Dr John Murray’s images of the Taj Mahal taken between 1858 and 1862 are recognised as the first photographs of the monument.
Source :
old myths about the Taj Mahal (and Shah Jahan)
- Kandahari Mahal
- Akbarabadi Mahal
- Mumtaz Mahal
- Hasina Begum
- Muti Begum
- Kudasiye Begum
- Fatehpuri Mahal
- Sirhindi Begum
- Smt. Manabhavithi
Kandahari Mahal : Kandahari Begum (also spelled Qandahari Begum; 1593 – ?; also known as Kandahari Mahal; Arabic, Urdu: قندهاری بیگم; meaning "Lady from Kandahar") was the first wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
By birth, she was a princess of the prominent Safavid dynasty of Iran (Persia) and was the youngest daughter of Safavid prince Sultan Muzaffar Husain Mirza Safavi, who was the son of Sultan Husain Mirza, the son of Bahram Mirza, the son of Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty of Persia.
Kandahari Begum’s Tomb Compound in Agra
Source :
Uneven Affections in Mughal Polygyny
Akbarabadi Mahal : Izz-un-Nissa Begum (Arabic, Urdu: عزالنساء بیگم) was the third wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. She is popularly known by the title, Akbarabadi Mahal (which probably indicates that she hailed from the city of Akbarabad), and commissioned the Akbarabadi Mosque in Shahjahanabad (present-day Old Delhi).
Mumtaz Mahal : Mumtaz Mahal was Empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The UNESCO World Heritage Site Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World, was commissioned to act as her final resting place.
Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjumand Banu Begum in Agra to a family of Persian nobility. She was the daughter of Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan, a wealthy Persian noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire, and the niece of Empress Nur Jahan, the chief wife of Emperor Jahangir and the power behind the emperor. She was married at the age of 19 on 30 April 1612 to Prince Khurram, later known by his regnal name Shah Jahan, who conferred upon her the title "Mumtaz Mahal". Although betrothed to Shah Jahan since 1607, she ultimately became his second wife in 1612. Mumtaz bore her husband fourteen children, including Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's favourite daughter), and the Crown prince Dara Shikoh, the heir-apparent, 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.
Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 in Burhanpur, Deccan (present-day Madhya Pradesh), during the birth of her fourteenth child, a daughter named Gauhar Ara Begum. Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built as a mausoleum for her, which is considered to be a monument of "undying love".
Portrait of Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Banu Begum). She was the favourite wife of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. She died shortly after giving birth to her fourteenth child in 1631. The following year the emperor began work on the mausoleum that would house her body. The result was the world-famous Taj Mahal.
Izz-un-Nissa Begum (Arabic, Urdu: عزالنساء بیگم) was the third wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. She is popularly known by the title, Akbarabadi Mahal (which probably indicates that she hailed from the city of Akbarabad),[1][3] and commissioned the Akbarabadi Mosque in Shahjahanabad (present-day Old Delhi).[4]Less commonly, she is also referred to as Sirhindi Begum [2]
.
