1706 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Women of the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:People from Burhanpur]]
[[Category:Indian people of Iranian descent]]

Gauhar Ara Begum - Revision history

>JamCor: Short description