17th of June in the year 1631.
It was a warm night in Burhanpur, a small Deccan town in present day Madhya Pradesh, and the most important woman in the sub-continent was about to give birth to her fourteenth child. It was not the place for her to be in. She belonged to the luxuries of Agra, not a war camp in Burhanpur. Yet, there she was, where her husband, the most important man in the sub-continent, was stationed to suppress a rebellion.
No one was excessively worried because her thirteen previous pregnancies had been pretty smooth and uncomplicated. Though seven children had either died at birth or within a few years, the mother had been in perfect health. (and why not? She was no ordinary woman, she was the sweetheart and chief queen of the heir apparent to the Mughal throne, Khurram - later Shah Jahan).
But this time, the slight shadow of doubt that gnawed at everyone's heart was that she was thirty eight years old....almost forty. Certainly not a proper age for having children. Oh! But nothing could happen to Mumtaz Mahal. The Emperor's dearest consort. Why! The whole empire might collapse if anything happened to her. Who knows what Shah Jahan might do if he lost Mumtaz. Nah! She would come out of this slightly complicated pregnancy unscathed.
And yet, Mumtaz Mahal died.
And the baby she gave birth to, Gauhara Begum, lived. Lived till the age of 75 years. And lived with the accusation of having snatched away the empire's and the emperor's most precious jewel.
"After the passing of midnight...a daughter was born to that tree of the orchard of good fortune, Mumtaz Mahal, whereupon her feverish temperature transgressed the bounds of moderation...This unexpected incident and soul rending disaster filled the world with bewilderment.." - From "Badshah Nama" by Abdal Hamid Lahauri - as quoted by W.E. Begley and Z.A.Desai - Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb
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I am with an elderly lady. Her hair is white with experience and wisdom and her wrinkles only make her look more pleasant and motherly. She is simply dressed, though I am told that she wields immense power within the walls of the Mughal zenana and has a considerable income. But she has no airs. She is simple, warm and welcoming. Why not? After all, the story I have requested her to narrate is her own favorite too.
Her name is Sati-un-Nissa. Chief lady-in-waiting and personal attendant to Empress Mumtaz Mahal, from the time before she became an empress. She was also a teacher and governess to the empress' children.
Sati-un-Nissa Begum is from a highly educated Persian family. She is a scholar herself, they say. Though not much of a looker, she is as perfect an assistant and as perfect a nanny as any new empress and young mother could wish for. She knows exactly what to say and what to do. And what not to say and what not to do!
So..from the beginning please.Its comforting to settle down cozily on richly woven cushions with a plate of the choicest dry fruits to munch on and an ornate glass of cool Khus sherbet...I always had a thing for such languid, comfortable story telling sessions. Only this time...it isn't a story...it all happened....centuries ago...for real. (And no! I do not smoke the hookah.)
"It was a love and arranged marriage."
That's new! No rebellion against the father? Isn't it mandatory for all Mughal princes to rebel against their daddy to win throne and ladylove?(my mind is partly fed on Hindi movies like Mughal-e-Azam and Taj Mahal). No schemes and scandals?
"Can I please continue in my own way, without unnecessary interruptions?" Sati-un-Nissa says in a strict, teacher like tone.
"Arjumand Bano was the daughter of Asaf Khan, Noor Jahan's brother. That made her Noor Jahan's niece. A position that sometimes went for her and sometimes against her."
"Noor Jahan was the most powerful Empress in the entire history of Mughals. She had Jahangir entirely under her control and was used to never-seen-before privileges like holding durbaars, giving orders to the army, signing the royal decrees and getting coins minted in her name. She was as famous for her tantrums, her temper and her shrewd political intellect as for her beauty and charms."
I know...I just wrote a long article on her. :)
"Noor Jahan had a daughter from her previous marriage to a Subedaar of the Burdwaan district in Bengal, Sher Afghan. Her name was Ladli Begum and she was forever under her ambitious and dazzling mother's shadow. But Noor Jahan had grand plans for her daughter."
"She was keen to make sure that her bloodline would intermingle with that of the royal Mughals for at least another generation. She carefully studied the four sons of Jahangir, with a hawk's eye...to determine who was being preened to become the next emperor."
"The eldest son, Prince Khusrau was already married and he was blind. Blinded by his own father as a punishment for trying to revolt earlier in life. The second prince, Parwez was hardly seen in Agra and was a Subedaar of some distant province near Surat. He was notorious for his love of narcotics and bribes. The youngest prince Shahryar was weak. He was called nashudani - good for nothing."
The one that remained then, was the handsome, brave, strong and well educated Khurram. The third son of Jahangir. It was Prince Khurram whom Noor Jahan earmarked for her daughter.
Ladli Begum must marry the Emperor's favourite son, Prince Khurram, and become Empress.
"Yes. Noor Jahan went to great lengths trying to secure Khurram's romantic affection for her daughter Ladli. To her eyes, nothing could be better. Ladli married to a brave prince who had a great royal career waiting for him. But fate had other plans."
Destiny was to usurp Noor Jahan's plan...in the form of her own niece - the exquisitely beautiful and almost ethereal Arjumand Bano.
Sati-un-Nissa's eyes light up at the mere mention of Arjumand.The memories she has of the deceased empress must be really fond.
"All the beauty in Noor Jahan's family seemed to be condensed in Arjumand. Not only beauty of the form but also immense beauty of the soul. She walked on such light nimble feet that it felt she was floating in the air and she was ever so gentle with her words. If you ever saw Arjumand laugh, you'd want to laugh with her.She was like a beam of sunshine."
"She was merely 14 years old when he first saw her. He was just a year older than her.She was Ladli's cousin and friend and often visited the royal zenana quarters. The first time their eyes met, they were besotted with each other.Totally smitten. I am sure he must have inquired about who she was and then gone running to his father, the Emperor Jahangir, to declare that he really really liked Arjumand."
That simple?
"Khurram was Jahangir's dearest son. He had constantly proven his merit to his father and appeared noble, rational, intelligent and a deft warrior. Khurram's wish wasn't to be taken lightly."
"Empress Noor Jahan was not very pleased, understandably. She knew Ladli did not stand the remotest chance if there was to be a competition for Khurram's attention between her and Arjumand. She tried to pressurize her husband into ordering Khurram to marry Ladli."
But that obviously didn't quite work out, did it?
"The concoction of love, beauty and youth is the most powerful and dangerous potion in the world."
"Much as he was controlled by Noor Jahan, Emperor Jahangir was wise enough to see that. Why? Hadn't he himself got into trouble more than once with his own father, Emperor Akbar, over matters of the heart? He asked the young prince if he wished to marry Ladli. And Khurram refused in the politest possible manner. He only had eyes for Arjumand."
So what did Noor Jahan do?
"Oh she was clever beyond her years. She was not the one to be fooled by that thing called love. She calculated shrewdly and drew a compromise. If not daughter, then let it be the niece! Arjumand too was family after all. Her bloodline would still remain royal."
"And who knew? Khurram might not become emperor in the end.She now set her eyes on the simpleton Shahryar.With a little maneuvering, Ladli could still be empress...if Shahryar became emperor."
In the year 1607, Arjumand Bano, the daughter of Mirza Asaf Khan, the niece of Empress Noor Jahan, was engaged to be married to Prince Khurram, the third son of Emperor Jahangir.
"But they couldn't marry immediately. She was 14 and he was 15 when they were engaged. Emperor Jahangir had made promises to rulers and governors of other lands. Promises of marrying off his brightest son Khurram to their daughters, in order to become political allies."
"Through such political promises of the emperor, Prince Khurram married Akbarabadi Mahal and Kandahari Mahal. Kandahari Mahal Begum was the daughter of Muzaffar Hussain Mirza, the governor of Qandahar. Khurram was polite to them and fulfilled his conjugal duties. He made sure they were never out of money or fine jewels. But the person whose company his heart craved for was undoubtedly Arjumand."
Finally, after court astrologers calculated a wedding date for them, to ensure a happy marriage, five years after their engagement to each other, in 1612, Prince Khurram and Arjumand Bano were married.
