Jahangir: Difference between revisions

| image        = Jahangir - Abu al-Hasan.jpeg

| succession  = 4th [[Mughal emperors|Emperor]] of the [[Mughal Empire]]

| successor    = [[Shahryar Mirza]] (''[[de facto]]'') <br> [[Shah Jahan]]

| birth_date  = {{birth date|1569|8|30|df=y}}

| birth_place  = [[Fatehpur Sikri]], [[Mughal Empire]] ([[India]])<ref>Henry Beveridge, ''Akbarnama of Abu'l Fazl Volume II'' (1907), p. 503</ref>

| full name    = Mirza Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim

| dynasty      = [[File:Timurid.svg|25px]] [[Timurid dynasty]]

'''Mirza 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> (30 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. He was the only surviving son of [[Akbar]] and his chief empress, [[Mariam-uz-Zamani]], born to them in the year 1569. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, [[Salim Chishti]].

[[File:Birth of jahangir.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Mariam-uz-Zamani|Empress Mariam-uz-Zamani]], giving birth to Prince Salim in [[Fatehpur Sikri]].]]

Prince Salim was the third son born to [[Akbar]] and his favourite 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 30 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 brothers, [[Mirza Hassan|Hassan Mirza]] and [[Hussain Mirza]], born as twins to his parents in 1564, both of whom died in infancy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lal |first=Muni |year=1980 |title=Akbar |url=https://archive.org/details/Akbar/page/n142/mode/1up |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |page=133 |isbn=978-0-7069-1076-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Foreign Department Of India |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.35314 |title=References In The Press To The Visit Of Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince And Princess Of Wales To India, 1905-06 |date=1905 |pages=421}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Havell |first=E. B. (Ernest Binfield) |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofaryanru00have |title=The history of Aryan rule in India from the earliest times to the death of Akbar |date=1918 |publisher=New York, Frederick A. Stokes company |others=The Library of Congress |pages=469}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Havell EB |url=http://archive.org/details/pli.kerala.rare.9313 |title=A Handbook to Agra and the Taj Sikandra, Fatehpur-Sikri and the Neighbourhood. |date=1912 |publisher=Longmans, Green & Co, London |others=Kerala State Library |pages=107}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schimmel |first=Annemarie |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61751123 |title=The empire of the great Mughals: history, art and culture |date=2004 |others=Corinne Attwood, Burzine K. Waghmar, Francis Robinson |isbn=1-86189-185-7 |location=London |pages=35 |oclc=61751123}}</ref> Since these children had died in infancy, Akbar sought the blessing of holy men for an heir-apparent to his empire.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Della|title=The 9th edition of the concise oxford Dictionary of English|year=1995|volume=7|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

When Akbar was informed of the news that his chief Hindu wife was expecting a child, an order was passed for the establishment of a royal palace in Sikri near the lodgings of [[Salim Chishti|Shaikh Salim Chisti]], where the Empress could enjoy the repose being in the vicinity of the revered saint. Mariam was shifted to the palace established there and during her pregnancy, Akbar himself used to travel to Sikri and used to spend half of his time in Sikri and another half in Agra.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ahmed|first1=Nizamuddin|title=Tabaqat-i-Akbari|date=1599|page=144}}</ref> When Mariam-uz-Zamani was near her confinement, she was shifted to the humble dwelling of Shaikh Salim by Akbar where she gave birth to Prince Salim. He was named after 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 offence. 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 after his birth.

Salim started his learning at the age of five. On this occasion, a big feast was thrown by Emperor Akbar, ceremonially initiating his son into education. His first tutor was Qutb-ud-din. After some time he was inaugurated into strategic reasoning and military warfare by several tutors. His maternal uncle, [[Bhagwant Das]] was supposedly one of his tutors on the subject of warfare tactics.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} Salim grew up fluent in [[Persian language|Persian]] and premodern [[Hindi]], with a "respectable" knowledge of [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], the Mughal ancestral language.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Asher|first=Catherine B.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521267281|title=Architecture of Mughal India|date=1992-09-24|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26728-1|pages=99|doi=10.1017/chol9780521267281 }}</ref>

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He 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, [[Shah Jahan|Prince Khurram]] (regnal name [[Shah Jahan]]) as his favourite son. As punishment, Khusrau Mirza was handed over to his younger brother and was partially blinded.<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 October 1616, Jahangir sent Prince Khurram to fight against the combined forces of [[Ahmednagar]], [[Bijapur]] and [[Golconda]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Lal |first=Ruby |title=Empress - The astonishing reign of Nur Jahan |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2018 |isbn=9780393239348 |edition=1st |location=United States of America |pages=126, 191}}</ref> However when [[Nur Jahan]] married her daughter, [[Mihr-un-nissa Begum|Ladli Begum]], to Jahangir's youngest son, [[Shahryar Mirza]] in February 1621, Khurram suspected that his stepmother was trying to manevour Shahryar as the successor to Jahangir. Using the rugged terrain of the Deccan to this advantage, Khurram launched a rebellion against Jahangir in 1622. This precipitated a political crisis in Jahangir's court. Khurram murdered his blind older brother, Khusrau Mirza, in order to smoothen 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>  

