Mumtaz Mahal

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Mumtaz Mahal
Empress mother of the Mughal Empire
Portrait of Mumtaz Mahal on Ivory, 17th‑century, held at the Lahore Museum in Lahore, Pakistan
Padshah Begum
Tenure19 January 1628 – 17 June 1631
PredecessorNur Jahan
SuccessorJahanara Begum
BornArjumand Banu Begum
29 October 1593
Agra, Mughal Empire
Died17 June 1631(1631-06-17) (aged 37)
Burhanpur, Mughal Empire
Burial, India
Spouse
(m. 1612)
Issue
among others...
HouseTimurid (by marriage)
FatherAbu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan
MotherDiwanji Begum
ReligionShia Islam[1][2][3][4][5]

Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Banu Begum; Persian pronunciation:

Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan.[7] The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World,[8] was commissioned by her husband to act as her tomb.[9]

Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjumand Banu Begum in Agra to a family of

heir-apparent,[18] anointed by his father, who temporarily succeeded him until deposed by Mumtaz Mahal's sixth child, Aurangzeb, who ultimately succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor in 1658.[19]

Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 in Burhanpur, Deccan (present-day Madhya Pradesh) during the birth of her 14th child, a daughter named Gauhar Ara Begum.[20] Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built as a tomb for her, which is considered to be a monument of undying love. As with other Mughal royal ladies, no contemporary likenesses of her are accepted, but imagined portraits were created from the 19th century onwards.

Family and early life

Mumtaz Mahal was born as Arjumand Banu on 29 October 1593

Mirza Ghias Beg (popularly known by his title of I'timad-ud-Daulah),[23] was taken into the service of Emperor Akbar in Agra.[10]

Asaf Khan was also the older brother of Empress

Badaun, who was also the emperor Jahangir's foster brother.[25] Mumtaz also had a brother, Shaista Khan, who served as the governor of Bengal and various other provinces in the empire during Shah Jahan's reign.[26]

Mumtaz was remarkable in the field of learning and was a talented and cultured lady.[27] She was well-versed in Arabic and Persian, and could compose poems in the latter.[28][27] She was reputed to have a combination of modesty and candor, a woman warmly straightforward yet bemusedly self-possessed. Early in adolescence, she attracted the attention of important nobles of the realm. Jahangir must have heard about her, since he readily consented to Shah Jahan's engagement with her.[29]

Marriage

Mumtaz Mahal was betrothed to Shah Jahan around 5 April 1607,

Izz-un-Nissa Begum (titled Akbarabadi Mahal),[33] the daughter of a prominent Mughal courtier.[34][35] According to the official court historians, both the marriages were political alliances.[34]

By all accounts, Shah Jahan was so taken with Mumtaz that he showed little interest in exercising his

polygamous rights with his two other wives, other than dutifully siring a child with each.[36] According to the official court chronicler, Motamid Khan, as recorded in his Iqbal Namah-e-Jahangiri, the relationship with his other wives "had nothing more than the status of marriage. The intimacy, deep affection, attention and favour which Shah Jahan had for Mumtaz exceeded what he felt for his other wives."[32][37] Likewise, Shah Jahan's historian Inayat Khan commented that 'his whole delight was centered on this illustrious lady [Mumtaz], to such an extent that he did not feel towards the others [i.e. his other wives] one-thousandth part of the affection that he did for her.'[38]

Mumtaz had a loving marriage with Shah Jahan. Even during her lifetime, poets would extol her beauty, grace, and compassion. Despite her frequent pregnancies, Mumtaz travelled with Shah Jahan's entourage throughout his earlier military campaigns and the subsequent rebellion against his father. She was his constant companion and trusted confidant, leading court historians to go to unheard lengths to document the intimate and erotic relationship the couple enjoyed. In their 19 years of marriage, they had 14 children together (eight sons and six daughters),[38] seven of whom died at birth or at a very young age.[20]

