Editing Shah Jahan (section)

==Marriages==
{{More citations needed|section|date=February 2024}}
In 1607, Khurram became engaged to Arjumand Banu Begum (1593–1631), who is also known as [[Mumtaz Mahal]] ([[Persian language|Persian]] {{Literal translation| The Exalted One of the Palace}}). They were about 14 and 15 when they were engaged, and five years later, they married. The young girl belonged to an illustrious [[Persians|Persian]] noble family that included [[Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan]], who had been serving Mughal emperors since the reign of [[Akbar]]. The family's patriarch was [[Mirza Ghiyas Beg]], who was also known by his title I'timād-ud-Daulah or "Pillar of the State". He had been Jahangir's finance minister, and his son, [[Asaf Khan IV|Asaf Khan]] – Arjumand Banu's father – played an important role in the Mughal court, eventually serving as Chief Minister. Her aunt Mehr-un-Nissa later became the Empress [[Nur Jahan]], chief consort of Emperor Jahangir.<ref>{{harvnb|Nicoll|2009|p=66}}</ref>

The prince would have to wait five years before he was married in 1612 (1021 AH), on a date selected by the court astrologers as most conducive to ensuring a happy marriage. This was an unusually long engagement for the time. However, Shah Jahan first married a [[Persians|Persian]] Princess (name not known) entitled [[Kandahari Begum]], the daughter of a great-grandson of the great [[Ismail I|Shah Ismail I]] of [[Persia]], with whom he had a daughter, his first child.<ref name="Eraly 2000 300">{{harvnb|Eraly|2000|p=300}}</ref>

[[File:Emperor Shah Jahan, 1628.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Shah Jahan, accompanied by his three sons: [[Dara Shikoh]], [[Shah Shuja (Mughal)|Shah Shuja]] and [[Aurangzeb]], and their maternal grandfather, [[Abul-Hasan ibn Mirza Ghiyas Beg|Asaf Khan IV]]]]

In 1612, aged 20, Khurram married Mumtaz Mahal, on a date chosen by court astrologers. The marriage was a happy one, and Khurram remained devoted to her. They had fourteen children, out of whom seven survived into adulthood.

Though there was genuine love between the two, Arjumand Banu Begum was a politically astute woman and served as a crucial advisor and confidante to her husband.<ref name="Eraly2000p379">{{harvnb|Eraly|2000|p=379}}</ref> Later on, as empress, Mumtaz Mahal wielded immense power, such as being consulted by her husband in state matters, attending the council (''shura'' or ''diwan''), and being responsible for the [[Seal (emblem)|imperial seal]], which allowed her to review official documents in their final draft. Shah Jahan also gave her the right to issue her own orders (hukums) and make appointments to him. {{citation needed|date=May 2016}}

[[File:TajMahalbyAmalMongia.jpg|thumb|The [[Taj Mahal]], the burial place of Shah Jahan and his wife [[Mumtaz Mahal]]]]

Mumtaz Mahal died at the young age of 38 (7 June 1631), upon giving birth to Princess [[Gauhar Ara Begum]] in the city of [[Burhanpur]], [[Deccan]], of a [[postpartum haemorrhage]], which caused considerable blood-loss after painful labor of thirty hours.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kumar |first=Anant |date=January–June 2014 |title=Monument of Love or Symbol of Maternal Death: The Story Behind the Taj Mahal |url=http://www.casereportswomenshealth.com/article/S2214-9112(14)00003-4/pdf |journal=Case Reports in Women's Health |volume=1 |pages=4–7 |doi=10.1016/j.crwh.2014.07.001 |access-date=21 December 2015 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Contemporary historians note that Princess Jahanara, aged 17, was so distressed by her mother's pain that she started distributing gems to the poor, hoping for divine intervention, and Shah Jahan was noted as being "paralysed by grief" and weeping fits.<ref>{{harvnb|Nicoll|2009|p=177}}</ref> Her body was temporarily buried in a walled pleasure garden known as Zainabad, originally constructed by Shah Jahan's uncle [[Prince Daniyal]] along the [[Tapti River]]. Her death had a profound impact on Shah Jahan's personality and inspired the construction of the marvelous [[Taj Mahal]], where she was later reburied.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Taj Mahal Story |url=https://www.tajmahal.gov.in/taj-story.aspx |access-date=18 March 2024 |website=tajmahal.gov.in}}</ref>

