Jahangir: Difference between revisions

| name        = Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim<br />Jahangir

| succession  = 4th [[Mughal emperors|Mughal Emperor]] <br> ([[Padishah|Padshah]])

| birth_name  = Nur-ud-ddin Muhammad Salim

'''Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim'''<ref name=Singh14>{{cite book |editor-last1=Singh |editor-first1=Pashaura |editor1-link=Pashaura Singh (Sikh scholar) |editor-last2=Fenech |editor-first2=Louis E. |title=The Oxford handbook of Sikh studies |year=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=647 |isbn=978-0-19-969930-8}}</ref> (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name '''Jahangir''' ({{IPA-fa|d͡ʒahɑːn'giːr}}; {{lit| Conqueror of the World}}),<ref name=Brit>{{cite web  |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jahangir |title=Jahāngīr |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724183907/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jahangir |archive-date=24 July 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref> was the fourth [[Mughal Emperor]], who ruled from 1605 until his death in 1627.  

The fictitious tale of his relationship with the Mughal courtesan, [[Anarkali]], has been widely adapted into the [[Indian literature|literature]], [[Indian art|art]] and [[cinema of India]].{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Prince Salim was the third son born to [[Akbar]] and his favorite Queen Consort,<ref name="farishta" >{{cite book|last1=Hindu Shah|first1=Muhammad Qasim|title=Gulshan-I-Ibrahimi|page=223}}</ref> [[Mariam-uz-Zamani]] in [[Fatehpur Sikri]] on 31 August 1569.<ref name=tuzk-e-jahangiri>{{cite book |url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main?url=pf%3Ffile%3D11001080%26ct%3D0 |title=The Tūzuk-i-Jahangīrī Or Memoirs Of Jahāngīr |author=Jahangir |translator1=Alexander Rogers |translator2=Henry Beveridge |access-date=19 November 2017 |page=1 |publisher=Royal Asiatic Society |date=1909–1914 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305012916/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main?url=pf%3Ffile%3D11001080%26ct%3D0 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He had two elder full brothers named Hassan Mirza and Hussain Mirza, born as twins to his mother in 1564, both of them which died in infancy. Since their previous children had died in infancy therefore Akbar had sought the blessing of holy men for the blessings of an heir-apparent to his empire. When Akbar was informed of the news that his chief Hindu wife was expecting a child again, an order was passed for the establishment of a royal palace in the Sikri near the lodgings of Shaikh Salim, where the Empress could enjoy the repose being in the vicinity of the revered saint. His mother was shifted to the palace established there and during her period of pregnancy, Akbar himself used to travel to Sikri and used to spend half of his time in Sikri and another half in Agra. When Mariam-uz-Zamani was near her confinement, she was shifted to the humble dwelling of [[Salim Chishti|Shaikh Salim Chisti]] by Akbar where she gave birth to Prince Salim. He was named after the Shaikh Salim given the faith of Akbar in the efficacy of the prayers of the holy man.<ref name=tuzk-e-jahangiri /><ref>{{cite book|last=Eraly|first=Abraham|author-link=Abraham Eraly|title=Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Mughals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04ellRQx4nMC&pg=PA171|year=2000|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-100143-2|page=171}}</ref> Akbar overjoyed with the news of his heir-apparent ordered a great feast on the occasion of his birth and ordered the release of criminals with the great offense. Throughout the empire, largesses were bestowed over common people, and he set himself ready to visit Sikri immediately. However, he was advised by his courtiers to delay his visit to Sikri on the account of the astrological belief in Hindustan of a father not seeing the face of his long-awaited son immediately after his birth. He, therefore, delayed his visit and visited Sikri to meet his wife and son after forty one days of his birth.