"Oh it was a beautiful wedding. The bride looked like a dream and the groom couldn't be happier. I won't say it was the grandest wedding in all Mughal history, but it was full of joy and laughter. The preparations and the celebrations spanned an entire month. Everyone was more or less pleased with Arjumand and Khurram's wedding."
"Few marriages in polygamous households have been so happy....Arjumand Banu...surrendered her mind and soul to her husband..." - Beni Prasad - The History of Jahangir
"It was a very successful, very happy marriage." Sati-un-Nissa pauses, as she reminisces the royal romance she has witnessed from such close quarters.
"He bestowed upon Arjumand the title of Mumtaz Mahal. The best jewel of the palace. The Chosen One of the Palace."
"The pleasure and pride that filled their eyes whenever they so much as looked at each other was boundless."
I know from my own research into the Shah Jahan - Mumtaz Mahal story that right after his marriage to Arjumand, Khurram gained immense success in his military campaigns on behalf of his father, Jahangir. It was Jahangir who granted the young prince the honorific title of "Shah Jahan" in the year 1617, announcing publicly that he was indeed favored over and above his brothers as the heir apparent.
"But still, Khurram rebelled."
In 1622, Khurram, supported by the arch-enemy of Noor Jahan, Mahabat Khan, declared war on the imperial army. Arjumand was with him. Wherever he went, all the time, everywhere. And she was pregnant.
Why should he rebel, one thinks? He was already the favourite of the emperor, he already had his Arjumand...then why did he rebel against his father like most of his predecessors before him?
"Do not forget, Empress Noor Jahan was still the "power behind the throne". When she could not get her own daughter Ladli married to Khurram, she turned her favours and attention to Prince Shahryar. Shahryar was now Ladli's husband and so she pushed his case forward with Emperor Jahangir. Who was by now ill and totally dependent on Noor Jahan and opium." Sati-un-Nissa's voice is soft and cautious. As if she still fears the long gone Empress Noor Jahan might hear her and punish her.
"Khurram was now a man with a purpose. He had his Arjumand who kept telling him that he indeed was the best of the Mughal princes and that the only wish she had was to see him on the throne of Agra.A family man, with a loving wife and small children, Khurram now had to stand up and fight for what was rightfully his.He did not want to remain a by stander to Noor Jahan's sovereignty. He had to prove himself to Arjumand."
"Through those treacherous days and dangerous nights, in the rough terrains of the unfamiliar Deccan plateau, while Khurram planned his rebellion with a handful of trusted men, while he fought the hopelessness of the idea of challenging the mighty imperial army, it was Arjumand who kept him company. Faithful and rock steady.Not for a moment did she let him drown in pessimism. She never complained about her personal discomfort. Every ounce of courage Arjumand had, at this delicate time, she shared with her beloved husband Khurram."
This only strengthened the bond of faith and mutual dependence between Khurram and Arjumand. Their marriage had stood the test of tough times.
Finally, after struggling for five whole years, in a very hard won victory, in the year 1627, Shah Jahan (Khurram) became the fifth Mughal Emperor of one of the world's mightiest and largest empires.
"Nobody, but nobody could have been happier than Arjumand. Her dream to see her husband successful was fulfilled. And then, once on the throne himself, how could Shah Jahan forget that one woman who had fueled the fire of his success and happiness? He declared Mumtaz Mahal his Badshah Begum, the chief lady of the court and gave her the imperial seal - Muhr Uza."
"But privately he always called her Arjumand. Both of them preferred it that way.They read to each other, discussed philosophy and she sang to him when they were alone. She never pulled him away from the duties of the court...instead she took immense pride in the fact that her husband was proving himself to be an able ruler." Sati-un-Nissa smiles indulgently.
"And when free from work, it is anybody's guess whom Shah Jahan spent his time with. Arjumand. Mumtaz Mahal."
At this juncture, I want to go a little deeper than just the popularly known love story. What made Mumtaz Mahal the way she was? Her Aunt Noor Jahan was notorious for her political ambition. Her father and brother too were prominent members of the court. She could have used her powers on Khurram and her powers as Empress in any way she wished. Then why did Mumtaz Mahal remain a quiet supporter all her life?
"Arjumand was made of a different material altogether.Her love and respect for Shah Jahan were genuine. The true affection of childhood sweethearts. She wasn't the one to use her famous husband to fulfill her own political ambitions." says Sati-un-Nissa. And I am ready to take her word for this. For it was she who helped the young wife, mother and inexperienced empress to run everything smoothly.
"Arjumand was intelligent.Very intelligent in her own way. She had grown up watching her aunt, Empress Noor Jahan. And she did not approve of her unhindered ambition in a male dominated society. She didnot approve of how Noor Jahan made life complicated for everyone around herself. Arjumand knew, that sooner or later, with the kind of powerful enemies she was making, Noor Jahan would fall flat on her face. The men did not like taking orders from her and they doubly did not like the way she influenced Jahangir."
"Arjumand therefore carefully charted her own way to stardom. Super stardom. She knew that love kept people alive in public memory for a longer time that hatred or fear. And that's what she did. Conquered by love."
I know this for sure that Mumtaz Mahal was not only famous for her divine beauty but also for her graceful and kind nature. There were quite a lot of times she intervened on behalf of the poor and the destitute.In fact many believe that after his ascension to the throne, when Shah Jahan put his step mother Noor Jahan on trial, he was so furious that he was about to give her the death sentence. Till a gentle word from Mumtaz Mahal reminded him that he ought to be nobler than what his step mother had been. That intervention, that act of kindness by the Mumtaz saved Noor Jahan's life and she was exiled to Lahore.
Understood. Mumtaz Mahal or Arjumand as I prefer to call her, was angelic. Intelligent yet good natured. But I want to know what drew Shah Jahan so strongly to her. He did have other wives. And a Mughal harem was always full of dancing girls and concubines. So why was he so attracted to Arjumand? So much that he totally neglected his other wives. Like TOTALLY.
(Shah Jahan did marry other wives even after his marriage to Arjumand, but again, all of them were political marriages. He could never feel for any of them the way he felt for Arjumand.The wives that came after Arjumand were - Hasina Begum, Moti Begum, Qusida Begum, Fatehpuri Mahal Begum, Sarhindi Begum and Srimati Manbhavati Baiji Lal Sahiba)
Ever since Khurram got married to Arjumand his relation with the other wives,
"...was nothing more than just 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.." - Motamid Khan - Iqbal Namah-e-Jahangiri
"Has anybody been able to decipher the secrets of a happy marriage?" smiles Sati-un-Nisaa
"Tell me, in your mythology, there is this flute playing God Krishna. I read that he had countless milkmaid girlfriends and admirers, three wives and sixteen thousand women whom he rescued from the clutches of some demon king and married only for namesake. Is that true?"
And yet, its only Radha who is the constant companion of Krishna. In our prayers at least.
That is a new angle! I never thought of it that way. Despite the presence of many women in his life,Krishna's eternal love story was with Radha. Despite three wives, Rukmini, Satyabhama and Jamwanti, who were major beauties in their own right and despite all the women who literally swooned over him, for thousands of years, we have always worshipped and cherished Krishna with his childhood sweetheart Radha.
Could it have been the same way with Khurram and Arjumand? That despite manifold temptations and distractions, in times of happiness and sadness they only reached out to each other? That Shah Jahan had found his soul mate in Mumtaz Mahal? May be not. But may be! One has to keep an open mind!
"As a boy, Shah Jahan grew up in a palace full of women who kept no stone upturned to be the centre of the Emperor's attention.When he was a baby, he was taken from his own mother Jagat Gosini, and handed over to his grandmother Queen Ruqayya Sultan Begum, a wife of Emperor Akbar. Just because she felt lonely and wanted to have a kid around her to keep herself occupied. He never got the affection of his own mother. In fact, he did not even know who his biological mother was till very late."
"In his impressionable growing up years, Khurram saw the royal women do little less other than throwing grand tantrums, spending fortunes on themselves, trying to beautify their forms when no natural beauty was left and scheming and scheming and scheming. Sometimes the schemes were harmless enough like one woman eavesdropping on another and sometimes, they ranged from smuggling unauthorized and illicit lovers into the harem, to causing deliberate miscarriages and induced abortions through herbal poisons and even murder. On tip toes of course. When such things happened, everyone came under suspicion, but hardly anyone was ever caught."