Mughal empress

Upon his accession to the throne in 1628 after subduing his half brother,

rupees per year given to Mumtaz Mahal by Shah Jahan. Apart from this income, he gave her a lot of high-income lands and properties.[43]

Shah Jahan consulted Mumtaz in both private matters and the affairs of the state, and she served as his close confidant and trusted adviser and because of this, she had enormous political power. Like her predecessor and aunt Nur Jahan, Mumtaz sat next to the emperor in the Hall of Private Audience and Hall of Public Audience (Dīwān-e-Khās and Dīwān-e-Ām). She hidden behind a curtain, if she did not agree with something, she would place her hand on his back, out of sight. At her intercession, he forgave enemies or commuted death sentences.[44] His trust in her was so great that he gave her the highest honour of the land – his imperial seal, the Mehr Uzaz,[45] which validated imperial decrees and nothing could be done without her consent.[46] Mumtaz was portrayed as having no aspirations to political power, in contrast to her aunt, Empress Nur Jahan, the chief consort of Emperor Jahangir, who had wielded enormous power and considerable influence in the previous reign.[47]

An uncontested and great influence on him, often intervening on behalf of the poor and destitute, she also enjoyed watching elephant and combat fights[clarification needed] performed for the court. Mumtaz also patronized a number of poets, scholars and other talented persons. A noted Sanskrit poet, Vansidhara Mishra, was the Empress's favourite.[27] On the recommendation of her principal lady-in-waiting, Sati-un-Nissa, Mumtaz Mahal provided pensions and donations to the daughters of poor scholars, theologians, and pious men.[48] It was quite common for women of noble birth to commission architecture in the Mughal Empire, so Mumtaz devoted some time to a riverside garden in Agra, which is now known as Zahara Bagh. It is the only architectural foundation that can be connected to her patronage.[49]

Death and aftermath

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Taj Mahal is the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan.

Mumtaz Mahal died from

Daniyal on the bank of the Tapti River.[51] The contemporary court chroniclers paid an unusual amount of attention to Mumtaz Mahal's death and Shah Jahan's grief at her demise. In the immediate aftermath of his bereavement, the emperor was reportedly inconsolable.[52] Apparently, after her death, he went into secluded mourning for a year.[52] When he appeared again, his hair had turned white, his back was bent, and his face worn.[53] Mumtaz's eldest daughter, Jahanara Begum, gradually brought her father out of grief and took her mother's place at court.[54]

Mumtaz Mahal's personal fortune (valued at 10 million rupees) was divided by Shah Jahan between Jahanara Begum, who received half, and the rest of her surviving children.[55] Burhanpur was never intended by her husband as his wife's final resting spot. As a result, her body was disinterred in December 1631 and transported in a golden casket escorted by her son Shah Shuja, the deceased empress's head lady-in-waiting, and the distinguished courtier Wazir Khan, back to Agra.[56][57] There, it was interred in a small building on the banks of the Yamuna River. Shah Jahan stayed behind in Burhanpur to conclude the military campaign that had originally brought him to the region. While there, he began planning the design and construction of a suitable mausoleum and funerary garden in Agra for his wife. It was a task that would take 22 years to complete, the Taj Mahal.[58]

Taj Mahal

Cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal.
Tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal, alongside her husband Shah Jahan

The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan to be built as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal. It is seen as an embodiment of undying love and marital devotion. English poet Sir Edwin Arnold describes it as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passion of an emperor's love wrought in living stones." The beauty of the monument is also taken as a representation of Mumtaz Mahal's beauty and this association leads many to describe the Taj Mahal as feminine.[59] Since Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decorations on graves, the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan are placed in a relatively plain crypt beneath the inner chamber with their faces turned to the right and towards Mecca.[60]

