15 Interesting Facts About Shah Jahan

In this article we will talk about some interesting facts related to Shah Jahan, the Mughal Emperor who ordered the construction of some of the finest monuments in the world, be it the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort in New Delhi or the magnificent Peacock throne. In fact, it has been said that the Mughal empire was founded by Babur, nurtured by Akbar, and reached its zenith under Shah Jahan.

Facts about Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan

1. Prince Khurram, aka Shah Jahan, was born in the imperial mansion at Lahore Fort on January 15, 1592. He was born in the 36th year of his grandfather, Emperor Akbar’s reign.

2. It was Akbar himself who named Shah-Jahan as Khurram. A Persian word which means, “joyous.”

3. Khurram’s father, Salim, aka Jahangir, the fourth Mughal Emperor, was not only an alcoholic but also a sadist.

4. Shah Jahan’s mother was a Hindu princess named Manmati Jagat Ghosain, the daughter of Udai Singh, “the Fat Raja” of Marwar.

The Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s Mausoleum.

5. Arjumand Abu-al-Hassan, a Shiite woman from Persia, whose beauty compelled Shah Jahan to say, “Mumtaz-Mahal,” literally meaning, the “Most Exquisite of the Palace.”

6. It was not Shah Jahan but Dawar Bakhsh Bulaqi who was chosen by the emperor Jahangir as his successor. In fact, Dawar-Bakhsh ruled as the fifth Mughal emperor for just seventy-two days before he was beheaded on February 2, 1628.

7. Before his coronation in February 1628, Shah-Jahan had murdered two brothers and at least six more male relatives, one of them the legitimately crowned Emperor Dawar Bakhsh Shir-Shah.

8. Abu-al-Muzaffar Shihab al-Din Muhammad Sahib al-Qiran al-Thani Shah Jahan Padshah Ghazi, the full name of ShahJahan. Shihab al-Din means “Star of the Faith” in this context. And Sahib al-Qiran al-Thani means, Second Lord of the Happy Conjuction of Jupiter and Venus.

9. Asaf Khan, brother of Queen Nur-Jahan and father to Shah Jahan’s second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, played a crucial role in ensuring that Shah Jahan became the Fifth Mughal Badshah.

10. One of the first edicts of Shah Jahan as an emperor was to ban the full-length prostration, a hangover from Akbar’s time.

11. Dara Sikhoh, Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb, Murad, Jahanara, Roshanara, and Gauharara were the names of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s four sons and three daughters, respectively.

12. The Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world, commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan after the death in childbirth of his second wife, Arjumand Mumtaz Mahal.

13. After the death of Mumtaz-Mahal, it was Jahanara, Shah Jahan’s eldest daughter, who stepped into her late mother’s position as de facto primary queen of the empire.

14. The Taj Mahal, which Shah Jahan commissioned during his reign, took twelve years to complete, at a cost of five million silver rupees.

15. When Shah Jahan died in January 1666, not a single member of the aristocracy came to Agra to attend his funeral, which was carried out hurriedly and in total secrecy.

I hope you like these facts about the Mughal King, Shah Jahan. Thanks for reading. Jai Hind.

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