Simultaneously, the Safavid ruler [[Abbas the Great|Shah Abbas]] attacked [[Kandahar]] in winter of 1622. Being a commercial center at the border of the Mughal Empire and the burial place of Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Jahangir dispatched Shahryar to repel the Safavids. However, due to Shahryar's inexperience and harsh Afghan winter, Kandahar [[Mughal–Safavid War (1622–1623)|fell]] to the Safavids. In March 1623, Jahangir ordered [[Mahabat Khan]], one of Jahangir's most loyal generals, to crush Khurram's rebellion in the Deccan. After a series of victories by Mahabat Khan over Khurram, the civil war finally ended in October 1625.<ref name=":2" /> <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 in his tender years.<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> His Mansab was raised to Twelve Thousand, in 1585, at the time of his marriage to Shah Begum.<ref>{{cite book|first=ʽAbd al-Qadir|last=Badayuni|title=Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh|volume=II|page=358}}</ref> Nizamuddin remarks that she was considered to be the best and most suitable princess as the first wife of Prince Salim.<ref>{{cite book|first=Nizamuddin|last=Ahmad|title=Tabaqat-i-Akbari|page=599|volume=2}}</ref> Abul Fazl in Akbarnama illustrates her as a ''jewel of chastity'' and describes her as an extremely beautiful woman whose purity adorned her high extraction and was endowed with remarkable beauty and graces.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fazl|first=Abul|title=Ain-I-Akbari|year=1590|volume=3|pages=677–678}}</ref>

The marriage with Man Bai took place on 24 February 1585 in her native town Amer which was also the native town of his mother, Mariam-uz-Zamani. 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. She became one of his favorite wives. Jahangir notes that he was extremely fond of her and designated her as his chief consort in the royal harem in his princely days. Jahangir also records his attachment and affection for her and makes notes of her unwavering devotion towards him.<ref name=Beveridge1909>{{cite book|title = The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī or Memoirs of Jahāngīr, Volume 2|year=1909|publisher=Royal Asiatic Society, London|editor-first=Alexander|editor-last=Rogers|editor-first2= Henry|editor-last2=Beveridge|page=13}}</ref> Jahangir honored her with the title ''Shah Begum'' after she gave birth to [[Khusrau Mirza]], the eldest son of Jahangir.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Emperor of India|first=Jahangir|title=The Jahangirnama: memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India|publisher=Washington, D. C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; New York: Oxford University Press|year=1999|url=https://archive.org/details/jahangirnamamemo00jaha/page/51/mode/1up?q=Shah+begum|isbn=9780195127188|pages=51|translator-last=Thackston|translator-first=W. M.}}</ref>

[[File:Manohar. Emperor Jahangir Weighs Prince Khurram. Page from Tuzuk-i Jahangiri. 1610-1615, British Museum, London.jpg|thumb|left|Emperor Jahangir weighing his son [[Prince Khurram]] (the future Shah Jahan) on a weighing scale by artist [[Manohar Das|Manohar]] (1615).]]

In 1608, Jahangir posted [[Islam Khan I]] to subdue the rebel [[Musa Khan (Bengal Ruler)|Musa Khan]], the Masnad-e Ala<ref>{{cite book |url= https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Bangladesh_and_Pakistan_Flirting_with_Fa/IDBdEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=isa+khan+dynasty+bengal&pg=PA12&printsec=frontcover |title= Bangladesh and Pakistan Flirting with Failure in South Asia|date= 2022 |author= Pawan singh  |publisher= gaurav book center |page= 21 }}</ref> of the [[Baro-Bhuyan|Baro-Bhuyan confederacy]] in Bengal,<ref name=bpedia>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Musa Khan|author=Muazzam Hussain Khan}}</ref> who was able to imprison him.<ref>{{cite book|pages=12|title=400 years of Dhaka|first=M A Hannan|last=Feroz|publisher=Ittyadi|year=2009}}</ref><ref name="sen2">{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra |title=A Textbook of Medieval Indian History |publisher=Primus Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-9-38060-734-4 |pages=165}}</ref> Jahangir also  captured [[Kangra Fort]] in 1615, whose rulers came under [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] vassalship during the reign of [[Akbar]]. Consequently, a siege was laid and the fort was taken in 1620, which "resulted in the submission of the Raja of Chamba who was the greatest of all the rajas in the region." The district of [[Kishtwar district|Kishtwar]], in the state of [[Kashmir]], was also conquered in 1620.

