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Eternal India
encyclopedia
LURE - THRU THE AGES
blinded, his followers were given brutal
punishments. Jehangir imposed on the Sikh
Guru Arjun a fine of two lakhs of rupees for
having blessed Khusraw. On the Guru's
refusal to pay, he was executed; this act
permanently antagonised the Sikhs.
One of the most important events of his
reign was his marriage in 1611 to Mihr-un-
nisa, the widow of Sher Afghan, who was
killed fighting the governor of Bengal. She
was given the title of
Nur Jahan.
Her beauty,
charm, intelligence and creative activities
soon made her dominate her husband.
Nur Jahan's elder brother Mirza Abul-
Hasan later given the title
Asaf Khan
was ap-
pointed Master of the Household. In 1612
Asaf Khan's daughter Arjumand Banu Begum
(later entitled Mumtaz Mahal) married
Jahangir's third son, Prince Khuram, the fu-
ture emperor Shah Jehan.
Jehangir sent expeditions to subdue Rana
Amar Singh of Mewar. In 1615 Amar Singh
recognised Jehangir as his suzerain and all his
territory in Mughal possession was restored,
including Chitor which however was not to
be fortified. In 1620 he conquered the hill
state of Kanga with the sacred shrine of
Jwalamukhi. In 1620-21 the ruler of Ah-
madnagar in the Deccan was forced to sur-
render extensive territories to the Mughals.
In 1623 Prince Khusraw revolted against
his father. He was totally defeated, later he
was forgiven and made governor of Balaghat.
In 1627, the imperial general Mahabat
Khan rebelled against the emperor and put the
emperor and the queen under his custody.
After about two months Jehangir cleverly
escaped from his captor. However, the em-
peror's health was greatly impaired and he
died in 1627, at Bhimbar in Kashmir.
Jehangir wrote his memoirs called
"Tuzuk''.
It does not match Babur's for frank-
ness and expression, but is nevertheless
informative and reflects his deep appreciation
of nature.
During his reign Mughal painting and mu-
sic reached high standards of development.
He was a liberal Muslim, who continued his
father's policy of religious toleration. He
permitted the Jesuits at his court to build
churches.
Shah Jehan
b. 1592-d. 1666 reigned (1627-58)
One of the 4 sons of emperor Jehangir. His
original name was Khurram. In 1622 he had
his brother Khusraw strangled to death. Under
his instructions his father-in-law Asaf Khan
slew all other royal princes. In 1628 Khan
Jahan Lodi, the governor of the Deccan, re-
belled. Shah Jahan defeated him in 1629 and
later killed him in 1631.
There was another rebellion by the Hindu
Orchha chief Jujhar Singh in Bundelkhand.
After a prolonged campaign, he was defeated
and killed in 1634. Two of Jujhar Singh's sons
were converted to Islam, a third was put to
death because he refused to convert. Many
Hindu temples in Bundelkhand were wan-
tonly desecrated and demolished.
In the Deccan, Shah Jehan's forces cap-
tured Daulatabad, the new capital of the Ni-
zam Shahi kingdom. Bijapur and Golconda
agreed to pay tribute. In 1638 Shah Jehan
succeeded in reconquering Qandahan which
had been lost during his father's reign.
In 1632 Shah Jehan became involved in a
dispute with the Portuguese of Hooghly in
Bengal who were indulging in piracy and
who had captured two Mughal slave girls.
The Portuguese were forced to give up the
slaves, pay a fine and 400 of them were im-
prisoned when they refused to embrace Islam.
In 1631 Shah Jehan's queen Mumtaz
Mahal died at the age of 39 after giving birth
to her fourteenth child. The couple enjoyed
a happy life for about 19 years and she was
his unfailing friend and adviser in the days of
his adversity. Shah Jehan built the beautiful
Taj Mahal in her memory which is even now
the architectural wonder of the world.
In 1657 Shah Jehan fell ill and rumours of
his death circulated. This sparked off a war
of succession among his four sons of whom
Aurangzeb emerged successful. He became
the emperor after killing all his brothers and
making his father a prisoner in the Agra fort.
He died as a prisoner in 1666 at the age of
74.
Shah Jehan on the whole was an enlight-
ened and tolerant ruler patronising poets and
scholars of Sanskrit, Persian and Hindu. A
lover of pomp and magnificence he commis-
sioned the famous Peacock Throne and built
the lovely Taj Mahal at Agra, a tomb for his
queen Mumtaz Mahal.
Shah Jehan's reign is famous for the qual-
ity and quantity of Sanskrit writings that it
produced. Dara Shukoh, Shah Jehan's eldest
son, translated several Sanskrit works includ-
ing the
Bagavad Gita,
the
Upanishads
and
the
Ramayana
into Persian.
Aurangzeb
b. 1618-d. 1707
reigned (1658-1707)
He was the third son of emperor Shah
Jehan. After having disposed of his brothers
he ascended to the throne in 1658. He trans-
ferred the capital from Agra to Delhi and
went through a hurried coronation there in
1658. After being enthroned as a staunch
defender of Islam, he banned drinking, gam-
bling and sexual immorality throughout his
kingdom. He reversed the policy of religious
toleration followed by his predecessors and
imposed
jizyah
on non-Muslims. He imposed
religious and social restrictions on Hindus. He
ordered destruction of all Hindu temples and
forbade building of new ones. He doubled the
customs duties on Hindus and abolished them
altogether in case of Muslims. He granted sti-
pends and gifts to converts from Hinduism
and offered them posts in public service,
liberation from prison in case of convicted
criminals and succession to disputed estates.
This policy led to widespread revolts. The
Jat peasants around Mathura and Agra re-
volted in 1669, under their leader Gokula.
. Gokula was captured and killed. His son and
daughter were converted to Islam. In 1672 the
Satnamis who were a sect of Hindu devotees
around Namol, 75 miles south-west of Delhi
revolted. They plundered mosques and es-
tablished an independent government. Au-
rangzeb crushed the rebellion. In 1675 Au-
rangzeb had the ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Ba-
hadur beheaded, which enraged the Sikhs.
A still greater crisis was the Rajput rebel-
lion caused by Aurangzeb's annexation of
Jodhpur state and his seizure of its ruler's
posthumous son, Ajit Singh, with the inten-
tion of converting him to Islam. This rebel-
lion spread to Mewar, and Aurangzeb him-
self had to proceed to Ajmer to fight the
Rajputs. The Rajputs were joined by the em-
peror's third son, Akbar. Aurangzeb managed
to isolate Akbar, who fled to the Deccan and
then to Persia. The war with Mewar came to
an end because Aurangzeb had to pursue
Akbar to the Deccan, where the prince had
joined the Maratha king Sambhaji.
In the Deccan, Aurangzeb annexed
Bijapur in 1686 and Golconda in 1687, then
he concentrated his efforts to destroy the Ma-
ratha kingdom but they proved so stubborn
that even after nearly twenty years of struggle
he failed to completely subdue them. Au-
rangzeb died in 1707.
Aurangzeb in his private life was an
austere Muslim. He was a simple and pious