Wow! Mughal harems must have been rather interesting places! Everyone was out for everyone else's life. Since their very existence and the favours they enjoyed depended solely on their proximity to the emperor, there was nothing that grand mothers, mothers, step mothers, sisters, wives, concubines, mistresses, daughters would not do to make sure they alone were close enough to the sovereign. From back biting and seducing to downright poisoning.
"And then Khurram saw Noor Jahan, his step-mother. Though initially he was one of her supporters, because he thought her to be wiser and more astute than the Emperor himself, slowly he got embittered by her constant domination over all royal matters."
"And as a young prince, Khurram never quite understood the deep bond between his father Jahangir and that woman who came from nowhere and started ordering everyone about, Noor Jahan. He was forever in the dilemma. How could his father become so attached and so dependent on a woman who too would probably start scheming at the first given opportunity."
Anyone can imagine the image of women the young prince had in his mind from his growing up days. He must have determined never to take any woman seriously, never to take any woman beyond the bed, to his heart - or else they would turn into nasty, scheming, poison spewing vixens who'd ruthlessly use him to get their will done.Till he met the divine Arjumand.
"It took him very long to actually believe that Arjumand, with all that ethereal beauty that she possessed, was a very normal girl, who wished nothing more than to have a happy marriage and who actually prayed for her husband's success."
"Perhaps the fact that Arjumand had grown up in a normal family with a doting father and a loving mother, in a stable home, away from the palace zenana, away from the grandeur and power play, contributed to the fact that she was immensely well mannered, simple and good natured, didn't bother to spend her time scheming and planning wicked things and was pleased at simple acts of affection. She was no Noor Jahan. And that's how she remained till the very end."
"And this is what drew Shah Jahan magnetically to Mumtaz, even after they had many children and many years of marriage between them. When she said she cared for him, he knew no one could have cared better or cared more. He knew he could depend on her.She would never try to snatch power by unfair means or try to dominate. She had stood with him when he was facing the imperial wrath. She still stood with him when he was emperor himself. With her support, and her love, he actually felt like his title - Shah Jahan - the king of the world!"
Hmm...sigh...really, Mumtaz Mahal shouldn't have died. (An acutely selfish part of me thinks that we'd never have the lovely Taj Mahal if she hadn't.Bad me!!)
Perhaps it was the punishment Shah Jahan got for killing his own brothers and cousins to establish his right on the throne. (Not that they were any good themselves. Mostly useless.) In fact, so stark was the flip of fate that Shah Jahan lost his dearest Mumtaz in the very same town of Burhanpur, where once he had murdered his blind and almost demented brother Khusrau.
But it is unfair to sit in 2012 and judge people who lived in 1600s. Judging historical people by modern standards is not correct. And moreover, one cannot be a ruler and yet be too kind. At least to people who he knows will draw out their daggers the moment his back is turned.There is a famous saying "Kingship knows no kinship".The famous Emperor Asoka was very cruel before turning to Buddhism after the devastating war of Kalinga (where he was the person who caused the devastation). So I am not sure how high Shah Jahan rates on the cruelty meter.(If you are already hinting at the story of his order of chopping off the fingers/hands of the construction workers who built the Taj, I am dealing with that a little later.)
But we'll go back to the rest of Sati-un-Nissa's narration.
"They had become Emperor and Empress after a very hard struggle. And they were determined to enjoy the happiness they both had fought for so long. But it was not to be."
"Arjumand, with whom Shah Jahan had wanted to share every bit of his joys as new emperor, was Empress for only four years. Death soon crept up stealthily on the happy couple."
It was such a shock to Shah Jahan that Mumtaz was no more, that he didn't believe it for many days after her death. He simply locked himself up in a room, refusing food and water, thinking that may be when he opened the door, the nightmare would be over and everything would be as it was. Mumtaz would be there, with her ready smile.
So great was his grief that court historians have recorded, he was not seen in court for a week, and for the next two years gave up listening to music, wearing luxurious jewels or even clothes of any other colour than white. He even considered giving up his throne immediately and living a life of seclusion.
"Even though the Incomparable Giver had conferred on us such great bounty, more than which cannot be imagined, through His grace and generosity, yet the person with who we wanted to enjoy it has gone.." - Abdal Hamid Lahauri - The Badshah Nama Of Shah Jahan
An excerpt from a letter written by an honorary uncle of Shah Jahan reads,
"If he continued to abandon himself to his mourning, Mumtaz might think of giving up the joys of Paradise to come back to earth, this place of misery - and he should also consider the children she had left to his care"
Seventeenth century French traveler to India and a doctor, Francois Bernier recorded, that the emperor's grief at the death of the empress "crumbled his mountain like endurance" and that "when he unlocked himself from his room after many days of seclusion and mourning, his beard and hair that earlier had no more than twenty grey hair, had turned completely white from extreme shock."
The exact same incident is also recorded in the Badshah Nama, penned by Abdal Hamid Lahauri.
Is all this true?
"Yes it is." says Sati-un-Nissa.
Then she asks in a bemused tone, "But ,what do you want to believe?"
Beg your pardon?
"Its very rare to find companionship like that which existed between Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. And so many don't want to believe it. People are more comfortable with stone-dry theories without an ounce of romance. Because that's how most people live out the entire course of their lives. Incapable of loving someone dearly and incapable of receiving love from someone."
"So eventually we believe what we think we are comfortable believing. What do you wish to believe?"
Uh oh! Sticky wicket! Much as I would like to believe it - really really believe it -my contemporary mind throws up many questions.
"You people love conspiracy theories don't you? When you have the court chronicles clearly stating Shah Jahan's love for Arjumand, you will still go looking for something sinister and come up with bizarre explanation of events."
What happened after Mumtaz's death? He did have a lot of women around him, didn't he? Am I expected to believe that Shah Jahan remained celibate from the time of Mumtaz Mahal's death till the time of his own demise? Not only do I know from my research that it wasn't so at all, even if I hadn't done any research I wouldn't buy that.
"When did I say anything like that?" Sati-un-Nissa is sounding rather amused.
"Are you confusing between physical needs and romantic love? Does anyone in your society remain celibate if their partner dies an untimely death? But does that mean they never felt anything akin to love for their partner?"
"And, is it sane, is it humane to ask the living partner to give up everything, stop feeling like a normal person just because he was unfortunate enough to loose someone special?"
Erm.....I guess not. Old Sati-un-Nissa seems to be more advanced in her thinking than I am.
"What you do not understand is, in our times polygamy was the accepted trend of the day. In fact, monogamy was an idea people weren't familiar with, neither men nor women. And for an emperor marriage was a key way of making political allies."
Shah Jahan was lost in mourning for about two years of Arjumand's death. And then he went quite wild. He was on rebound from Arjumand's loss.
"He was angry and frustrated. In every face he looked at, he desperately searched for something that resembled Arjumand. It was as if he was angry with her for leaving him before time. And so came the string of women. From the much ignored other wives, to concubines and dancing girls. For Shah Jahan to prove to Arjumand that he could live without her."
"The reality was, he couldn't. No matter who he tried to recreate that same kind of affection with, he failed miserably. These women could never replace Arjumand in Shah Jahan's life.The better he understood that fact, the sadder he became. And the sadder he was, the wilder he got. Women were brought to him in hordes and he overdosed himself with aphrodisiacs. Shah Jahan had clearly lost control over himself in a way he never had when Arjumand was around. But no matter what escape he sought, Arjumand's absence haunted him day and night."
"Why he felt so perturbed was, that being Emperor, he could literally do anything he wished. Get anything and anyone he fancied. But not that one woman who had been his solace in troubled times. Mumtaz was gone. Forever. Life would never be the same again."
With the death of Arjumand Bano, an era of bliss has ended in Shah Jahan's life. His children were growing up and two of them, Aurangzeb and Roshanara, weren't showing the right traits.He hardly looked at the way the children were turning out to be. So lost was he in his own world of alternating grief and fits of angry passion. It was only the docile, caring Jahanara who was something like her mother and it was she who took over the duties of the Badshah Begum, the chief lady of the court, after her mother's demise. Jahanara and the saintly Dara Shikoh ("Darius the magnificent") were the only two children who had the angelic traits of Mumtaz Mahal.