Khurram had taken other wives, among whom were Kandahari Begum (m. 28 October 1610) and another [[Persians|Persian]] Princess [[Izz un-Nisa Begum]] (m. 2 September 1617), the daughters of Prince Muzaffar Husain Mirza Safawi and Shahnawaz Khan, son of [[Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana]], respectively. But according to court chroniclers, these marriages were more out of political consideration, and they enjoyed only the status of being royal wives.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

Khurram is also recorded to have married his maternal half-cousin, a [[Rathore (Rajput clan)|Rathore]] [[Rajput]] Princess Kunwari Leelavati Deiji, daughter of Kunwar Sakat/Sagat or Shakti Singh, son of Mota Raja [[Udai Singh of Marwar|Udai Singh]] and half brother of Raja [[Marwar|Sur Singh of Marwar]]. The marriage took place at [[Jodhpur]] when Khurram was in rebellion against his father, emperor Jahangir.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Mertiyo Rathors of Merta, Rajasthan |volume=II |pages=45}}</ref>

=== Relationship with Jahanara ===

After Shah Jahan fell ill in 1658, his daughter [[Jahanara Begum]] had a significant influence in the Mughal administration.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Koul |first=Ashish |date=January 2022 |title=Whom can a Muslim Woman Represent? Begum Jahanara Shah Nawaz and the politics of party building in late colonial India |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/abs/whom-can-a-muslim-woman-represent-begum-jahanara-shah-nawaz-and-the-politics-of-party-building-in-late-colonial-india/BDAD313CDA4F70D60441BC47BCB6ADAC |journal=Modern Asian Studies |language=en |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=96–141 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X20000578 |s2cid=233690931 |issn=0026-749X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bano |first=Shadab |year=2013 |title=Piety and Pricess Jahanara's Role in the Public Domain |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158822 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=74 |pages=245–250 |jstor=44158822 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref> As a result, several accusations of an incestual relationship between Shah Jahan and Jahanara were propagated.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Banerjee |first=Rita |title=Women in India: The "Sati" and the Harem |date=7 July 2021 |work=India in Early Modern English Travel Writings |pages=173–208 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004448261/BP000016.xml |access-date=12 February 2024 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-44826-1}}</ref> Such accusations have been dismissed by modern historians as gossip, as no witness of an incident has been mentioned.<ref name=":0"/>

Historian [[K. S. Lal]] also dismisses such claims as rumors propagated by courtiers and [[mullah]]s. He cites [[Aurangzeb|Aurangzeb's]] confining of Jahanara in the [[Agra Fort]] with the Royal prisoner and the talk of the low people magnifying a rumor.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Charge of Incest |work=The Mughal Harem |pages=93–94 |year=1988 |editor-last1=Lal |editor-first1=Kishori Saran |url=https://archive.org/details/the-mughal-harem-by-kishori-saran-lal-z-lib.org/page/93/mode/2up |publisher=Adithya Prakashan}}</ref>

Several contemporary travelers have mentioned such accessions. [[Francois Bernier]], a French physician, mentions rumors of an incestuous relationship being propagated in the Mughal Court.<ref>{{Citation |title=Begum Saheb |work=Travels in Mogul India |page=11 |year=1916 |editor-last1=Constable |editor-first1=Archibald |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsinmogulem00bernuoft/page/11/mode/1up?view=theater |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> However, Bernier did not mention witnessing such a relationship.<ref>{{Citation |last=Manzar |first=Nishat |title=Looking Through European Eyes: Mughal State and Religious Freedom as Gleaned from The European Travellers' Accounts of the Seventeenth Century |date=31 March 2023 |work=Islam in India |pages=121–132 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003400202-9 |access-date=12 February 2024 |place=London |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781003400202-9 |isbn=978-1-003-40020-2}}</ref> [[Niccolao Manucci]], a [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] traveler, dismisses such accusations by Bernier as gossip and ''"The talk of the Low People".''<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{citation |title=Begum Saheb |work=Storia Do Mogor Vol 1 |pages=216–217 |year=1907 |editor-last1=Irvine |editor-first1=William |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.529961/page/n335/mode/1up?view=theater |publisher=Oxford University press}}</ref>