Shahjehan
( January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) was the
ruler of the Mughal Empire in India from 1628 until
1658. The name Shah Jahan comes from Persian language
meaning "Lord of the World". He was the
fifth Mughal ruler after Babur, Humayun, Akbar, and
Jahangir.
After revolting against his father Jahangir, as the
latter had revolted against Akbar, he succeeded to
the throne on his father's death in 1627. It was during
his reign that the Mughal power attained its greatest
prosperity. The chief events of his reign were the
destruction of the kingdom of Ahmadnagar (1636), the
loss of Kandahar to the Persians (1653), and a second
war against the Deccan princes (1655). In 1658 he
felt ill, and was confined by his son Aurangzeb in
the citadel of Agra until his death in 1666. The period
of his reign was the golden age of Indian architecture.
Shah Jahan erected many splendid monuments, the most
famous of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, built as
a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal; while the Pearl
Mosque at Agra and the palace and great mosque at
Delhi also commemorate him. The celebrated "Peacock
Throne," said to have been worth millions of
dollars by modern estimates, also dates from his reign.
He was the founder of the modern city of Delhi, the
native name of which is Shahjahanabad.
Although his father's rule was generally peaceful,
the empire was experiencing challenges by the end
of his reign. Shah Jahan reversed this trend by putting
down a Muslim rebellion in Ahmednagar, repulsing the
Portuguese in the Bengal, capturing the Rajput kingdoms
of Baglana and Bundelkhand to the west, and the kingdoms
of Bijapur and Golconda in the Deccan and the northwest
beyond the Khyber Pass. Shah Jahan's military campaigns
drained the imperial treasury. Under his rule, the
state became a huge military machine and the nobles
and their contingents multiplied almost fourfold,
so did the demands for more revenue from the peasantry.
However, his political efforts encouraged the emergence
of large centers of commerce and crafts--such as Lahore,
Delhi, Agra, and Ahmadabad--linked by roads and waterways
to distant places and ports. He moved the capital
from Agra to Delhi, the traditional seat of Muslim
power. Under Shah Jahan's rule, Mughal artistic and
architectural achievements reached their zenith. Shah
Jahan was a prolific builder with a highly refined
aesthetic. He built the legendary Taj Mahal in Agra
as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Among
his surviving buildings are the Red Fort and Jama
Masjid in Delhi, the Shalimar Gardens of Lahore, sections
of the Lahore Fort and his father's mausoleum, Jahangir
mausoleum.
Although the empire's financial expenditures were
excessive when resources were shrinking, by the end
of Shah Jahan's reign, the empire was again expanding.
Legend has it that Shah Jahan wanted to build a black
Taj Mahal, to match the white one he reportedly loved
much more.[1]. There is no reputable scholarship to
support this hypothesis, however