In the meanwhile, Shah Jahan commissioned the construction of Taj Mahal. The land was purchased from Maharaja Jay Singh in return of a large, luxurious palace Shah Jahan gave him.
I have a question here. Was it Mumtaz's dying wish to have a "monument of love" constructed in the memory of her close relationship with her husband? Or did Shah Jahan go about building it own his own?
"No one knows." says Sati-un-Nissa
"The answer could be both no and yes. No, because normally one wouldn't think that in such weak health and pain, in such crisis, Arjumand would have thought of asking Shah Jahan something like that."
"And yes because, all her life, Arjumand had been a quiet supporter. She had been in the background. Silently and devoutly dedicated to her husband's cause. But in her heart, she must have craved for some show of her influence over Shah Jahan, some display of their love for each other - as she had so resentfully and quietly seen her father-in-law Jahangir loudly exhibit for her aunt Noor Jahan by making her his co regent.So perhaps when she sensed death was near, she made that last wish. No one will ever know."
Whatever be the case, the construction of the Taj Mahal started in the year 1632. Shah Jahan was excessively and personally involved with all the details of the building. He held meetings with architects and supervisors on a daily basis.
"When the courtiers came to know that the emperor wished to create a marvelous, never-seen-before mausoleum for his beloved empress, many suggested he should build a palace of gold and silver. But that didn't appeal to Shah Jahan."
"The Taj was to be Mumtaz's final home. It was to reflect her persona. And gold and silver wouldn't have portrayed the gentle Arjumand correctly to the world. She was too soft and those metals too loud. The way Shah Jahan visualized it, the mausoleum was to stand for everything Arjumand herself personified in his life. Peace, beauty, chastity, modesty, devotion, compassion and untarnished purity of body, mind and soul.A drop of paradise on Earth."
"It was also to be a representation of heaven, where Arjumand lived on in eternal peace."
What else could be better suited to portray such a beloved empress to the entire world, than pure, milky white and cool marble.
Makrana marble was brought all the way from Rajasthan to Agra. For the fantastic and intricate floral pietra dura work, the inlay of vividly coloured stones into the white marble, semi precious stones were brought in. Turquoise from Tibet, jasper from Cambay, malachite from Russia, Lapis Lazuli from Ceylon, Carnelian from the bazaars of Baghdad along with jade, black marble, amethyst and quartz.
"You won't believe, but even the Yamuna river, that seemed to come in the way, was carved away from her millenia old original path to curve and flow gently past the Taj."
"An entire city of twenty thousand workers, masons, stone cutters and craftsmen - Mumtazabad - was erected around the site of the building."
"There were gold wall panels inside the tomb, the main doors were solid carved silver. A gold railing surrounded the sarcophagus. And right above the sarcophagus, a velvet canopy richly embroidered with pearls, diamonds, rubies and emeralds covered the sleeping Arjumand" - Indu Sundaresan - The Feast of Roses
The Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653. Twenty two years after Arjumand left Shah Jahan. Arjumand had first been buried temporarily at Burhanpur, where she died, then she was buried at Agra while the Taj was under construction. Finally, she was moved to her permanent resting place, Taj Mahal.
"By this time, Shah Jahan was weak and ailing. And still very upset about Arjumand's death. His son, Aurangzeb was getting rather desperate to be crowned king."
"Aurangzeb, then Prince Muhiuddin, always thought himself more capable than all his brothers. And he did not approve of the amount of money and time Shah Jahan spent over the Taj Mahal. He arrested his own father and imprisoned him in the Agra fort, from where, it is said, Shah Jahan kept staring at the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb clearly thought his father had completely lost that edge an emperor ought to have to be able to command the fear and respect of his subjects."
"And may be it was really so. After Arjumand's death, Shah Jahan wasn't really the strong, brave, intelligent, fire-brand emperor he had been."
There isn't much of the narration left after this. When Shah Jahan died on 31st January 1666, he was interred in Taj Mahal, beside his beloved wife, childhood sweetheart, trusted companion, confidante and soul mate, Arjumand Bano Begum - Empress Mumtaz Mahal.
That was the beginning of the decline of the mighty empire of the Mughals, which, on the eve on Shah Jahan's death, spanned about three hundred thousand square kilometers.
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THERE IS NO HISTORICALLY VALIDATED PROOF OR REPUTED AND RELIABLE SCHOLARLY DOCUMENTATION THAT SHAH JAHAN ORDERED HIS MEN TO CUT OFF THE FINGERS/HANDS OF THE WORKERS WHO BUILT THE TAJ MAHAL.
HISTORIANS ARE IN FACT OF THE OPINION THAT IT WAS A PROPAGANDA SPREAD BY THE BRITISH, TO KEEP AWAY PEOPLE'S ATTENTION FROM THE FACT - THE VALIDATED FACT - THAT THE BRITISH DID NOT ENCOURAGE THE ART OF THE WEAVERS OF THE FINE DHAKA MUSLIN CLOTH (so fine that an entire muslin saree could pass through the hole of a ring) AND CUT OFF THE THUMBS OF THE MUSLIN WEAVERS IN DHAKA (BANGLADESH)...TO KILL THAT ART ALTOGETHER AND PROMOTE THE TRADE OF LANCASHIRE CLOTH THAT CAME FROM ENGLAND.
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Whether you believe it or not, behind the magnificent Taj Mahal, lies a love story. That kind of sublime beauty cannot be visualized and created without love being the main inspiration.
The people in the love story had their share of flaws, but they were very much in love. If not, then tell me, why is it that we cannot readily (wihout googling) name any other wife of Shah Jahan other than Mumtaz Mahal? Why was only Mumtaz chosen to be the Badshah Begum, out of all the other women in the harem? She was no royal princess, nor was her father a mighty ruler.Why is it that Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal had fourteen children together, whereas we hardly know anything about his children with the other secondary wives?
Why is it that out of all the women in the royal harem, only Mumtaz Mahal lies in the Taj? Why is it that the Taj isn't built in glaring red sandstone like all other Mughal monuments? Why is it pure white? Because that is the only colour that represents with near accuracy the kindest queen in Mughal history.
Why is it that, while all other Mughal emperors have their own very grand mausoleums, where they lie alone as the supreme sovereign, away from their spouses, Shah Jahan never bothered to commission one for himself? Why does an emperor, and a mighty one at that, lie next to his wife in a mausoleum he built for her and not for himself?
Most importantly, if we can readily believe in the love stories of movie stars, common people, people in our neighborhood, people in our colleges and offices - then why do we find it so hard to digest that a king was deeply in love with his queen?
Arjumand, the beautiful and dutiful wife of Shah Jahan, the empress for four short years, would never know, that her Khurram would go on to create the magnificent, sublime and exquisite Taj Mahal in her memory and place her in eternal sleep there. That Khurram would make sure of all Mughal women, it was the shy, gentle and loving Arjumand who would be firmly embedded in the memory of time.
She would never know that when his turn came, he would be right there beside her, like he had been in life.This time, for eternity.
If in life, she had, in even one moment of human weakness, envied her aunt - the much pampered Noor Jahan - then in death, and hundreds of years after death, posterity would remember her in tender, endearing thoughts- Empress Mumtaz Mahal - the muse of the Taj.
Like the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore called this dream in marble - A teardrop on the cheek of time.
I grant you that Shah Jahan's exclusive adoration for Mumtaz was unfair for the other wives. They lived out their entire lives in Arjumand's shadow and even after her death, Arjumand Bano reigned supreme. But love isn't a rational feeling. You cannot feel the same way for every person in your life.Can you? You do love some more, some less and some none at all. Don't you? Remember, its always Radha and Krishna who we love to see together in our songs, metaphors and prayers....never mind all the wives of Krishna!
Iqbal Namah-e-Jahangiri - Motamid Khan
The Badshah Nama of Shah Jahan - Abdal Hamid Lahauri
Travels in the Mughal Empire - Francois Bernier
Taj Mahal - The Illumined Tomb - W.E. Begley and Z.A.Desai
Beloved Empress Mumtaz Mahal - Nina Epton
The Feast of Roses - Indu Sundaresan
Shadow Princess - Indu Sundaresan
Wikipedia
No one was excessively worried because her thirteen previous pregnancies had been pretty smooth and uncomplicated. Though seven children had either died at birth or within a few years, the mother had been in perfect health. (and why not? She was no ordinary woman, she was the sweetheart and chief queen of the heir apparent to the Mughal throne, Khurram - later Shah Jahan).
