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Some years ago, in somewhat better days, I was in Lahore and decided to visit the Jahangir maqbara. (My guide and driver kept calling it makarba). At the entrance the door man I remonstrated when the doorman asked me to buy a “foreigner” ticket costing many times more than that for Pakistanis. I told him that Jahangir was also our emperor and i shouldnt be penalised inspite of that. He pondered a bit and agreed. The mausoleum was quite threadbare and unimpressive architecturally, and nothing compared to those of Akbar and Humayun near in Sikandara and Delhi. But Jahangir was an intersting character. He was a debauch and addicted to opium. Later Thomas Roe got him hooked to whisky also. One of his queens, Nur Jahan, was the defacto ruler of North India for a long time.
Prince Salim (later Jahangir) has been immortalised for his romance with the courtesan Anarkali. Whether, this is fact or fiction is yet to be resolved? However, his record of marriages hardly suggests any time for romance. Our romantic prince was a much married man. He was also an alcoholic to boot. Several of his brides were from well connected Rajput families, lending much credence to the pussilanimity of Rajput nobility and their affectations of chivalry.
Salim was made a Mansabdar of ten thousand (Das-Hazari), the highest military rank of the empire, after the emperor. He independently commanded a regiment in the Kabul campaign of 1581, when he was barely twelve. His Mansab was raised to Twelve Thousand, in 1585, at the time of his betrothal to his cousin Rajkumari Man Bai, daughter of Bhagwant Das of Amer. Bhagwant Das, was the son of Raja Bhar Mal and the brother of Akbar's Hindu wife and Salim's mother - Jodha Bai.
The marriage with Man Bai took place on 13 February 1585. Jahangir named her Shah Begum, and gave birth to Khusrau Mirza. Thereafter, Salim married, in quick succession, a number of accomplished girls from the aristocratic Mughal and Rajput families. One of his early favourite wives was a Rajput Princess, Jagat Gosain Begum. Jahangir named her Taj Bibi Bilqis Makani and she gave birth to Prince Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, Jahangir's successor to the throne.
On 7 July 1586 he married a daughter of Raja Rai Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner.
In July 1586, he married Malika Shikar Begum, daughter of Sultan Abu Said Khan Jagatai, Sultan of Kashghar.
In 1586, he married Sahib-i-Jamal Begum, daughter of Khwaja Hassan, of Herat, a cousin of Zain Khan Koka.
In 1587, he married Malika Jahan Begum, daughter of Bhim Singh, Maharaja of Jaisalmer.
He also married a daughter of Raja Darya Malbhas.
In October 1590, he married Zohra Begum, daughter of Mirza Sanjar Hazara.
In 1591, he married Karamnasi Begum, daughter of Raja Kesho Das Rathore, of Mertia.
On 11 January 1592, he married Kanwal Rani, daughter of Ali Sher Khan, by his wife, Gul Khatun.
In October 1592, he married a daughter of Husain Chak, of Kashmir.
In January/March 1593, he married Nur un-nisa Begum, daughter of Ibrahim Husain Mirza, by his wife, Gulrukh Begum, daughter of Kamran Mirza.
In September 1593, he married a daughter of Ali Khan Faruqi, Raja of Khandesh.
He also married a daughter of Abdullah Khan Baluch.
On 28 June 1596, he married Khas Mahal Begum, daughter of Zain Khan Koka, sometime Subadar of Kabul and Lahore.
In 1608, he married Saliha Banu Begum, daughter of Qasim Khan, a senior member of the Imperial Household.
On 17 June 1608, he married Koka Kumari Begum, eldest daughter of Jagat Singh, Yuvraj of Amber.
Jahangir married the extremely beautiful and intelligent Mehr-un-Nisaa (better known by her subsequent title of Nur Jahan) on 25 May 1611. She was the widow of Sher Afghan, who was conveniently murdered to clear the path to matrimony. Mehr-un-Nisaa became his indisputable chief consort and favourite wife immediately after their marriage. She was witty, intelligent and beautiful, which was what attracted Jahangir to her. Before being awarded the title of Nur Jahan('Light of the World'), she was called Nur Mahal('Light of the Palace'). Her abilities are said to range from fashion designing to hunting. There is also a myth that she had once killed four tigers with six bullets.
When Jahangir got irredeemably addicted to opium, then wine and finally Scotch Whisky supplied by English physicians, Nur Jahan was effectively the Empress of India. By all accounts she did extremely well. She also built the beautiful Itmad ud dowlah mausoleum in the memory of her father at Agra.
Jahangir died in Rajouri on his way back from Kashmir on 27 October 1627. Nur Jahan had his entrails removed and buried in a place called Chingush, near Rajouri. (I visited Chingush in 1995 when I was visiting the division at Rajouri). She had Jahangir embalmed and propped up a story that he was ill but will be returning to Lahore to recover. This ws to pre-empt Khurram from seizing the throne which she wanted for her son-in-law Prince Shahrayar. The future Shah Jahan, saw through the subterfuge and took the throne anyway and had Jahangir buried in a mausoleum in Lahore.
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