shah jahan

When Shah Jahan became ill in 1658, Dara Shikoh (Mumtaz Mahals eldest son) assumed the role of regent in his fathers stead, which swiftly incurred the animosity of his brothers. Upon learning of his assumption of the regency, his younger brothers, Shuja, Viceroy of Bengal, and Murad Baksh, Viceroy of Gujarat, declared their independence, and marched upon Agra in order to claim their riches. Aurangzeb, the third son, and ablest and most virile of the brothers, gathered a well trained army and became its in chief commander, he faced his elder brother and heir apparent Daras army close to Agra and completely defeated him during the Battle of Samugarh. Although Shah Jahan fully recovered from his illness, Aurangzeb declared him incompetent to rule and put him under house arrest in Agra Fort.

Jahanara Begum Sahib, Jahans first daughter, voluntarily shared his 8 year confinement and nursed him in his dotage. In January 1666, Shah Jahan fell ill with strangury and dysentery. Confined to bed, he became progressively weaker until, on 22 January, he commended the ladies of the imperial court, particularly his consort of later years Akbarabadi Mahal, to the care of Jahanara. After reciting the Islamic declaration of faith (Laa ilaaha illa l laah) and verses from the Quran, one of the greatest of the Mughal Emperors died, aged 74.Princess Jahanara planned a state funeral which was to include a procession with Shah Jahans body carried by eminent nobles followed by the notable citizens of Agra and officials scattering coins for the poor and needy. Aurangzeb refused to accommodate such ostentation and the body was washed in accordance with Islamic rites, taken by river in a sandalwood coffin to the Taj Mahal and was interred there next to the body of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Shah Jahan left behind a grand legacy of structures constructed during his reign. He was one of the greatest patrons of Islamic architecture. His most famous building was the Taj Mahal, now a wonder of the world, which he built out of love for his wife the empress Mumtaz Mahal.Its structure was drawn with great care and architects from all over the world were called for this purpose. The building took twenty years to complete and was constructed from white marble underlaid with brick. Upon his death, his son Aurangazeb had him interred in it next to Mumtaz Mahal. Among his other constructions are the Red Fort also called the Delhi Fort or Lal Qila in Urdu, large sections of Agra Fort, the Jama Masjid, the Wazir Khan Mosque, the Moti Masjid, the Shalimar Gardens, sections of the Lahore Fort, the Jahangir mausoleumhis fathers tomb, the construction of which was overseen by his stepmother Nur Jahan and the Shahjahan Mosque. He also had the Peacock Throne, Takht e Taus, made to celebrate his rule. Shah Jahan also placed profound verses of the Quran on his masterpieces of architecture.A famous seamless celestial globe was produced in 16591660, by the Sindhi astronomer Muhammad Salih Tahtawi of Thatta with Arabic and Persian inscriptions.

All the inscriptions on the Taj Mahal tombs of Shah Jahan and his wife are in Persian Calligraphy on the tombs and on the Agra Fort quranic Calligraphy and Persian poem in Nasta?l?qinscription. Shah Jahans cenotaph is bigger than that of his wife, but reflects the same elements: a larger casket on a slightly taller base, again decorated with astonishing precision with lapidary and calligraphy that identifies him.

One of the most significant incidents in the life of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan was the construction of Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. His wife Mumtaz Mahal died while giving birth to their fourteenth child. Shah Jahan decided to build worlds most beautiful monument in the memory of his beloved wife. The monument, which is known as the Taj Mahal, contains the tombs of both Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. Taj Mahal, also known as the Epitome of Love, is exceptionally beautiful and has become one of the most visited tourist destinations of India. People from different parts of the world come to India to see this amazing edifice in white.