But this time, the slight shadow of doubt that gnawed at everyone's heart was that she was thirty eight years old....almost forty. Certainly not a proper age for having children. Oh! But nothing could happen to Mumtaz Mahal. The Emperor's dearest consort. Why! The whole empire might collapse if anything happened to her. Who knows what Shah Jahan might do if he lost Mumtaz. Nah! She would come out of this slightly complicated pregnancy unscathed.
And yet, Mumtaz Mahal died.
And the baby she gave birth to, Gauhara Begum, lived. Lived till the age of 75 years. And lived with the accusation of having snatched away the empire's and the emperor's most precious jewel.
"After the passing of midnight...a daughter was born to that tree of the orchard of good fortune, Mumtaz Mahal, whereupon her feverish temperature transgressed the bounds of moderation...This unexpected incident and soul rending disaster filled the world with bewilderment.." - From "Badshah Nama" by Abdal Hamid Lahauri - as quoted by W.E. Begley and Z.A.Desai - Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb
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I am with an elderly lady. Her hair is white with experience and wisdom and her wrinkles only make her look more pleasant and motherly. She is simply dressed, though I am told that she wields immense power within the walls of the Mughal zenana and has a considerable income. But she has no airs. She is simple, warm and welcoming. Why not? After all, the story I have requested her to narrate is her own favorite too.
Her name is Sati-un-Nissa. Chief lady-in-waiting and personal attendant to Empress Mumtaz Mahal, from the time before she became an empress. She was also a teacher and governess to the empress' children.
Sati-un-Nissa Begum is from a highly educated Persian family. She is a scholar herself, they say. Though not much of a looker, she is as perfect an assistant and as perfect a nanny as any new empress and young mother could wish for. She knows exactly what to say and what to do. And what not to say and what not to do!
So..from the beginning please.Its comforting to settle down cozily on richly woven cushions with a plate of the choicest dry fruits to munch on and an ornate glass of cool Khus sherbet...I always had a thing for such languid, comfortable story telling sessions. Only this time...it isn't a story...it all happened....centuries ago...for real. (And no! I do not smoke the hookah.)
"It was a love and arranged marriage."
That's new! No rebellion against the father? Isn't it mandatory for all Mughal princes to rebel against their daddy to win throne and ladylove?(my mind is partly fed on Hindi movies like Mughal-e-Azam and Taj Mahal). No schemes and scandals?
"Can I please continue in my own way, without unnecessary interruptions?" Sati-un-Nissa says in a strict, teacher like tone.
"Arjumand Bano was the daughter of Asaf Khan, Noor Jahan's brother. That made her Noor Jahan's niece. A position that sometimes went for her and sometimes against her."
"Noor Jahan was the most powerful Empress in the entire history of Mughals. She had Jahangir entirely under her control and was used to never-seen-before privileges like holding durbaars, giving orders to the army, signing the royal decrees and getting coins minted in her name. She was as famous for her tantrums, her temper and her shrewd political intellect as for her beauty and charms."
I know...I just wrote a long article on her. :)
"Noor Jahan had a daughter from her previous marriage to a Subedaar of the Burdwaan district in Bengal, Sher Afghan. Her name was Ladli Begum and she was forever under her ambitious and dazzling mother's shadow. But Noor Jahan had grand plans for her daughter."
"She was keen to make sure that her bloodline would intermingle with that of the royal Mughals for at least another generation. She carefully studied the four sons of Jahangir, with a hawk's eye...to determine who was being preened to become the next emperor."
"The eldest son, Prince Khusrau was already married and he was blind. Blinded by his own father as a punishment for trying to revolt earlier in life. The second prince, Parwez was hardly seen in Agra and was a Subedaar of some distant province near Surat. He was notorious for his love of narcotics and bribes. The youngest prince Shahryar was weak. He was called nashudani - good for nothing."
The one that remained then, was the handsome, brave, strong and well educated Khurram. The third son of Jahangir. It was Prince Khurram whom Noor Jahan earmarked for her daughter.
Ladli Begum must marry the Emperor's favourite son, Prince Khurram, and become Empress.
"Yes. Noor Jahan went to great lengths trying to secure Khurram's romantic affection for her daughter Ladli. To her eyes, nothing could be better. Ladli married to a brave prince who had a great royal career waiting for him. But fate had other plans."
Destiny was to usurp Noor Jahan's plan...in the form of her own niece - the exquisitely beautiful and almost ethereal Arjumand Bano.
Sati-un-Nissa's eyes light up at the mere mention of Arjumand.The memories she has of the deceased empress must be really fond.
"All the beauty in Noor Jahan's family seemed to be condensed in Arjumand. Not only beauty of the form but also immense beauty of the soul. She walked on such light nimble feet that it felt she was floating in the air and she was ever so gentle with her words. If you ever saw Arjumand laugh, you'd want to laugh with her.She was like a beam of sunshine."
"She was merely 14 years old when he first saw her. He was just a year older than her.She was Ladli's cousin and friend and often visited the royal zenana quarters. The first time their eyes met, they were besotted with each other.Totally smitten. I am sure he must have inquired about who she was and then gone running to his father, the Emperor Jahangir, to declare that he really really liked Arjumand."
That simple?
"Khurram was Jahangir's dearest son. He had constantly proven his merit to his father and appeared noble, rational, intelligent and a deft warrior. Khurram's wish wasn't to be taken lightly."
"Empress Noor Jahan was not very pleased, understandably. She knew Ladli did not stand the remotest chance if there was to be a competition for Khurram's attention between her and Arjumand. She tried to pressurize her husband into ordering Khurram to marry Ladli."
But that obviously didn't quite work out, did it?
"The concoction of love, beauty and youth is the most powerful and dangerous potion in the world."
"Much as he was controlled by Noor Jahan, Emperor Jahangir was wise enough to see that. Why? Hadn't he himself got into trouble more than once with his own father, Emperor Akbar, over matters of the heart? He asked the young prince if he wished to marry Ladli. And Khurram refused in the politest possible manner. He only had eyes for Arjumand."
So what did Noor Jahan do?
"Oh she was clever beyond her years. She was not the one to be fooled by that thing called love. She calculated shrewdly and drew a compromise. If not daughter, then let it be the niece! Arjumand too was family after all. Her bloodline would still remain royal."
"And who knew? Khurram might not become emperor in the end.She now set her eyes on the simpleton Shahryar.With a little maneuvering, Ladli could still be empress...if Shahryar became emperor."
In the year 1607, Arjumand Bano, the daughter of Mirza Asaf Khan, the niece of Empress Noor Jahan, was engaged to be married to Prince Khurram, the third son of Emperor Jahangir.
"But they couldn't marry immediately. She was 14 and he was 15 when they were engaged. Emperor Jahangir had made promises to rulers and governors of other lands. Promises of marrying off his brightest son Khurram to their daughters, in order to become political allies."
"Through such political promises of the emperor, Prince Khurram married Akbarabadi Mahal and Kandahari Mahal. Kandahari Mahal Begum was the daughter of Muzaffar Hussain Mirza, the governor of Qandahar. Khurram was polite to them and fulfilled his conjugal duties. He made sure they were never out of money or fine jewels. But the person whose company his heart craved for was undoubtedly Arjumand."
Finally, after court astrologers calculated a wedding date for them, to ensure a happy marriage, five years after their engagement to each other, in 1612, Prince Khurram and Arjumand Bano were married.
"Oh it was a beautiful wedding. The bride looked like a dream and the groom couldn't be happier. I won't say it was the grandest wedding in all Mughal history, but it was full of joy and laughter. The preparations and the celebrations spanned an entire month. Everyone was more or less pleased with Arjumand and Khurram's wedding."
"Few marriages in polygamous households have been so happy....Arjumand Banu...surrendered her mind and soul to her husband..." - Beni Prasad - The History of Jahangir
"It was a very successful, very happy marriage." Sati-un-Nissa pauses, as she reminisces the royal romance she has witnessed from such close quarters.