[[File:Jahangir with sufi.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7| A [[Mughal miniature]] dated from the early 1620s depicting the [[Mughal emperor]] ''Jahangir'' preferring an audience with Sufi [[saint]] to his contemporaries, the [[Ottoman Sultan]] [[Ahmed I]] and the [[King of England]] [[James VI and I|James I]] (d. 1625); the picture is inscribed in [[Persian language|Persian]]: "Though outwardly shahs stand before him, he fixes his gazes on dervishes."]]

This should not imply that the multi-confessional state appealed to all, or that all [[Muslims]] were happy with the situation in India. In a book written on statecraft for Jahangir,{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} the author advised him to direct "all his energies to understanding the counsel of the sages and to comprehending the intimations of the '[[ulama]].'" At the start of his regime many staunch Sunnis were hopeful, because he seemed less tolerant of other faiths than his father had been. At the time of his accession and the elimination of Abu'l Fazl, his father's chief minister and the architect of his eclectic religious stance, a powerful group of orthodox noblemen had gained increased power in the Mughal court. This included nobles especially like [[Shaikh Farid Bukhari|Shaykh Farid]], Jahangir's trusted Mir Bakhshi, who held firmly the citadel of orthodoxy in Muslim India.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://www.google.ca/books/edition/History_of_India_and_Pakistan/OgpuAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=highest%20post%20in%20mughal%20government%20is%20mir%20bakhshi |title= History of India and Pakistan: pt. 1. Great Mughals |page= 342 |author= Muhammad Tariq Awan |publisher= University of Michigan |date= 1994 |isbn= 9789690100344 }}</ref>

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>Guru Arjan's successor Guru Hargobind was imprisoned for sometime, but released soon. He developed friendly relations with Jahangir, and accompanied him in his journey to Kashmir just before the latter's death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chandra |first=Satish |title=History of Medieval India(800-1700) |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2015 |isbn=978-93-5287-457-6 |language=English}}</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]|isbn=978-0-19-512718-8 |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>

== Public health and medicine ==  

Jahangir is widely considered to have been a weak and incapable ruler.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lach |first1=Donald F. |last2=Kley |first2=Edwin J. Van |title=Asia in the Making of Europe Vol. III, Bk. 2: A Century of Advance, South Asia |date=1998 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-46767-2 |page=629 |edition=Pbk.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Flores |first1=Jorge |title=The Mughal Padshah: A Jesuit Treatise on Emperor Jahangir's Court and Household |date=2015 |publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9004307537 |page=9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schimmel |first1=Annemarie |author-link=Annemarie Schimmel |editor-last=Waghmar |editor-first=Burzine K. |translator-last=Attwood |translator-first=Corinne |title=The empire of the Great Mughals : history, art and culture |date=2005 |publisher=Sang-E-Meel Pub. |location=Lahore |isbn=978-1-86189-185-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne/page/45 45] |edition=Revised |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne/page/45 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hansen |first1=Valerie |last2=Curtis |first2=Ken |title=Voyages in World History, Volume 1 to 1600 |date=2013 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-285-41512-3 |page=446 |language=en}}</ref> Orientalist [[Henry Beveridge (orientalist)|Henry Beveridge]] (editor of the ''[[Tuzk-e-Jahangiri]]'') compares Jahangir to the Roman emperor [[Claudius]], for both were "weak men... in their wrong places as rulers... [and had] Jahangir been head of a Natural History Museum,... [he] would have been [a] better and happier man."<ref name="Findly pg 311">{{cite book |last1=Findly |first1=Ellison Banks |title=Nur Jahan, empress of Mughal India |url=https://archive.org/details/nurjahanempressm00find |url-access=limited |date=1993 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-536060-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nurjahanempressm00find/page/n323 311]}}</ref> Further he notes, "He made no addition to the imperial territories, but on the contrary, diminished them by losing Qandahar to the Persians. But possibly his  peaceful temper, or his laziness,  was an advantage, for it saved much bloodshed. His greatest fault as a king was his subservience to his  wife, Nur-Jahan, and the consequent quarrel with  his son, Shah Jahan, who was the ablest and best of his male children".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beveridge|first1=Henry|title=Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri |publisher=Royal Asiatic Society, London |volume=II |page=6(preface)|url=https://indianculture.gov.in/rarebooks/tuzuk-l-jahangiri-or-memoris-jahangir-thirteenth-beginning-nineteenth-year-his-reign}}</ref> [[Sir William Hawkins]], who visited Jahangir's court in 1609, said: "In such short that what this man's father, called Ecber Padasha [Badshah Akbar], got of the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccans]], this king, Selim Sha [Jahangir] beginneth to lose."<ref name="Findly pg 311" /> Italian writer and traveller, [[Niccolao Manucci]], who worked under Jahangir's grandson, [[Dara Shikoh]], began his discussion of Jahangir by saying: "It is a truth tested by experience that sons dissipate what their fathers gained in the sweat of their brow."<ref name="Findly pg 311" />