Family
Izz-un-Nissa Begum was the daughter of Mirza Iraj who held the title, Shahnawaz Khan. He was the son of Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, and the grandson of Bairam Khan.[5] Bairam Khan was a descendant of Pir-ali Baharlu, a Black Sheep Turkoman.[6] She had a brother Mirza Khan Manuchir.[7]
Marriage
In 1617, after the Deccan victory, Prince Khurram (future Shah Jahan) proposed to his father, Emperor Jahangir that Abdul Rahim Khan, Izz-un-Nissa's grandfather, should be given the governorship of all newly secured southern islands. He also made Izz-un-Nissa's father, Shahnawaz Khan de facto commander-in-chief of the southern islands. Both the appointments served to guarantee their future loyalty to Shah Jahan. He tied the knot more firmly in a traditional way, by taking Shahnawaz's young daughter Izz-un-Nissa Begum, as his third wife.[8] He did not even bother to consult his father, Jahangir. However, according to Muhammad Amin Qazvini, a contemporary court biographer from the reign of Shah Jahan, the marriage was forced upon the prince.[8] The wedding took place at Burhanpur on 2 September 1617, and was a full 'bond of matrimony through a religious sanctioned marriage ceremony.'[9]
On 25 June 1619, at Agra,[10] she gave birth to her only child, a son. Jahangir named him Sultan Jahan Afroz Mirza. But as the child was not born in an auspicious hour, he did not kept him with himself, and instead sent him to his great grandfather, Abdul Rahim Khan in Deccan, in the company of Abdul Rahim's daughter Janan Begum, the widow of the late Prince Daniyal Mirza, to be brought under his care.[11] Jahangir stated in his memoirs Tuzk-e-Jahangiri that in 1621 all the astrologers thought that Prince Shah Shuja, son of Shah Jahan, who had contracted smallpox, would die. However, according to the astrologer Jotik Rai, another of his sons whom Jahangir did not like would die. And so Izz-un-Niss's son died prematurely at Burhanpur in March 1621.[12][13]
According to a saying of the contemporary chronicler Inayat Khan, although Shah Jahan had married her and Kandahari Begum, 'Yet his whole delight was centered in this illustrious lady (Mumtaz Mahal), to such an extent that he did not feel towards the others one thousandth part of the affection that he did for Her late Majesty.'[14] According to Qazvini, 'these two wives enjoyed nothing more than the title of wifeship.'[15] However, after the death of Mumtaz Mahal, Inayat Khan noted that Izz-un-nissa Begum and Fatehpuri Mahal (another one of his wives) were especially favoured by the emperor.[16]
Death
Izz-un-Nissa survived her husband, who was deeply concerned about her welfare at the time of his death in 1666. She died 11 years later on 28 January 1678 in Agra. Izz-un-Nissa Begum was buried in the Sirhindi Garden laid out by her in the Sabji Mandi area in the outskirts of Shahjahanabad (present-day Old Delhi). Her tomb is referred to as the tomb of Sirhindi Begum. This must be another title of Izz-un-Nissa Begum.[2]
Contributions to architecture
Izz-un-Nissa Begum provided a serai and an impressive mosque in a major market in the south part of Delhi. Shah Jahan used this mosque for prayer until his own was completed in 1656. It no longer exists, but 19th century illustrations indicate that the mosque was similar to contemporary ones built by Fatehpuri Mahal (another one of Shah Jahan's wives) and Jahanara Begum.[17].
As a young man, he was married to two wives known as Akbarabadi Mahal (d.1677 AD), and Kandahari Mahal (m.1609 AD). Beforehand however, in 1607 AD, Khurram had been betrothed to Arjumand Bano Begum, the grand daughter of a Persian noble, who was just 14 years old at the time. She would become the unquestioned love of his life and they were married in 1612 AD.
According to the official court chronicler Qazwini, the relationship with his other wives "had nothing more than the status of marriage. The intimacy, deep affection, attention and favour which His Majesty had for the Cradle of Excellence [Mumtaz] exceeded by a thousand times what he felt for any other”.
Shah Jahan was utterly devoted to Mumtaz Mahal, who was his constant companion and trusted confidante and their relationship was intense. Indeed, the court historians go to unheard of lengths to document the intimate and erotic relationship the couple enjoyed.
Sheela Reddy in her Taj Trivia termed Shah Jahan as ‘The Man of Marble’. Quoting the Austrian art historian Ebba Koch and her book, “The Complete Taj Mahal”, she says that Shah Jahan picked the site for Taj for its great view from Raja Jai Singh of Amber, in exchange for four mansions.
His own burial was not grand; he was taken quietly by two men by boat and laid beside Mumtaz.