"He bestowed upon Arjumand the title of Mumtaz Mahal. The best jewel of the palace. The Chosen One of the Palace."
"The pleasure and pride that filled their eyes whenever they so much as looked at each other was boundless."
I know from my own research into the Shah Jahan - Mumtaz Mahal story that right after his marriage to Arjumand, Khurram gained immense success in his military campaigns on behalf of his father, Jahangir. It was Jahangir who granted the young prince the honorific title of "Shah Jahan" in the year 1617, announcing publicly that he was indeed favored over and above his brothers as the heir apparent.
"But still, Khurram rebelled."
In 1622, Khurram, supported by the arch-enemy of Noor Jahan, Mahabat Khan, declared war on the imperial army. Arjumand was with him. Wherever he went, all the time, everywhere. And she was pregnant.
Why should he rebel, one thinks? He was already the favourite of the emperor, he already had his Arjumand...then why did he rebel against his father like most of his predecessors before him?
"Do not forget, Empress Noor Jahan was still the "power behind the throne". When she could not get her own daughter Ladli married to Khurram, she turned her favours and attention to Prince Shahryar. Shahryar was now Ladli's husband and so she pushed his case forward with Emperor Jahangir. Who was by now ill and totally dependent on Noor Jahan and opium." Sati-un-Nissa's voice is soft and cautious. As if she still fears the long gone Empress Noor Jahan might hear her and punish her.
"Khurram was now a man with a purpose. He had his Arjumand who kept telling him that he indeed was the best of the Mughal princes and that the only wish she had was to see him on the throne of Agra.A family man, with a loving wife and small children, Khurram now had to stand up and fight for what was rightfully his.He did not want to remain a by stander to Noor Jahan's sovereignty. He had to prove himself to Arjumand."
"Through those treacherous days and dangerous nights, in the rough terrains of the unfamiliar Deccan plateau, while Khurram planned his rebellion with a handful of trusted men, while he fought the hopelessness of the idea of challenging the mighty imperial army, it was Arjumand who kept him company. Faithful and rock steady.Not for a moment did she let him drown in pessimism. She never complained about her personal discomfort. Every ounce of courage Arjumand had, at this delicate time, she shared with her beloved husband Khurram."
This only strengthened the bond of faith and mutual dependence between Khurram and Arjumand. Their marriage had stood the test of tough times.
Finally, after struggling for five whole years, in a very hard won victory, in the year 1627, Shah Jahan (Khurram) became the fifth Mughal Emperor of one of the world's mightiest and largest empires.
"Nobody, but nobody could have been happier than Arjumand. Her dream to see her husband successful was fulfilled. And then, once on the throne himself, how could Shah Jahan forget that one woman who had fueled the fire of his success and happiness? He declared Mumtaz Mahal his Badshah Begum, the chief lady of the court and gave her the imperial seal - Muhr Uza."
"But privately he always called her Arjumand. Both of them preferred it that way.They read to each other, discussed philosophy and she sang to him when they were alone. She never pulled him away from the duties of the court...instead she took immense pride in the fact that her husband was proving himself to be an able ruler." Sati-un-Nissa smiles indulgently.
"And when free from work, it is anybody's guess whom Shah Jahan spent his time with. Arjumand. Mumtaz Mahal."
At this juncture, I want to go a little deeper than just the popularly known love story. What made Mumtaz Mahal the way she was? Her Aunt Noor Jahan was notorious for her political ambition. Her father and brother too were prominent members of the court. She could have used her powers on Khurram and her powers as Empress in any way she wished. Then why did Mumtaz Mahal remain a quiet supporter all her life?
"Arjumand was made of a different material altogether.Her love and respect for Shah Jahan were genuine. The true affection of childhood sweethearts. She wasn't the one to use her famous husband to fulfill her own political ambitions." says Sati-un-Nissa. And I am ready to take her word for this. For it was she who helped the young wife, mother and inexperienced empress to run everything smoothly.
"Arjumand was intelligent.Very intelligent in her own way. She had grown up watching her aunt, Empress Noor Jahan. And she did not approve of her unhindered ambition in a male dominated society. She didnot approve of how Noor Jahan made life complicated for everyone around herself. Arjumand knew, that sooner or later, with the kind of powerful enemies she was making, Noor Jahan would fall flat on her face. The men did not like taking orders from her and they doubly did not like the way she influenced Jahangir."
"Arjumand therefore carefully charted her own way to stardom. Super stardom. She knew that love kept people alive in public memory for a longer time that hatred or fear. And that's what she did. Conquered by love."
I know this for sure that Mumtaz Mahal was not only famous for her divine beauty but also for her graceful and kind nature. There were quite a lot of times she intervened on behalf of the poor and the destitute.In fact many believe that after his ascension to the throne, when Shah Jahan put his step mother Noor Jahan on trial, he was so furious that he was about to give her the death sentence. Till a gentle word from Mumtaz Mahal reminded him that he ought to be nobler than what his step mother had been. That intervention, that act of kindness by the Mumtaz saved Noor Jahan's life and she was exiled to Lahore.
Understood. Mumtaz Mahal or Arjumand as I prefer to call her, was angelic. Intelligent yet good natured. But I want to know what drew Shah Jahan so strongly to her. He did have other wives. And a Mughal harem was always full of dancing girls and concubines. So why was he so attracted to Arjumand? So much that he totally neglected his other wives. Like TOTALLY.
(Shah Jahan did marry other wives even after his marriage to Arjumand, but again, all of them were political marriages. He could never feel for any of them the way he felt for Arjumand.The wives that came after Arjumand were - Hasina Begum, Moti Begum, Qusida Begum, Fatehpuri Mahal Begum, Sarhindi Begum and Srimati Manbhavati Baiji Lal Sahiba)
Ever since Khurram got married to Arjumand his relation with the other wives,
"...was nothing more than just 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.." - Motamid Khan - Iqbal Namah-e-Jahangiri
"Has anybody been able to decipher the secrets of a happy marriage?" smiles Sati-un-Nisaa
"Tell me, in your mythology, there is this flute playing God Krishna. I read that he had countless milkmaid girlfriends and admirers, three wives and sixteen thousand women whom he rescued from the clutches of some demon king and married only for namesake. Is that true?"
And yet, its only Radha who is the constant companion of Krishna. In our prayers at least.
That is a new angle! I never thought of it that way. Despite the presence of many women in his life,Krishna's eternal love story was with Radha. Despite three wives, Rukmini, Satyabhama and Jamwanti, who were major beauties in their own right and despite all the women who literally swooned over him, for thousands of years, we have always worshipped and cherished Krishna with his childhood sweetheart Radha.
Could it have been the same way with Khurram and Arjumand? That despite manifold temptations and distractions, in times of happiness and sadness they only reached out to each other? That Shah Jahan had found his soul mate in Mumtaz Mahal? May be not. But may be! One has to keep an open mind!
"As a boy, Shah Jahan grew up in a palace full of women who kept no stone upturned to be the centre of the Emperor's attention.When he was a baby, he was taken from his own mother Jagat Gosini, and handed over to his grandmother Queen Ruqayya Sultan Begum, a wife of Emperor Akbar. Just because she felt lonely and wanted to have a kid around her to keep herself occupied. He never got the affection of his own mother. In fact, he did not even know who his biological mother was till very late."
"In his impressionable growing up years, Khurram saw the royal women do little less other than throwing grand tantrums, spending fortunes on themselves, trying to beautify their forms when no natural beauty was left and scheming and scheming and scheming. Sometimes the schemes were harmless enough like one woman eavesdropping on another and sometimes, they ranged from smuggling unauthorized and illicit lovers into the harem, to causing deliberate miscarriages and induced abortions through herbal poisons and even murder. On tip toes of course. When such things happened, everyone came under suspicion, but hardly anyone was ever caught."
Wow! Mughal harems must have been rather interesting places! Everyone was out for everyone else's life. Since their very existence and the favours they enjoyed depended solely on their proximity to the emperor, there was nothing that grand mothers, mothers, step mothers, sisters, wives, concubines, mistresses, daughters would not do to make sure they alone were close enough to the sovereign. From back biting and seducing to downright poisoning.
