Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjurnand Banu, on April 27, 1593. She was the daughter of a noble Persian noble family, who had helped govern the Mughal Empire for generations. The young Arjurnand’s father, Abu’l-Hasan Asaf Khan, was a high official in Agra. Arjurnand had an excellent education. She was cultured, could speak Arabic and Persian- and wrote poetry in both languages. A good marriage was assured for her- doubly so because her aunt was the wife of the then Mughal Emperor, Jahangir.
At the age of 13 in 1607, Arjurnand’s family betrothed her to Jahangir’s favorite son and heir, Prince Khurram. The couple married in 1612, by which time Khurram had already taken a first wife. However, Arjurnand was already first in her husband’s affections. He renamed her “Mumtaz Mahal” ‘the exhaulted of the palace’. Khurram later took a third wife, but according to the court chronicler Motamid Khan, these two other marriages “had nothing more than the status of marriage”, a fact that certainly seems to have been the case as they only produced one child each, whereas the union with Mumtaz produced 14!
In 1628, Prince Khurram became Emperor and took on the title ‘Shah Jahan.” Mumtaz also acquired the titles Malika-I-Jahan’ (queen of the world) and ‘Malika -uz-Zamani’ (queen of the age). Jahan also named her his chief consort and Empress. He decorated Mumtaz’s residence in the Agra Fort in gold and precious stones and installed rose water fountains, as well as awarding her the highest ever allowance on record. However, Mumtaz Mahal was no pampered favorite. Her husband valued her counsel. He consulted her on affairs of state and allowed her the imperial seal to validate decrees.
Mumtaz also accompanied her husband on military campaigns. In June 1631, the couple was on a campaign on the Deccan plateau when Mumtaz went into labor with her fourteenth child. The 38-year-old empress did not survive the birth. The distraught Shah had her body buried in a pleasure garden at Burnhanour. He then went into mourning for a year. In the meantime, he ordered his son to return Mumtaz’s body to Agra in a golden casket and interred her in a small building on the banks of the Yamuna river. The Shah then set about constructing the mausoleum and funerary gardens of his beloved wife-the Taj Mahal– a venture that took 22 years to complete.