The Ninety Nine Names of God are found as calligraphic inscriptions on the sides of the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the crypt including, "O Noble, O Magnificent, O Majestic, O Unique, O Eternal, O Glorious...".[61] There are many theories about the origin of the name of this tomb and one of them suggests that 'Taj' is an abbreviation of the name Mumtaz. European travelers, such as François Bernier, who observed its construction, were among the first to call it the Taj Mahal. Since they are unlikely to have come up with the name, they might have picked it up from the locals of Agra who called the Empress 'Taj Mahal' and thought the tomb was named after her and the name began to be used interchangeably, but no firm evidence suggests this. Shah Jahan had not intended to entomb another person in the Taj Mahal;[62] however, Aurangzeb had Shah Jahan buried next to the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal rather than build a separate tomb for his father.[63][64] This is evident from the asymmetrical placement of Shah Jahan's grave on one side of his wife's grave which is in the centre.[65][66]

In popular culture

Astronomy

Literature

  • A cat named after Mumtaz Mahal ("Princess Arjumand")[68] plays a major role in Connie Willis's 1997 novel To Say Nothing of the Dog.
  • Arjumand Banu (Mumtaz Mahal) is a principal character in Indu Sundaresan's novel The Feast of Roses (2003) and its sequel, Shadow Princess (2010), begins with her death.[69]
  • Mumtaz Mahal is a main character in Sonja Chandrachud's novel Trouble at the Taj (2011). She appears in the book as a ghost.[70]
  • In John Shors' novel Beneath a Marble Sky (2013), Mahal's daughter, Princess Jahanara, tells the extraordinary story of how the Taj Mahal came to be, describing her own life as an agent in its creation and as a witness to the fateful events surrounding its completion.[71]
  • Manahil Bandukwala's debut poetry collection Monument (2022) is a conversation with Mumtaz Mahal. It explores themes of love, monumentalisation, legacy, family, and empire.[72]

Films

Other

Issue

Children of Mumtaz Mahal
Name Portrait Lifespan Notes
Hur-ul-Nisa Begum
30 March 1613 –
5 June 1616
Died of smallpox at the age of 3.[80]
Jahanara Begum
Padshah Begum
23 March 1614 –
16 September 1681
Shah Jahan's favourite and most influential daughter. Jahanara became the First Lady (Padshah Begum) of the Mughal Empire after her mother's death, despite the fact that her father had three other consorts. She died unmarried.
Dara Shikoh
Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba, Jalal ul-Kadir, Sultan Muhammad Dara Shikoh, Shah-i-Buland Iqbal
20 March 1615 –
30 August 1659
The eldest son and
heir-apparent. He was favoured as a successor by his father, Shah Jahan, and his elder sister, Princess Jahanara Begum, but was defeated and later killed by his younger brother, Prince Muhiuddin (later the Emperor Aurangzeb
), in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne. He married and had issue.
Shah Shuja
23 June 1616 –
7 February 1661
He survived in the war of succession. He married and had issue.
Roshanara Begum
Padshah Begum
3 September 1617 –
11 September 1671
She was the most influential of Shah Jahan's daughters after Jahanara Begum and sided with Aurangzeb during the war of succession. She died unmarried.
Aurangzeb
Mughal emperor
3 November 1618 –
3 March 1707
Succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor after emerging victorious in the war of succession that took place after Shah Jahan's illness in 1657. He married and had issue.
Izad Bakhsh
18 December 1619 –
February/March 1621[81]
Died in infancy.
Surayya Banu Begum
10 June 1621 –
28 April 1628[81]
Died of smallpox at the age of 7.[80]
Unnamed son
1622 Died soon after birth.[81]
Murad Bakhsh
8 October 1624 –
14 December 1661
He was executed in 1661 as per Aurangzeb's orders.[82] He married and had issue.
Lutf Allah
4 November 1626 –
13 May 1628[81]
Died at the age of one and a half years.[80]
Daulat Afza
8 May 1628 –
13 May 1629[83]
Died in infancy.
Husn Ara Begum
23 April 1630 –
1631[81]
Died in infancy.
Gauhar Ara Begum
17 June 1631 –
1706
Mumtaz died while giving birth to her on 17 June 1631 in Burhanpur. She died unmarried.

Ancestry

References

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Bibliography

External links