"And then Khurram saw Noor Jahan, his step-mother. Though initially he was one of her supporters, because he thought her to be wiser and more astute than the Emperor himself, slowly he got embittered by her constant domination over all royal matters."
"And as a young prince, Khurram never quite understood the deep bond between his father Jahangir and that woman who came from nowhere and started ordering everyone about, Noor Jahan. He was forever in the dilemma. How could his father become so attached and so dependent on a woman who too would probably start scheming at the first given opportunity."
Anyone can imagine the image of women the young prince had in his mind from his growing up days. He must have determined never to take any woman seriously, never to take any woman beyond the bed, to his heart - or else they would turn into nasty, scheming, poison spewing vixens who'd ruthlessly use him to get their will done.Till he met the divine Arjumand.
"It took him very long to actually believe that Arjumand, with all that ethereal beauty that she possessed, was a very normal girl, who wished nothing more than to have a happy marriage and who actually prayed for her husband's success."
"Perhaps the fact that Arjumand had grown up in a normal family with a doting father and a loving mother, in a stable home, away from the palace zenana, away from the grandeur and power play, contributed to the fact that she was immensely well mannered, simple and good natured, didn't bother to spend her time scheming and planning wicked things and was pleased at simple acts of affection. She was no Noor Jahan. And that's how she remained till the very end."
"And this is what drew Shah Jahan magnetically to Mumtaz, even after they had many children and many years of marriage between them. When she said she cared for him, he knew no one could have cared better or cared more. He knew he could depend on her.She would never try to snatch power by unfair means or try to dominate. She had stood with him when he was facing the imperial wrath. She still stood with him when he was emperor himself. With her support, and her love, he actually felt like his title - Shah Jahan - the king of the world!"
Hmm...sigh...really, Mumtaz Mahal shouldn't have died. (An acutely selfish part of me thinks that we'd never have the lovely Taj Mahal if she hadn't.Bad me!!)
Perhaps it was the punishment Shah Jahan got for killing his own brothers and cousins to establish his right on the throne. (Not that they were any good themselves. Mostly useless.) In fact, so stark was the flip of fate that Shah Jahan lost his dearest Mumtaz in the very same town of Burhanpur, where once he had murdered his blind and almost demented brother Khusrau.
But it is unfair to sit in 2012 and judge people who lived in 1600s. Judging historical people by modern standards is not correct. And moreover, one cannot be a ruler and yet be too kind. At least to people who he knows will draw out their daggers the moment his back is turned.There is a famous saying "Kingship knows no kinship".The famous Emperor Asoka was very cruel before turning to Buddhism after the devastating war of Kalinga (where he was the person who caused the devastation). So I am not sure how high Shah Jahan rates on the cruelty meter.(If you are already hinting at the story of his order of chopping off the fingers/hands of the construction workers who built the Taj, I am dealing with that a little later.)
But we'll go back to the rest of Sati-un-Nissa's narration.
"They had become Emperor and Empress after a very hard struggle. And they were determined to enjoy the happiness they both had fought for so long. But it was not to be."
"Arjumand, with whom Shah Jahan had wanted to share every bit of his joys as new emperor, was Empress for only four years. Death soon crept up stealthily on the happy couple."
It was such a shock to Shah Jahan that Mumtaz was no more, that he didn't believe it for many days after her death. He simply locked himself up in a room, refusing food and water, thinking that may be when he opened the door, the nightmare would be over and everything would be as it was. Mumtaz would be there, with her ready smile.
So great was his grief that court historians have recorded, he was not seen in court for a week, and for the next two years gave up listening to music, wearing luxurious jewels or even clothes of any other colour than white. He even considered giving up his throne immediately and living a life of seclusion.
"Even though the Incomparable Giver had conferred on us such great bounty, more than which cannot be imagined, through His grace and generosity, yet the person with who we wanted to enjoy it has gone.." - Abdal Hamid Lahauri - The Badshah Nama Of Shah Jahan
An excerpt from a letter written by an honorary uncle of Shah Jahan reads,
"If he continued to abandon himself to his mourning, Mumtaz might think of giving up the joys of Paradise to come back to earth, this place of misery - and he should also consider the children she had left to his care"
Seventeenth century French traveler to India and a doctor, Francois Bernier recorded, that the emperor's grief at the death of the empress "crumbled his mountain like endurance" and that "when he unlocked himself from his room after many days of seclusion and mourning, his beard and hair that earlier had no more than twenty grey hair, had turned completely white from extreme shock."
The exact same incident is also recorded in the Badshah Nama, penned by Abdal Hamid Lahauri.
Is all this true?
"Yes it is." says Sati-un-Nissa.
Then she asks in a bemused tone, "But ,what do you want to believe?"
Beg your pardon?
"Its very rare to find companionship like that which existed between Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. And so many don't want to believe it. People are more comfortable with stone-dry theories without an ounce of romance. Because that's how most people live out the entire course of their lives. Incapable of loving someone dearly and incapable of receiving love from someone."
"So eventually we believe what we think we are comfortable believing. What do you wish to believe?"
Uh oh! Sticky wicket! Much as I would like to believe it - really really believe it -my contemporary mind throws up many questions.
"You people love conspiracy theories don't you? When you have the court chronicles clearly stating Shah Jahan's love for Arjumand, you will still go looking for something sinister and come up with bizarre explanation of events."
What happened after Mumtaz's death? He did have a lot of women around him, didn't he? Am I expected to believe that Shah Jahan remained celibate from the time of Mumtaz Mahal's death till the time of his own demise? Not only do I know from my research that it wasn't so at all, even if I hadn't done any research I wouldn't buy that.
"When did I say anything like that?" Sati-un-Nissa is sounding rather amused.
"Are you confusing between physical needs and romantic love? Does anyone in your society remain celibate if their partner dies an untimely death? But does that mean they never felt anything akin to love for their partner?"
"And, is it sane, is it humane to ask the living partner to give up everything, stop feeling like a normal person just because he was unfortunate enough to loose someone special?"
Erm.....I guess not. Old Sati-un-Nissa seems to be more advanced in her thinking than I am.
"What you do not understand is, in our times polygamy was the accepted trend of the day. In fact, monogamy was an idea people weren't familiar with, neither men nor women. And for an emperor marriage was a key way of making political allies."
Shah Jahan was lost in mourning for about two years of Arjumand's death. And then he went quite wild. He was on rebound from Arjumand's loss.
"He was angry and frustrated. In every face he looked at, he desperately searched for something that resembled Arjumand. It was as if he was angry with her for leaving him before time. And so came the string of women. From the much ignored other wives, to concubines and dancing girls. For Shah Jahan to prove to Arjumand that he could live without her."
"The reality was, he couldn't. No matter who he tried to recreate that same kind of affection with, he failed miserably. These women could never replace Arjumand in Shah Jahan's life.The better he understood that fact, the sadder he became. And the sadder he was, the wilder he got. Women were brought to him in hordes and he overdosed himself with aphrodisiacs. Shah Jahan had clearly lost control over himself in a way he never had when Arjumand was around. But no matter what escape he sought, Arjumand's absence haunted him day and night."
"Why he felt so perturbed was, that being Emperor, he could literally do anything he wished. Get anything and anyone he fancied. But not that one woman who had been his solace in troubled times. Mumtaz was gone. Forever. Life would never be the same again."
With the death of Arjumand Bano, an era of bliss has ended in Shah Jahan's life. His children were growing up and two of them, Aurangzeb and Roshanara, weren't showing the right traits.He hardly looked at the way the children were turning out to be. So lost was he in his own world of alternating grief and fits of angry passion. It was only the docile, caring Jahanara who was something like her mother and it was she who took over the duties of the Badshah Begum, the chief lady of the court, after her mother's demise. Jahanara and the saintly Dara Shikoh ("Darius the magnificent") were the only two children who had the angelic traits of Mumtaz Mahal.
In the meanwhile, Shah Jahan commissioned the construction of Taj Mahal. The land was purchased from Maharaja Jay Singh in return of a large, luxurious palace Shah Jahan gave him.
I have a question here. Was it Mumtaz's dying wish to have a "monument of love" constructed in the memory of her close relationship with her husband? Or did Shah Jahan go about building it own his own?
