Mughal Empire Shahjahan
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Shahjahan (1628 - 1658)
- He was bom on 15th January, Thursday, 1592, at Lohore;
- He was brought up by Akbar՚s childless wife Ruqaiah Begum;
- He was close to Noorjahan up to 1622, but she wanted Shahriyar to succeed;
- After Jahangir՚s death, Asaf Khan claimed Dwar Baksh; - son of Khusuo as the emperor, while Shahriyar assumed the royal title at Lohore;
- He was defeated by Dwar Baksh and fled, but was captured and blinded;
- Asaf Khan summoned Shah Jahan from Banarsi;
- ShahJahan ascended the throne on 24th February, 1628 and assumed the title -ABUL-MUZAFFAR SHAIBUDDIN MD. SAHIB-I-KIRAN-i-SANI;
- Shahjahan executed his brothers and nephews;
- In 1628, Jujhar Singh - son of Raja Bir Singh Dev-the Bundela chief rebelled;
- Shahjahan suppressed this rebellion and Jujhar Singh surrendered;
- Relations with Portuguese:-
- Portuguese had secured the grant of the sight of Hoogly in 1537;
- Later they started their activities in Chittagong;
- Shahjahan started a ruthless campaign against them;
- There were 2 reasons for these attacks:-
- Plunder of a village in Dhaka in East Bengal;
- Complain made to Kasir Khan (Governor of Dhaka) by a Portuguese merchant named Alfonso; Relations with Qandhar:-
- Relations with Persia broken down due to the occupation of Qandhar, towards the end of Jahangir՚s reign;
- Shah Jahan tried to revive the relation;
- Qandhar was important to the Mughals strategically because of:-
- Sindh Frontier;
- Trade Routes:
- Ali Mardan Khan was the Persian Governor of Qandhar;
- After 1648, Shahjahan became aggressive towards Qandhar and sent 3 expeditions towards it-1649,1652 and 1653;
- Mughals could not capture the fort;
DECCAN EXPEDITION
- In 1632, Asaf Khan was succeeded by Mahabat Khan, as the commander of Deccan expedition;
- In 1632, the Portuguese were ousted from Hoogli and captured it;
- In 1633, Daulatabad fort was captured;
- ⚹In 1636, Mandu was captured and Aurangzeb (18 yrs.) became the viceroy of Deccan;
- Deccan consisted of 4 provinces - Khandesh, Berar, Mandu and Telangana;
- Aurangzeb tried to crush Bijapur and Golcunda;
- He had 3 other sons who were posted at 3 different places:-
- Shuja-Bengal;
- Murad-Gujarat;
- Aurangzeb-Deccan;
Personality of Shahjahan:-
- His wife was Mumtaz Mahal and the Taj Mahal is built in her memory;
- He also built the ‘peacock throne’ and Agra fort;
- He was an excellent callig-raphers and patronized Hindu poets like - Sunder Das, Chintamani, Kavindra-charya;
- Also patronised several musicians like - Lai Khan (Son-in-law of Tansen) , Jagannath (gave the title Mahakavi rai) .
- He took great welfare measures against famine in Gujarat, Kashmir and Punjab;
- He built Alms names in Burhanpur, Ahemadabad and Surat;
- Started 10 free kitchens in Punjab;
- His reign witnessed 10 famines
- He built Shahjahanabad and lived here in 1648;
- He also built NAHAR-i-FAU;
- He also prohibited the killing of animals on Thursdays and Sundays;
- He re-started the Hijra era;
- There was enormous influence of the Sufis, during his reign;
WAR of SUCCESSION
- Dara was the most favoured child by his father;
- He was 43 years, when the war of succession started;
- Other 3 sons were the governors of different states:-
- Shuja of Bengal;
- Aurangzeb of Deccan;
- Murad of Gujrat;
- Of the 3 princes, Shuja was the first to have crowned himself and to march towards Delhi from Bengal;
- Murad followed suit in December and formed an alliance with Aurangzeb;
- Suleman Shuko-eldest son of Dara, along with Raja Jai Singh, was against Shuja;
- He killed his revenue minister ALIQAQI and Sacked the city of Gujrat;
- Murad started from Ahemdabad on 7th March, 1658 and joined Aurangzeb at Dipalpur on the 24th of April;
- On 5th May, 1658, in the Battle of Dharmat-14 miles south-west of Ujjain-Aurangzeb defeated Jaswant Singh;
- On 8th June, 1658, in the battle of Samurgarh - 8 miles east of Agra fort - Dara Shikoh was defeated;
- Aurangzeb took possession of Agra fort;
- In the meantime Aurangzeb realized that Murad was gaining popularity;
- He was immediately arrested and sent to Salimgarh;
- He was confined to Gwalior and the beheaded;
- Dara had marched to Lahore when he heard the capture of Agra by Aurangzeb;
- In the meantime, Aurangzeb was formally crowned as the emperor, on 31st July, 1658, at Delhi;
- Aurangzeb was the 3rd son of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal; He was born at Dohad in 1618;