Ruby Lal - Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan

Empress

THE ASTONISHING REIGN OF NUR JAHAN

Ruby Lal

W. W. NORTON & COMPANY

Independent Publishers Since 1923

New York | London

Coming of Age in Nineteenth-Century India:

The Girl-Child and Art of Playfulness

Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World

Copyright 2018 by Ruby Lal

All rights reserved

First Edition

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Book design by Chris Welch

Production manager: Anna Oler

JACKET DESIGN: Chin-Yee Lai

JACKET ART: Idealized portrait of the Mughal empress Nur Jahan (15771645), ca. 17251750. India, Rajasthan, Kishangarh. Watercolor, opaque watercolor and gold on paper; 11 5/8 8 1/2 in. (29.52 21.59 cm). Gift of Diandra and Michael Douglas (M.81.271.7). Digital image 2018 Museum Associates / LACMA. Licensed by Art Resource, NY.

ISBN: 978-0-393-23934-8

ISBN: 978-0-393-63540-9 (e-book)

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To the Ancestors of Indias Women

And to Our Plural Heritage

Akbar: the third Great Mughal emperor, son of Humayun

Babur: the first Great Mughal emperor

Dawar Bakhsh: Mughal ruler with the shortest reign, son of Khusraw, used to forestall Shahryars bid for the crown

Humayun: the second Great Mughal emperor, son of Babur

Jahangir (n Prince Salim): the fourth Great Mughal emperor, co-sovereign with Nur Jahan

Nur Jahan (ne Mihr un-Nisa): co-sovereign with Jahangir, the first and only female ruler of the Mughal Empire

Shah Jahan (n Khurram): the fifth Great Mughal emperor, son of Jahangir, rebelled against his father

Arjumand Banu (Mumtaz Mahal): wife of Shah Jahan, in whose memory the Taj Mahal was built

Asmat Begum: Nur/Mihrs mother

Dai Dilaram: Nur/Mihrs wet nurse and mentor, prominent harem officer

Gulbadan Banu Begum: daughter of Babur, led a royal womens pilgrimage to Mecca, author of the Ahval-i Humayun Badshah

Hamideh Banu Begum: revered mother of Emperor Akbar

Jagat Gosain: mother of Shah Jahan, rival of Nur Jahan

Ladli Begum: only daughter of Nur Jahan and Sher Afgan, married Shahryar

Ruqayya Begum: Akbars childless wife, key matriarchal figure for Mihr/Nur as well as Jahangir

Salimeh Sultan Begum: senior wife of Akbar and later mentor to Mihr/Nur

Asaf Khan (n Abul-Hasan): son of Ghiyas Beg, brother of Empress Nur, father of Arjumand Banu, loyalist of Shah Jahan

Ghiyas Beg (Itimad ud-Daula): Nur/Mirs father, wazir of the Mughal Empire under Jahangir

Jadrup: Vaishnavite ascetic and spiritual mentor of Jahangir

Khusraw: Jahangirs eldest son, rebelled against his father

Mahabat Khan (n Zamana Beg): fought to quell Prince Khusraws rebellion, then turned against Jahangir, kidnapping him

Shahryar: son of Jahangir, married Ladli and was favored to rule by Nur, as opposed to Shah Jahan

Sher Afgan (n Ali Quli): Mihr/Nurs first husband, a functionary under Akbar

Abdal-Qadir Badauni: historian at Akbars court

Abdur-Rahim Khan-i Khanan: poet, military general and translator of the Baburnama, loyalist of Jahangir

Abul-Hasan: painter and portraitist favored by Jahangir

Farid Bhakkari: financial officer in the time of Jahangir, author of Dhakhiratul Khawanin

Khafi Khan (Hashim Ali Khan): military figure and chronicler of the Mughal Empire, author of Muntakhab-ul Lubab

Niccolao Manucci: military figure, quack doctor, and author of Storia Do Mogor

Muhammad Hadi: contemporary of Aurangzeb, contributed late sections of Jahangirnama

Mulla Kami Shirazi: poet whose works celebrate the life of Nur Jahan

Mutamad Khan: Jahangirs paymaster of troopers and memoirist

Sir Thomas Roe: British ambassador to Mughal India who wrote a detailed account of the empire

Empress

I n the autumn of 1619, when the days were clear and cool, perfect for travel, the royal cavalcade of Emperor Jahangir and Empress Nur Jahan, his twentieth and favorite wife, set out from Agra, the capital of Mughal India, headed for the Himalayan foothills. The people of Mathura, a popular pilgrimage site along the emperors route, were anxious for his arrival. For months, a tiger had been attacking villagers and visitors, then disappearing into the forest, evading local hunters. No divine intervention seemed to be forthcoming from Lord Krishna and his consort Radha, the Hindu deities worshipped in Mathuras temples. But the emperor could solve the problem. Killing tigers had long been a royal prerogative.

Jahangirhis name meant Conqueror of the World in Persian, the language of the courtwas the fourth of the Mughal emperors, a Muslim dynasty established by invasion early in the sixteenth century. Descendants of the Central Asian nomad kings Chingiz [Genghis] Khan and Tamerlane, the Mughals ruled much of Hindu-majority India for more than three hundred years.

According to one excited observer, the imperial procession included fifteen hundred thousand peoplemen, women, and children; courtiers, soldiers, and servantsalong with ten thousand elephants and a great deal of artillery. The procession halted near Mathura, and attendants began erecting hundreds of magnificent tents, with the harem quarters marked with intricately carved red screens. While the traveling court was still being set up, a group of local huntsmen appeared and begged Jahangir to do something about the tiger.

Unfortunately, the emperor was obligated to decline. Several years before, Jahangir had taken a vow to give up hunting when he turned fifty. After that, hed promised Allah, he would injure no living being with his own hands. He was two months past that milestone birthday, and had recently renewed the vow as an offering on behalf of a favorite four-year-old grandson, traveling with him, who suffered from epilepsy. Shooting a tiger was now out of the question for Jahangir. The empress, however, was there to protect her subjects.

Beautiful and accomplished, Nur Jahan was the daughter of nobles whod fled persecution in Persia. She was also the widow of a court official implicated in a plot against Jahangir, but that didnt stop the emperor from falling hard for her. She was thirty-four when they married, nearly middle-aged in the Mughal world. Since their wedding in 1611, the same year that Shakespeare premiered