Prince Salim succeeded the throne on Thursday, 3 November 1605, eight days after his father's death. Salim ascended to the throne with the title of Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir Badshah Ghazi, and thus began his 22-year reign at the age of 36. Jahangir, soon after, had to fend off his own son, Prince [[Khusrau Mirza]], when the latter attempted to claim the throne based on Akbar's will to become his next heir. Khusrau Mirza was defeated in 1606 and confined in the fort of [[Agra]]. Jahangir considered his third son, Prince Khurram (reign name [[Shah Jahan]]), his favourite. As punishment, Khusrau Mirza was handed over to his younger brother and was partially blinded and killed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Portuguese_Brazilian_Studies/ejph/html/issue6/html/flores_main.html |title=The Internationalization of Portuguese Historiography |website=brown.edu |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170514034521/http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Portuguese_Brazilian_Studies/ejph/html/issue6/html/flores_main.html |archive-date=14 May 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1622, Jahangir sent his son, [[Prince Khurram]], to fight against the combined forces of [[Ahmednagar]], [[Bijapur]] and [[Golconda]]. After his victory, Khurram turned against his father and made a bid for power. Khurram murdered his blind older brother, Khusrau Mirza, in order to smooth his own path to the throne.<ref name="Findly1993">{{cite book |author=Ellison Banks Findly |title=Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India |url={{Google books|ugxFjVDk3I8C|page=PA171|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |date= 1993 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536060-8 |pages=170–172}}</ref> As with the insurrection of his eldest son, [[Khusrau Mirza]], Jahangir was able to defeat the challenge from within his family and retain power.<ref name=Brit />

Salim's first and chief wife was the daughter of his maternal uncle [[Raja Bhagwant Das]], [[Shah Begum (wife of Jahangir)|Shah Begum]] to whom he was betrothed at an age of 15. Salim was a [[mansabdar]] of ten thousand (Das-Hazari), the highest military rank of the empire (after the emperor), he independently commanded a regiment in the Kabul campaign of 1581 when he was barely twelve.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} His Mansab was raised to Twelve Thousand, in 1585, at the time of his betrothal to [[Shah Begum (wife of Jahangir)|Man Bai]], princess of [[Amer, India|Amer]] which was also the native town of his mother. Bhagwant Das was the son of Raja [[Bharmal]] and Salim's maternal uncle through [[Mariam-uz-Zamani]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Rahman |first=Munibur |encyclopedia=Encyclopédie de l'Islam |title=Salīm, Muḥammad Ḳulī |publisher=BRILL |doi=10.1163/9789004206106_eifo_sim_6549}}</ref> This marriage was fixed by his mother Mariam-uz-Zamani.  

The marriage with Man Bai took place on 24 February 1585 in her native town Amer. Akbar alongside several other nobles of the court personally visited Amer and followed this marriage. A lavish ceremony took place and the bride's palanquin was carried by Akbar and Salim for some distance in her honor. Jahangir honored her with the title Shah Begum after she gave birth to Khusrau Mirza, the eldest son of Jahangir. Thereafter, Salim married, in quick succession, several princesses from the aristocratic Mughal and Rajput families.

One of his early favorite wives was a Rajput princess, Jagat Gosain Begum, daughter of [[Udai Singh of Marwar|Raja Udai Singh Rathore]] of Marwar. The marriage was solemnized on 11 January 1586 at the bride's residence.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dimensions of Indian Womanhood, Volume 3|year=1993|pages=338}}</ref> Jahangir named her [[Jagat Gosain|Taj Bibi]] and she gave birth to Prince Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, who was Jahangir's successor to the throne.

On 26 June 1586, he married a daughter of Raja Rai Singh, Maharaja of [[Bikaner]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fazl|first=Abul|title=The Akbarnama|publisher=ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL|volume=III|location=Calcutta|pages=748|translator-last=Beveridge|translator-first=Henry}}</ref> In July 1586, he married Malika Shikar Begum, daughter of Abu Sa'id Khan Chagatai. In 1586, he married [[Sahib-i-Jamal Begum]], daughter of Khwaja Hassan of Herat, a cousin of Zain Khan Koka.

In October 1590, he married Zohra Begum, daughter of Mirza Sanjar Hazara. He married Karamnasi Begum, daughter of Raja Kesho Das Rathore of Merta.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Mertiyo Rathors of Merta, Rajasthan Vol II|pages=361}}</ref> On 11 January 1592, he married Kanwal Rani, daughter of Ali Sher Khan, by his wife, Gul Khatun. In October 1592, he married a daughter of Husain Chak of Kashmir. In January/March 1593, he married [[Nur-un-Nissa Begum (wife of Jahangir)|Nur un-Nisa Begum]], daughter of Ibrahim Husain Mirza, by his wife, Gulrukh Begum, daughter of [[Kamran Mirza]]. In September 1593, he married a daughter of Ali Khan Faruqi, Raja of Khandesh. He also married a daughter of Abdullah Khan Baluch. On 28 June 1596, he married [[Khas Mahal|Khas Mahal Begum]], daughter of Zain Khan Koka, Subadar of Kabul, and Lahore.