"No one knows." says Sati-un-Nissa
"The answer could be both no and yes. No, because normally one wouldn't think that in such weak health and pain, in such crisis, Arjumand would have thought of asking Shah Jahan something like that."
"And yes because, all her life, Arjumand had been a quiet supporter. She had been in the background. Silently and devoutly dedicated to her husband's cause. But in her heart, she must have craved for some show of her influence over Shah Jahan, some display of their love for each other - as she had so resentfully and quietly seen her father-in-law Jahangir loudly exhibit for her aunt Noor Jahan by making her his co regent.So perhaps when she sensed death was near, she made that last wish. No one will ever know."
Whatever be the case, the construction of the Taj Mahal started in the year 1632. Shah Jahan was excessively and personally involved with all the details of the building. He held meetings with architects and supervisors on a daily basis.
"When the courtiers came to know that the emperor wished to create a marvelous, never-seen-before mausoleum for his beloved empress, many suggested he should build a palace of gold and silver. But that didn't appeal to Shah Jahan."
"The Taj was to be Mumtaz's final home. It was to reflect her persona. And gold and silver wouldn't have portrayed the gentle Arjumand correctly to the world. She was too soft and those metals too loud. The way Shah Jahan visualized it, the mausoleum was to stand for everything Arjumand herself personified in his life. Peace, beauty, chastity, modesty, devotion, compassion and untarnished purity of body, mind and soul.A drop of paradise on Earth."
"It was also to be a representation of heaven, where Arjumand lived on in eternal peace."
What else could be better suited to portray such a beloved empress to the entire world, than pure, milky white and cool marble.
Makrana marble was brought all the way from Rajasthan to Agra. For the fantastic and intricate floral pietra dura work, the inlay of vividly coloured stones into the white marble, semi precious stones were brought in. Turquoise from Tibet, jasper from Cambay, malachite from Russia, Lapis Lazuli from Ceylon, Carnelian from the bazaars of Baghdad along with jade, black marble, amethyst and quartz.
"You won't believe, but even the Yamuna river, that seemed to come in the way, was carved away from her millenia old original path to curve and flow gently past the Taj."
"An entire city of twenty thousand workers, masons, stone cutters and craftsmen - Mumtazabad - was erected around the site of the building."
"There were gold wall panels inside the tomb, the main doors were solid carved silver. A gold railing surrounded the sarcophagus. And right above the sarcophagus, a velvet canopy richly embroidered with pearls, diamonds, rubies and emeralds covered the sleeping Arjumand" - Indu Sundaresan - The Feast of Roses
The Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653. Twenty two years after Arjumand left Shah Jahan. Arjumand had first been buried temporarily at Burhanpur, where she died, then she was buried at Agra while the Taj was under construction. Finally, she was moved to her permanent resting place, Taj Mahal.
"By this time, Shah Jahan was weak and ailing. And still very upset about Arjumand's death. His son, Aurangzeb was getting rather desperate to be crowned king."
"Aurangzeb, then Prince Muhiuddin, always thought himself more capable than all his brothers. And he did not approve of the amount of money and time Shah Jahan spent over the Taj Mahal. He arrested his own father and imprisoned him in the Agra fort, from where, it is said, Shah Jahan kept staring at the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb clearly thought his father had completely lost that edge an emperor ought to have to be able to command the fear and respect of his subjects."
"And may be it was really so. After Arjumand's death, Shah Jahan wasn't really the strong, brave, intelligent, fire-brand emperor he had been."
There isn't much of the narration left after this. When Shah Jahan died on 31st January 1666, he was interred in Taj Mahal, beside his beloved wife, childhood sweetheart, trusted companion, confidante and soul mate, Arjumand Bano Begum - Empress Mumtaz Mahal.
That was the beginning of the decline of the mighty empire of the Mughals, which, on the eve on Shah Jahan's death, spanned about three hundred thousand square kilometers.
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THERE IS NO HISTORICALLY VALIDATED PROOF OR REPUTED AND RELIABLE SCHOLARLY DOCUMENTATION THAT SHAH JAHAN ORDERED HIS MEN TO CUT OFF THE FINGERS/HANDS OF THE WORKERS WHO BUILT THE TAJ MAHAL.
HISTORIANS ARE IN FACT OF THE OPINION THAT IT WAS A PROPAGANDA SPREAD BY THE BRITISH, TO KEEP AWAY PEOPLE'S ATTENTION FROM THE FACT - THE VALIDATED FACT - THAT THE BRITISH DID NOT ENCOURAGE THE ART OF THE WEAVERS OF THE FINE DHAKA MUSLIN CLOTH (so fine that an entire muslin saree could pass through the hole of a ring) AND CUT OFF THE THUMBS OF THE MUSLIN WEAVERS IN DHAKA (BANGLADESH)...TO KILL THAT ART ALTOGETHER AND PROMOTE THE TRADE OF LANCASHIRE CLOTH THAT CAME FROM ENGLAND.
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Whether you believe it or not, behind the magnificent Taj Mahal, lies a love story. That kind of sublime beauty cannot be visualized and created without love being the main inspiration.
The people in the love story had their share of flaws, but they were very much in love. If not, then tell me, why is it that we cannot readily (wihout googling) name any other wife of Shah Jahan other than Mumtaz Mahal? Why was only Mumtaz chosen to be the Badshah Begum, out of all the other women in the harem? She was no royal princess, nor was her father a mighty ruler.Why is it that Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal had fourteen children together, whereas we hardly know anything about his children with the other secondary wives?
Why is it that out of all the women in the royal harem, only Mumtaz Mahal lies in the Taj? Why is it that the Taj isn't built in glaring red sandstone like all other Mughal monuments? Why is it pure white? Because that is the only colour that represents with near accuracy the kindest queen in Mughal history.
Why is it that, while all other Mughal emperors have their own very grand mausoleums, where they lie alone as the supreme sovereign, away from their spouses, Shah Jahan never bothered to commission one for himself? Why does an emperor, and a mighty one at that, lie next to his wife in a mausoleum he built for her and not for himself?
Most importantly, if we can readily believe in the love stories of movie stars, common people, people in our neighborhood, people in our colleges and offices - then why do we find it so hard to digest that a king was deeply in love with his queen?
Arjumand, the beautiful and dutiful wife of Shah Jahan, the empress for four short years, would never know, that her Khurram would go on to create the magnificent, sublime and exquisite Taj Mahal in her memory and place her in eternal sleep there. That Khurram would make sure of all Mughal women, it was the shy, gentle and loving Arjumand who would be firmly embedded in the memory of time.
She would never know that when his turn came, he would be right there beside her, like he had been in life.This time, for eternity.
If in life, she had, in even one moment of human weakness, envied her aunt - the much pampered Noor Jahan - then in death, and hundreds of years after death, posterity would remember her in tender, endearing thoughts- Empress Mumtaz Mahal - the muse of the Taj.
Like the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore called this dream in marble - A teardrop on the cheek of time.
I grant you that Shah Jahan's exclusive adoration for Mumtaz was unfair for the other wives. They lived out their entire lives in Arjumand's shadow and even after her death, Arjumand Bano reigned supreme. But love isn't a rational feeling. You cannot feel the same way for every person in your life.Can you? You do love some more, some less and some none at all. Don't you? Remember, its always Radha and Krishna who we love to see together in our songs, metaphors and prayers....never mind all the wives of Krishna!
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I am a new author and I would be grateful for any kind of encouragement from my readers. It is a tough world out there for new authors!
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Ref: The History of Jahangir - Beni PrasadI am a new author and I would be grateful for any kind of encouragement from my readers. It is a tough world out there for new authors!
Thanks once again! Hope you love reading my articles as much as I loved writing them!
Iqbal Namah-e-Jahangiri - Motamid Khan
The Badshah Nama of Shah Jahan - Abdal Hamid Lahauri
Travels in the Mughal Empire - Francois Bernier
Taj Mahal - The Illumined Tomb - W.E. Begley and Z.A.Desai
Beloved Empress Mumtaz Mahal - Nina Epton
The Feast of Roses - Indu Sundaresan
Shadow Princess - Indu Sundaresan
Wikipedia
