Medieval India · Topic 9 of 15
1605-1658: consolidation and the empire's architectural and political 'golden age'
The Basics
Akbar died in 1605. His son Salim succeeded him without opposition. Akbar's younger sons had already died from excessive drinking. Salim was crowned at Agra and took the title Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir, meaning Conqueror of the World.
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Nur Jahan, born Mehrunnisa, married Jahangir in 1611 after the death of her first husband, Sher Afgan, in Bengal. Her father, Itimaduddaula, had already served Jahangir as joint diwan (revenue minister) and was soon promoted to chief diwan. Her brother, Asaf Khan, became khan-i-saman, the officer in charge of the royal household, a post given only to nobles the emperor fully trusted. In 1612, Asaf Khan's daughter, Arjumand Banu Begum (later Mumtaz Mahal), married Jahangir's son Khurram, the future Shah Jahan. This created a close family alliance linking Nur Jahan, her father, her brother, and Khurram.
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Shah Jahan, born Khurram, was the son of Jahangir and the Rajput princess Jagat Gosain. He was married to Arjumand Banu Begum, later famous as Mumtaz Mahal. When Jahangir died near Lahore in 1627, Asaf Khan moved quickly against his own sister Nur Jahan and summoned Shah Jahan from the Deccan. Shah Jahan was crowned at Agra in 1628.
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Humayun's tomb at Delhi, built by his widow Haji Begum, is called the prototype of the Taj Mahal.
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When Shah Jahan became emperor in 1628, Ahmadnagar was still independent. It remained a problem for the Mughals. Malik Ambar, the Abyssinian Peshwa (chief minister) who had resisted the Mughals with Maratha support, had died in 1626. His policy of defying Mughal claims to Berar and Balaghat continued under his son Fath Khan and the Nizam Shahi court. Shah Jahan decided there could be no peace in the Deccan while Ahmadnagar survived as an independent state. This was a sharper line than Akbar or Jahangir had taken.
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Qandahar guarded the Hindu Kush frontier.
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By the 1650s, Shah Jahan had four surviving sons, each holding a provincial governorship: Dara Shikoh at the centre in Delhi and Agra, Shuja in Bengal, Aurangzeb in the Deccan, and Murad Baksh in Gujarat and Malwa. There was no settled Mughal or Islamic rule of succession, so each prince watched the others with suspicion while building his own following.
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