In 1608, he married [[Saliha Banu Begum]], daughter of Qasim Khan, a senior member of the Imperial Household. On 17 June 1608, he married Koka Kumari Begum, eldest daughter of Jagat Singh, Yuvraj of Amber. On 11 January 1610, he married the daughter of Ram Chand Bundela. <ref>{{Cite book|last=Emperor of Hindustan|first=Jahangir|url=https://archive.org/details/jahangirnamamemo00jaha/page/104/mode/2up?q=Shahryar|title=The Jahangirnama: memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India|publisher=Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution & Oxford University Press|year=1999|location=Washington, D. C. & New York|pages=104|translator-last=Thackston|translator-first=Wheeler Mclntosh}}</ref>

At some point, he had also married a daughter of [[Mirza Muhammad Hakim]], son of [[Humayun|Emperor Humayun]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nicoll|first=Fergus|title=Shah-Jahan: The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Emperor|quote=In fact, official records indicate that Khurram's father had at least twelve more wives, including the (unnamed) daughters of Mirza Muhammad Hakim.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Sir William|last=Foster|title=Early travels in India, 1583-1619|publisher=AMS Press|year=1975|pages=100–101|isbn=978-0-404-54825-4}}</ref>

Jahangir married Mehr-un-Nissa (better known by her subsequent title of [[Nur Jahan]]) on 25 May 1611. She was the widow of [[Sher Afgan]]. Mehr-un-Nissa became his favorite wife after their marriage. She was witty, intelligent, and beautiful, which was what attracted Jahangir to her. Before being awarded the title of Nur Jahan ('Light of the World'), she was called Nur Mahal ('Light of the Palace'). Her abilities are said to range from fashion designing to hunting.

{{unreferenced section|date=January 2016}}

Mehr-Un-Nisa, or [[Nur Jahan]], occupies an important place in the history of Jahangir. She was the widow of a rebel officer, Sher Afgan, whose actual name was Ali Quli Beg Ist'ajlu. He had earned the title "Sher Afgan" (Tiger tosser) from Emperor Akbar after throwing off a tiger that had leaped to attack Akbar on the top of an elephant in a royal hunt at Bengal and then stabbing the fallen tiger to death. Akbar was greatly affected by the bravery of the young Turkish bodyguard accompanying him and awarded him the captaincy of the Imperial Guard at [[Burdwan]], [[Bengal]]. Sher Afgan had killed in the rebellion, the governor of Bengal [[Qutubuddin Koka]] who was instructed secretly by Jahangir in his quest and who also was the emperor's foster brother and Sheikh [[Salim Chishti]]'s grandson and consequently had been slain by the guards of the Governor. The widowed Mehr-Un-Nissa was brought to Agra along with her nine-year-old daughter and placed in—or refused to be placed in—the Royal harem in 1607. Jahangir married her in 1611 and gave her the title of Nur Jahan or "Light of the World". It was rumored that Jahangir had a hand in the death of her first husband Sher Afghan, albeit there is no recorded evidence to prove that he was guilty of that crime; most travelers' reports say that he met her after Sher Afgan's death. (See Ellison Banks Findly's scholarly biography for a full discussion.)

The loss of Kandahar was due to Prince Khurram's refusal to obey her orders. When the Persians besieged Kandahar, Nur Jahan was at the helm of affairs. She ordered Prince Khurram to march for Kandahar, but he refused to do so. There is no doubt that his refusal was due to her behavior towards him, as she was favoring her son-in-law, Shahryar, at the expense of Khurram. Khurram suspected that in his absence, Shahryar might be given a promotion and that he might die on the battlefield. This fear forced Khurram to rebel against his father rather than fight against the [[Safavid dynasty|Persians]], and thereby Kandahar was lost to the Persians. Nur Jahan struck coins in her name during the last years of Jahangir's reign when he was taken ill.

Under Jahangir, the empire continued to be a war state attuned to conquest and expansion. Jahangir's most irksome foe was the Rana of Mewar, Amar Singh, who finally surrendered in 1613 to Khurram's forces. In the northeast, the Mughals clashed with the Ahoms of Assam, whose guerilla tactics gave the Mughals a hard time. In Northern India, Jahangir's forces under Khurram defeated their other principal adversary, the Raja of Kangra, in 1615; in the Deccan, his victories further consolidated the empire. But in 1620, Jahangir fell sick, and so ensued the familiar quest for power. Nur Jahan married her daughter to Shahryar, Jahangir's youngest son from his concubine, in the hope of having a living male heir to the throne when Jahangir died.

