Mumtaz Mahal

India

Mumtaz Mahal was the third wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1657/1037-1068 AH) ––for whom he had the famous Taj Mahal built. She was the daughter of Abu’l-Hasan Asaf Khan, the brother of empress Nur Jahan [1]. Born in 1593 (1001 AH), Mumtaz was married to Shah Jahan at the age of 19 in 1612 (1021 AH) [2]She bore 14 children for him and in fact died in 1631 (1021 AH) on the birth of the last childGauhara Begum, in Burhanpur. Her body was transferred to Agra in 1632 after the initial burial in Burhanpur and it is on her grave at Agra where the eventual construction of the Taj Mahal began [3]. 

She was the mother of both, Dara Shikoh and Awrangzib––the latter eventually became the emperor killing his brothers in the process and imprisoning his father––the sitting emperor––Shah Jahan. 

 

  1. EI2. 
  2. EI2. 
  3. Britannica Academic. 


Sources: 

Beveridge, H. ‘Mumtāz Maḥall’. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs, P.J. Bearman (Volumes X, XI, XII), Th. Bianquis (Volumes X, XI, XII), et al. Accessed July 16, 2020. 

LāhawrīʿAbd al-Ḥamīd. Bādshāh-nāmaVolume I. 384. 

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Variant Names

Mumtaz Mahal, Empress, consort of Shahjahan, Emperor of India
Empress Arjumand Banu

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