of his wife, and in drunken self-indulgence. In spite of long wars in the Deccan, he added little to his father's territories. India south of the Vindhyas still continued apart from the northern Empire of Delhi. Malik Ambar, the Abyssinian minister of Ahmadnagar, maintained, in spite of reverses, the independence of that kingdom. At the end of Jahangir's Rebellion reign, his rebel son, Prince Shah Jahán, was a refugee in the of his son. Deccan, in alliance with Malik Ambar against the Mughal troops. The Rájputs also began to re-assert their independence. In 1614, Prince Shah Jahan on behalf of the Emperor defeated the Udaipur Rájá. But the conquest was only partial and for a time. Meanwhile, the Rájputs formed an Revolt important contingent of the imperial armies, and 5000 of of the Rajputs. their cavalry aided Shán Jahán to put down a revolt in Kábul. The Afghán Province of Kandahar was wrested from Jahangir by the Persians in 1621. The land-tax of the Mughal Empire remained at 17 millions under Jahángír, but his total revenues were estimated at 50 millions sterling.1 Jahán. The principal figure in Jahángír's reign is his Empress, Núr The EmJahán, the Light of the World. Born in great poverty, but press Nur of a noble Persian family, her beauty won the love of Jahangir while they were both in their first youth, during the reign of Akbar. The old Emperor tried to put her out of his son's way, by marrying her to a brave soldier, who obtained high employment in Bengal. Jahangir on his accession to the throne commanded her divorce. Her husband refused, and was killed. His wife, being brought into the imperial palace, lived for some time in chaste seclusion as his widow, but in the end emerged as Núr Jahán, the Light of the World. She surrounded herself with her relatives, and at first influenced Jahangir for his good. But the jealousy of the imperial princes and of the Mughal generals against her party led to intrigue and rebellion. In 1626, her successful general, Mahabat Khán, found himself compelled, in self-defence, to turn against her. He seized the Emperor, whom he kept, together with Núr Jahán, in captivity for six months. Jahángír died in the following year, 1627, in the midst of a rebellion against him by his son Sháh Jahán and his greatest general, Mahabát Khán. Jahangir's personal character is vividly portrayed by Sir Jahangir's Thomas Roe, the first British Ambassador to India (1615). personal 1 Mr. Edward Thomas' Revenue Resources of the Mughal Empire, pp. 21-26 and p. 54. 2 Otherwise known as Núr Mahal, the Light of the Palace. character. His drunken feasts. Jahangir's justice. His religion. Sháh Agra continued to be the central seat of the government, but the imperial army on the march formed in itself a splendid capital. Jahángír thought that Akbar had too openly severed himself from the Muhammadan faith. The new Emperor conformed more strictly to outward observances, but lacked the inward religious feeling of his father. While he forbade the use of wine to his subjects, he spent his own nights in drunken revelry. He talked religion over his cups until he reached a certain stage of intoxication, when he fell to weeping, and to various passions, which kept them to midnight.' In public he maintained a strict appearance of virtue, and never allowed any person whose breath smelled of wine to enter his presence. A courtier who had shared his midnight revels, and indiscreetly referred to them next morning, was gravely examined as to who were the companions of his debauch, and one of them was bastinadoed so that he died. 6 During the day-time, when sober, Jahangir tried to work wisely for his Empire. A chain hung down from the citadel to the ground, and communicated with a cluster of golden bells in his own chamber, so that every suitor might apprise the Emperor of his demand for justice without the intervention of the courtiers. Many European adventurers repaired to his court, and Jahángír patronized alike their arts and their religion. In his earlier years he had accepted the eclectic faith of his father. It is said that on his accession he had even permitted the divine honours paid to Akbar to be continued to himself. His first wife was a Hindu princess; figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary adorned his rosary; and two of his nephews embraced Christianity with his full approval.1 SHAH JAHAN hurried north from the Deccan in 1627, and Emperor, proclaimed himself Emperor at Agra in January 1628.2 Jahán, 1628-58. He 1 Elphinstone's Hist., p. 560 (ed. 1866), on the authority of Roe, Hawkins, Terry, Coryat. 2 Materials for Shah Jahán's reign: Sir Henry Elliot's Persian Historians, vols. vi. vii. and viii.; Elphinstone, pp. 574-603. REIGN OF SHAH JAHAN, 1628-58: 1627. Imprisonment of Núr Jahán on the death of Jahángir, by Asaf Khán on behalf of Shah Jahán. 1628. Shah Jahán returns from the Deccan and ascends the throne (January). He murders his brother and kinsmen. 