In 1613,<ref>{{cite book |author=Sekhara Bandyopadhyaya |year=2004 |title=From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India |publisher=Orient Blackswan |page=37 |isbn=978-81-250-2596-2}}</ref> the Portuguese seized the Mughal ship [[Rahīmī|''Rahimi'']], which had set out from [[Surat]] on its way with a large cargo of 100,000 rupees and Pilgrims, who were on their way to [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]] in order to attend the annual [[Hajj]]. The ''Rahimi'' was owned by [[Mariam-uz-Zamani]], mother of Jahangir and Akbar's favourite consort.<ref name="farishta" >{{cite book|last1=Hindu Shah|first1=Muhammad Qasim|title=Gulshan-I-Ibrahimi|page=223}}</ref> She was bestowed the title of 'Mallika-e-Hindustan' (Queen of [[Hindustan]]) by Akbar and was subsequently referred as same during Jahangir's reign. The [[Rahīmī|''Rahimi'']] was the largest Indian ship sailing in the [[Red Sea]] and was known to the Europeans as the "great pilgrimage ship". When the Portuguese officially refused to return the ship and the passengers, the outcry at the Mughal court was unusually severe. The outrage was compounded by the fact that the owner and the patron of the ship was none other than the revered mother of the current emperor. Jahangir himself was outraged and ordered the seizure of the Portuguese town Daman. He ordered the apprehension of all Portuguese within the Mughal Empire; he further confiscated churches that belonged to the [[Jesuit]]s. This episode is considered to be an example of the struggle for wealth that would later ensue and lead to colonisation of the Indian sub-continent.

* [[Shahryar Mirza]] (16 January 1605 – 23 January 1628) — with a concubine.

* Daulat-un-nissa Begum (born 24 December 1589) — with daughter of Raja Darya Malbhas. <ref>{{Cite book|last=Fazl|first=Abul|title=Akbarnama|publisher=ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL|volume=III|pages=866}}</ref>

* A daughter (born 14 October 1594) — with [[Sahib Jamal|Sahib Jamal Begum]], daughter of Khwaja Hasan. <ref>{{Cite book|last=Fazl|first=Abul|title=Akbarnama Vol. III|quote=On the 21st, after the passing of 8 hours and 28 minutes, a sister to Sulān Parvīz was born. It is the rule that H.M. promptly gives names to the children and grandchildren. Though the inner servants expressed a wish that he would do this, he did not accept the proposition. Suddenly that newly-born one descended into non-existence, and H.M.'s knowledge of hidden things was anew displayed!}}</ref>

[[File:Portrait of Emperor Jahangir Praying.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of Mughal Emperor Jahangir's making a [[Dua]]]]

Many contemporary chroniclers were not sure how to describe Jahangir's personal belief structure. Roe labelled him an [[atheist]], and although most others shied away from that term, they did not feel as though they could call him an orthodox [[Sunni]]. Roe believed Jahangir's religion to be of his own making, "for he envies [the Prophet] Mohammed, and wisely sees no reason why he should not be as great a prophet as he and therefore professed himself so... he hath found many disciples that flatter or follow him."{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} At this time, one of those disciples happened to be the current English ambassador, though his initiation into Jahangir's inner circle was devoid of religious significance for Roe, as he did not understand the full extent of what he was doing. Jahangir hung "a picture of himself set in gold hanging at a wire gold chain" around Roe's neck. Roe thought it a "special favour, for all the great men that wear the King's image (which none may do but to whom it is given) receive no other than a medal of gold as big as six pence."<ref>

</ref>{{rp|214-15}}

Most notorious was [[Guru Arjan Dev#Martyrdom|the execution]] of the Sikh [[Guru Arjan Dev]], whom Jahangir had had killed in prison. His lands were confiscated and his sons imprisoned as Jahangir suspected him of helping Khusrau's rebellion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wynbrandt |first=James |date=2009 |title=A Brief History of Pakistan |url={{Google books|xQGwgJnCPZgC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |publisher=Infobase Publishing |pages=83–84 |isbn=978-0-8160-6184-6}}</ref> It is unclear whether Jahangir even understood what a Sikh was, referring to Guru Arjan as a Hindu, who had "captured many of the simple-hearted of the Hindus and even of the ignorant and foolish followers of Islam, by his ways and manners... for three or four generations (of spiritual successors) they had kept this shop warm." The trigger for Guru Arjan's execution was his support for Jahangir's rebel son [[Khusrau Mirza]], yet it is clear from Jahangir's own memoirs that he disliked Guru Arjan before then: "many times it occurred to me to put a stop to this vain affair or bring him into the assembly of the people of Islam."<ref>Goel, The Story of Islamic Imperialism in India, 59.</ref>