While his grandfather Akbar is best known for developing the Mughal empire, it is Shah Jehan who is remembered as the sultan who spent his time literally building it. Shah Jehan was a patron of the arts, and a lover of all things big: big mosques, big forts, big gemstones. He commissioned hundreds of paintings and engravings for his palaces, many of which survive to this day.The most enduring of Shah Jehans creations were his massive construction projects. Employing a mix of Persian palatial sophistication and local Hindu engineering know how, Shah Jehan defined the architectural style recognized the world over as Mughal. The Red Fort and the Jama Masjid, both in Delhi, stand out as towering achievements of both civil engineering and art. Yet above all else, we remember Shah Jehan today for the Taj Mahal, the massive white marble mausoleum constructed for his wife Mumtaz Mahal along the bank of the Jamuna River in Agra.Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth soon after Shah Jehan ascended to the throne. Grief stricken, Shah Jehan decided to built the Taj Mahal as a tribute and final resting place for her. It took over a decade to build and it nearly bankrupted the empire, but Shah Jehan had his monument for the ages. He continued to spend lavishly, beginning new construction projects and revamping old ones (including the Agra Fort, first built by Akbar two generations earlier). He even commissioned the creation of a brilliant gold throne encased in hundreds of precious gems the Peacock Throne, a symbol of Mughal royalty until it was stolen and co opted by the Persians a century later.

But despite his successes as a patron of art and architecture, Shah Jehan was unable to gauge the discontent among his own court. A power struggle among his sons ensued, and eventually, the ruthless prince Aurangzeb deposed Shah Jehan in a coup detat in 1658. Shah Jehan was imprisoned in the Octagonal Tower of the Agra Fort (a beautiful addition to the fort that he himself had constructed) and would remain there until his death, eight years later, in 1666. He was then buried next to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, in the Taj Mahal, two kilometers down river from the fort.

Evidence from the reign of Shah Jahan in the year 1648, states that the army consisted of 911,400 infantry, musketeers, and artillery men, and 185,000 Sowars commanded by princes and nobles and were maintained out of the revenues of the Mughal Empire which amounted to 120,071,876,840 dams.During his reign the Marwari horse was introduced becoming Shah Jahans favorite and various Mughal Cannons were mass produced in the Jaigarh Fort. Under his rule, the empire became a huge military machine and the nobles and their contingents multiplied almost fourfold, as did the demands for more revenue from the peasantry. But due to his measures in the financial and commercial fields, it was a period of general stabilitythe administration was centralized and court affairs systematized.

The Mughal Empire continued to expand moderately during his reign as his sons commanded large armies on different fronts. Above all it is obligatory to mention here that India became the richest center of the arts, crafts and architecture and some of the best of the architects, artisans, craftsmen, painters and writers of the world resided in his empire, it is believed that the Mughal Empire had the highest gross domestic produce in the world.

In 1634, Shah Jahans Mughal Army attacked the Sikhs led by Guru Hargobind and ordered the destruction of the Sikh temple in Lahore. Skirmishes were fought at Amritsar, Kartarpur and elsewhere.

Shah Jahan and his sons captured the city of Kandahar in 1638 from the Safavids, prompting the retaliation of the Persians led by their powerful ruler Abbas II of Persia, who recaptured it in 1649, the Mughal armies were unable to recapture it despite repeated sieges during the MughalSafavid War. Shah Jahan also expanded the Mughal Empire to the west beyond the Khyber Pass to Ghazna and Kandahar.

While he was encamped in Baghdad, Sultan Murad IV is known to have met the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahans ambassadors: Mir Zarif and Mir Baraka, who presented 1000 pieces of finely embroidered cloth and even armor. Murad IV presented them with the finest weapons, saddles and Kaftans and ordered his forces to accompany the Mughals to the port of Basra, where they set sail to Thatta and finally Surat.The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan had exchanged ambassadors and documents with the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV, it was through these exchanges led by the Mughal ambassador Sayyid Muhiuddin and his counterpart the Ottoman ambassador Arsalan Agha, that Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan received Mimar Yusuf, Isa Muhammad Effendi and Ismail Effendi, two Turkish architects and students of the famous Koca Mimar Sinan Agha. Both of them later comprised among the Mughal team that would design and build the Taj Mahal.

Mir Jumla II, who in the 1640s had his own ships and organized merchant fleets that sailed throughout: Surat, Thatta, Arakan, Ayuthya, Balasore, Aceh, Melaka, Johore, Bantam, Makassar, Ceylon, Bandar Abbas, Mecca, Jeddah, Basra, Aden, Masqat, Mocha and the Maldives. His merchant fleet could only be rivaled by Abdul Goffur of Surat although other nobles such as Asaf Khan and Safi Khan owned seaborne vessels.