1628-30. Afghán uprisings against Sháh Jahán in Northern India and in the Deccan. [Footnote continued on next page. put down for ever the court faction of the Empress Núr Jahán, loses Under Shah Jahán, the Mughal Empire was finally shorn of Shah its Afghán Province of Kandahár; but it extended its con- Jahán quests in the Deccan, and raised the magnificent buildings in Kandahar, Northern India which now form its most splendid memorials. finally in 1653. After a temporary occupation of Balkh, and the actual re-conquest of Kandahár by the Delhi troops in 1637, Shah Jahán lost much of his Afghán territories, and the Province of Kandahar was severed from the Mughal Empire by the Persians in 1653. On the other hand, in the Deccan, the kingdom of Ahmadnagar (to which Ellichpur had been united in 1572) was at last annexed to the Mughal Empire in 1636. Bídar fort was taken in 1657, while the remaining two of the Conquests five Muhammadan kingdoms of Southern India, namely Deccan. Bijápur and Golconda, were forced to pay tribute, although not finally reduced until the succeeding reign of Aurangzeb. But the Maráthás now appear on the scene, and commenced, 1629-35. Shah Jahan's wars in the Deccan with Ahmadnagar and Bijapur ; 1634. Shahjí Bhonsla, grandfather of Sivají, the founder of the Maráthá 1637. Re-conquest of Kandahár by Sháh Jahán from the Persians. 1647-53. Kandahár again taken by the Persians, and three unsuccessful 1655-56. Renewal of the war in the Deccan under Prince Aurangzeb. 1656. Renewed campaign of Shah Jahan's armies against Bijápur. Aurangzeb defeats Dárá; imprisons Murád, his other brother; deposes 1 Vide ante, end of chap. x. in the Shah Jahan's Delhi Shah Jahan's palace at Delhi. unsuccessfully at Ahmadnagar in 1637, that series of persistent Hindu attacks which were destined in the next century to break down the Mughal Empire. Aurangzeb and his brothers carried on the wars in Southern India and in Afghánistán for their father, Shah Jahan. Save for one or two expeditions, the Emperor lived a magbuildings. nificent life in the north of India. At Agra he raised the Taj Mahal. exquisite mausoleum of the Táj Mahál, a dream in marble, designed by Titans and finished by jewellers.1 His Pearl Mosque, the Moti Masjid, within the Agra fort is perhaps the purest and loveliest house of prayer in the world. Not content with enriching his grandfather Akbar's capital, Agra, with these and other architectural glories, he planned the re-transfer of the seat of Government to Delhi, and adorned that city with buildings of unrivalled magnificence. Its Great Mosque, or Jama Masjid, was commenced in the fourth year of his reign and completed in the tenth. The palace at Delhi, now the fort, covered a vast parallelogram, 1600 feet by 3200, with exquisite and sumptuous buildings in marble and fine stone. A deeply-recessed portal leads into a vaulted hall, rising two storeys like the nave of a gigantic Gothic cathedral, 375 feet in length; the noblest entrance,' says the historian of architecture, to any existing palace.' The Diwán-i-Khás, or Court of Private Audience, overlooks the river, a masterpiece of delicate inlaid work and poetic design. Shah Jahán spent many years of his reign at Delhi, and prepared the city for its destiny as the most magnificent capital in the world under his successor Aurangzeb. But exquisite as are its public buildings, the manly vigour of Akbar's red-stone fort at Agra, with its bold sculptures and square Hindu construction, has given place to a certain effeminate beauty in the marble structures of Sháh Jahán.3 2 1 Shah Jahan's architectural works are admirably described in Dr. James Fergusson's Hist. Architecture, vol. iii. pp. 589-602 (ed. 1876). See also article AGRA CITY, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 2 Fergusson's Hist. Architecture, vol. iii. p. 592. See also article DELHI CITY, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 3 PROVINCES OF THE DELHI EMPIRE UNDER SHAH JAHAN, SHAH JAHAN'S REVENUES. 305 As Rebellion Aurang Akbar's dynasty lay under the curse of rebellious sons. Jahangir had risen against his most loving father, Akbar; and of Prince as Shah Jahan had mutinied against Jahángír; so Shah Jahán zeb, 1657. in his turn suffered from the intrigues and rebellions of his family. In 1658, Shah Jahán, old and worn out, fell ill; and in the following year his son Aurangzeb, after a treacherous conflict with his brethren, deposed his father, and proclaimed Sháh himself Emperor in his stead. The unhappy Shah Jahan was Jahán deposed, kept in confinement for seven years, and died a State prisoner 1658. in the fort of Agra in 1666. Under Shah Jahán, the Mughal Empire attained its highest union of strength with magnificence. His son Aurangzeb revenues. added to its extent, but at the same time sowed the seeds of its decay. Akbar's land revenue of 17 millions had Shah been raised, chiefly by new conquests, to 22 millions sterling Jahan's under Shah Jahán. But this sum included Kashmir, and five Provinces in Afghánistán, some of which were lost during Sháh Jahan's reign. The land revenue of the Mughal Empire within India, under Shah Jahán, was 20 millions. The magnificence of Shah Jahan's court was the wonder of European travellers. His Peacock Throne, with its tail blazing in the shifting natural colours of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, was valued by the jeweller Tavernier at 6 millions sterling. - Mr. Edward Thomas' Revenue Resources of the Mughal Empire, p. 28. 1,000,000 Total Rs. 220,000,000 VOL VI. |