Manohar · Public domain
17th century · 1592–1666
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan · India
Fifth Mughal emperor and builder of the Taj Mahal
Born in Lahore in 1592, he came to the throne in 1628 and built Delhi's Red Fort, the Jama Masjid and the Taj Mahal. When he fell ill in 1658, his sons fought a war of succession; the victor, Aurangzeb, imprisoned him in Agra Fort until his death in 1666.
Where the story happened
Places connected with this person
Legend · Agra petha
A sweet eaten by the Taj Mahal's builders?
A story told in Agra says petha originated in Shah Jahan's Mughal palace kitchens and was made for the workers building the Taj Mahal. But it's hardly credible: the cookbook of Shah Jahan's time, the 'Nuskha-e-Shahjahani', makes no mention of petha; similar sweets existed in India before the Mughals arrived; and petha is nothing like the milk- and curd-rich sweets of the Mughal court.
History · Taj Mahal
The fourteenth child
In 1631 Shah Jahan's empress Mumtaz Mahal accompanied the army to Burhanpur in the Deccan, where, after giving birth to her 14th child, a daughter named Gauhar Ara, she died of postpartum haemorrhage aged just 38. Her body was first buried temporarily in a garden on the banks of the Tapti River at Burhanpur. The grief-stricken Shah Jahan began building the Taj Mahal for her in 1632.
History · Taj Mahal
The prisoner who gazed at the Taj Mahal from his window
In 1658 Shah Jahan fell seriously ill, and a war of succession broke out among his sons; his third son Aurangzeb won, executing his brothers, including the crown prince Dara Shikoh. When Shah Jahan recovered, Aurangzeb kept him under house arrest in Agra Fort until his death in 1666. He was buried in the Taj Mahal beside Mumtaz Mahal.