There are instances of Jahangir open to multi-religious influences. Jahangir used to visit a Hindu ascetic, Jadrup Gosain. In his memoirs, he writes how the ascetic made a great impression on him due to his knowledge of Vedanta and his austere life.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri: Memoirs of Jahangir(Complete)|publisher=Library of Alexandria|pages=403-404}}</ref>According to [[Faizan Mustafa|Dr. Faizan Mustafa]], Jahangir also used to abstain from non-vegetarian food during the 12 days of the Jain Paryushan festival out of respect for his Jain subjects.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-09-26|title=Mohan Bhagwat is right: British are to blame for India’s Hindu-Muslim division|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rss-mohan-bhagwat-hindu-muslim-divide-british-7532872/|access-date=2021-10-19|work=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref>

Jahangir was fascinated with art and architecture. In his autobiography, the [[Jahangir-nama|Jahangirnama]], Jahangir recorded events that occurred during his reign, descriptions of flora and fauna that he encountered, and other aspects of daily life, and commissioned court painters such as [[Ustad Mansur]] to paint detailed pieces that would accompany his vivid prose.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cleveland Beach|first=Milo|title=Mughal and Rajput Painting|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1992|location=Cambridge|pages=90}}</ref> For example, in 1619, he put pen to paper in awe of a royal falcon delivered to his court from the ruler of Iran: “What can I write of the beauty of this bird’s colour? It had black markings, and every feather on its wings, back, and sides was extremely beautiful,” and then recorded his command that Ustad Mansur paint a portrait of it after it perished.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jahangir|title=The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India|url=https://archive.org/details/jahangirnamamemo00jaha|publisher=Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Association with Oxford University Press|year=1999|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jahangirnamamemo00jaha/page/314 314]|translator-last=Thackston|translator-first=W.M.}}</ref> Jahangir bound and displayed much of the art that he commissioned in elaborate albums of hundreds of images, sometimes organized around a theme such as zoology.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cleveland Beach|first=Milo|title=Mughal and Rajput Painting|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1992|location=Cambridge|pages=82}}</ref>

Jahangir himself was far from modest in his autobiography when he stated his prowess at being able to determine the artist of any portrait by simply looking at a painting. As he said: {{quote|text=...my liking for painting and my practice in judging it have arrived at such point when any work is brought before me, either of deceased artists or of those of the present day, without the names being told me, I say on the spur of the moment that is the work of such and such a man. And if there be a picture containing many portraits and each face is the work of a different master, I can discover which face is the work of each of them. If any other person has put in the eye and eyebrow of a face, I can perceive whose work the original face is and who has painted the eye and eyebrow.}}

In the foreword to [[Wheeler Thackston|W. M. Thackston]]’s translation of the Jahangirnama, [[Milo C. Beach|Milo Cleveland Beach]] explains that Jahangir ruled during a time of considerably stable political control, and had the opportunity to order artists to create art to accompany his memoirs that were “in response to the emperor’s current enthusiasms”.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jahangir|title=The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India|url=https://archive.org/details/jahangirnamamemo00jaha|publisher=Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Association with Oxford University Press|year=1999|location=New York|pages=vii|translator-last=Thackston|translator-first=W.M.}}</ref> He used his wealth and his luxury of free time to chronicle, in detail, the lush natural world that the Mughal Empire encompassed. At times, he would have artists travel with him for this purpose; when Jahangir was in Rahimabad, he had his painters on hand to capture the appearance of a specific tiger that he shot and killed, because he found it to be particularly beautiful.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Verma|first=Som Prakash|title=Mughal Painter of Flora and Fauna: Ustād Manṣūr|publisher=Abhinav Publications|year=1999|location=New Delhi|pages=25}}</ref>

  |location=Ahmedabad|date=2013|page=52-64

=== Flims and television ===

* Jahangir is a principal character in Indu Sundaresan's award winning historical novel ''The Twentieth Wife'' (2002)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sundaresan|first=Indu|url=https://archive.org/details/twentiethwife00sund_0/page/11|title=Twentieth wife : a novel|publisher=Washington Square Press|isbn=9780743428187|edition=Paperback|location=New York|year=2002}}</ref> as well as in its sequel ''The Feast of Roses'' (2003).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sundaresan|first=Indu|title=The Feast of Roses: A Novel|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9780743481960|year=2003}}</ref>