The Rule
Although his father's rule was generally peaceful, the empire was experiencing challenges by the end of his reign. Shah Jahan reversed this trend by putting down a Islamic rebellion in Ahmednagar, repulsing the Portuguese in Bengal, capturing the Rajput kingdoms of Baglana and Bundelkhand to the west and the northwest beyond the Khyber Pass. Under his rule, the state became a huge military machine and the nobles and their contingents multiplied almost fourfold,as did the demands for more revenue from the peasantry. It was however a period of general stability — the administration was centralised and court affairs systematised. Historiography and the arts increasingly became instruments of propaganda, where beautiful artworks or poetry expressed specific state ideologies which held that central power and hierarchical order would create balance and harmony.
The Wealth
Under Shah Jahan the Mughal Empire attained its highest union of strength with agnificence.
The land revenue of the Mughal Empire under Shah Jahan was 20.75 million sterling. The magnificence of Shah Jahan’s court was the wonder of European travellers. His Peacock Throne, with its trail blazing in the shifting natural colors of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, was valued by the jeweller Tavernier at 6.50 million sterling.
H.M. Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram, Abu'l-Muzaffar Shihab ud-din Muhammad, Sahib-i-Qiran-i-Sani, Shah Jahan I Padshah Ghazi Zillu'llah [Firdaus-Ashiyani], Emperor of India. b. at Lahore, 5th February 1592, educ. privately. Granted the title of Shah Khurrum in 1616, and promoted to Shah Jahan Bahadur by his father, 12th October 1617.
m. (first) Akbarabadi Mahal A'azz un-nisa Begum Sahiba (d. at Akbarabad (Agra), 7th February 1677 n.s., bur. there at the Akbarabadi Masjid).
m. (second) at Agra, 12th December 1609, Kandahari Begum Sahiba (b. at Kandahar, before 1594; bur. Kandahari Bagh, Agra), previously Kandahari Mahal, elder daughter of Muzaffar Husain Mirza Safawi, by whom he had issue, one daughter.
m. (third) at Delhi, 10th May 1612, H.M. Malika-i-Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal (cre. 14th February 1628), Arjumand Banu Qudsia Begum Sahiba (b. 1593; d. in childbirth at Burhanpur, 17th July 1631 n.s., bur. Taj Mahal, Agra), daughter of H.H. Waqil-i-Mutlaq, Yamin ud-Daula, Nawab Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan Bahadur, Khan-i-Khanan, Chief Minister and C-in-C under Emperor Jahangir, by his wife, Diwanji Begum Sahiba, daughter of Khwaja Ghias ud-din 'Ali Asaf Khan Bahadur.
m. (fourth) at Burhanpur, 3rd September 1617, Hasina Begum Sahiba, daughter of Nawab Shah Nawaz Khan Bahadur [Mirza Iraj], mansabdar of 5,000, son of Wakil us-Sultanat, Khan-i-Khanan, Amir ud-Daula, Nawab Mirza 'Abdu'r Rahim Khan, sometime Subadar of Gujarat.
m. (fifth) Muti Begum Sahiba.
m. (sixth) Qudsia Begum Sahiba.
m. (seventh) Fatehpuri Mahal Sahiba (d. after 1666).
m. (eighth) Sarhindi Begum Sahiba (d. after 1650).
m. (ninth) ca. 1626, Raj Kumari Shri Manbhavathi Baiji Lall Sahiba, widow of his elder brother, Sultan Muhammad Parviz Mirza, and younger daughter of Sawai Raja Sur Singhji [Suraj Mal], Raja of Jodhpur.
m. (tenth) before 1627, Kumari Lilavati Baiji Lall Sahiba, daughter of Rao Shri Sakat Singh [Shakti], of Kharwar.
m. (a) a former wife of Jamal Khan, mansabdar of 5,000 sowar.
He died in captivity at the Musamman Burj, Agra, 31st January 1666 (bur. there at the Taj Mahal), having had issue, six sons and eleven daughters:
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Spouses and children
