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The Mughal Dynasty – Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan was also known as Shah Jahan. He was the fifth richest Mughal emperor of India, believed to be one of the richest of all the Mughals. He was also the son of Akbar and grandfather of Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan was extremely close to his older brother and after ascending the throne he took on many military adventures to expand his vast realm. After he united the dominions of India he started his new campaign to defeat the British.

The first decade of his reign saw him consolidating the expanding empire he had. He made improvements in the irrigation, raising of crops and general infrastructure of his city, Akbarabad. The city became a center for trade. Akbarabad became the most important city of Shah Jahan’s reign and it served as his capital.

Shah Jahan also became the first emperor to construct a Taj Mahal in the city. The construction of this edifice has earned Shah Jahan the praise of many historians and is considered a symbol of prosperity and power for the mughal Empire. The foundation of this edifice began with the installation of a fortress at Fatehpur Sikri. This fort was constructed by Shah Jahan’s army and later on the same fortress was enlarged and Shah Jahan improved its condition.

Shah Jahan enjoyed great success and expanded the rule of his empire. However he never forgot his relation with his father. Shah Jahan had a close personal bond with his father and even after his death he paid a visit to his father’s house. The historian Mirza Dabeer Shah refers to Shah Jahan as his beloved wife. It is believed that he also had a daughter named Fatima who died when he was away at war.

After Shah Jahan’s death the title of ‘Emperador’ was given to Shah Jahan’s three other sons. Their duties were then divided between four sons. The fourth son was sent to Akbarabad with instructions to take care of his father and the cows of his father’s land. It is believed that Shah Jahan summoned his four sons to Akbarabad to execute a fait accompli.

Shah Jahan’s greatest achievement was the construction of his famous Taj Mahal in Agra. The structure is believed to have taken a lot of time to build and Shah Jahan took great care in constructing it. His famous son, Jahangir, is said to have designed the marble used in the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan used the best known mughal architecture and built the Taj Mahal by using masonry techniques.

Shah Jahan managed to construct his famous fort of Qutub Minar on the location of the old Agra fort. It is famous to this day as the home of Akbar, the famous maulah who is associated with the construction of the Taj Mahal. On the day of Shah Jahan’s death Shah Jahan ordered his ministers to finish the works for the funeral service of his father. The work for the funeral did not materialize as expected and this is the reason why Shah Jahan ordered the construction of his famous red fort on the Agra hill.

When Shah Jahan created the khans, it was to counter attack the mughal empire of his father. The khans did not succeed in their task and instead of getting the throne of their father they were defeated by the British. However, their defeat did not stop them from exerting pressure on the British to remove the drain on their wealth. The British realized that they had to remove the khans if they ever wished to have any hope of regaining their empire and so removed them form power, but later all the mughals came under the command of Shah Jahan.