Person · Mughal empress consort
Mumtaz Mahal
Also known as Mumtāz Maḥal, Arjumand Bānū Begum, Arjumand Banu Begum, Mumtaz Mahal Begum, Malika-i-Jahan
Arjumand Banu Begum, born at Agra in 1593 into a Persian noble family, married Prince Khurram in 1612 and became chief empress when he took the throne as Shah Jahan in 1628. She was Nur Jahan's niece, held her husband's imperial seal, and bore him fourteen children, among them Jahanara, Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb. She died in childbirth at Burhanpur in 1631, and the Taj Mahal was built at Agra as her tomb.
- Date
- 1593–1631
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Patron dynasty
- Mughal
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Worth knowing
No contemporary likeness of her is accepted; the portraits in circulation were imagined from the nineteenth century onwards. One theory reads 'Taj' as a shortening of 'Mumtaz', and François Bernier, who watched the tomb being built, was among the first Europeans to call it the Taj Mahal.
The date of her marriage is uncertain: Wikipedia gives 10 May 1612, with 16 June and 7 June 1612 as alternatives in different sections.
Connections (5)
- Buried atTaj Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal died of a haemorrhage at Burhanpur on 17 June 1631, after some thirty hours of labour with her fourteenth child. She was first buried in the Zainabad garden on the Tapti, then disinterred in December 1631 and carried to Agra in a golden casket escorted by her son Shah Shuja, to lie in a small building by the Yamuna while the Taj Mahal was planned. Her grave is at the centre of the crypt; Shah Jahan's, placed there by Aurangzeb, sits to one side.
- Court associationShah Jahan
Arjumand Banu was betrothed to Prince Khurram around 1607 and married him in 1612, when he gave her the title Mumtaz Mahal. She travelled with his campaigns and his rebellion against Jahangir despite frequent pregnancies. After his accession in 1628 she sat behind a curtain beside him in the halls of audience, interceded to commute death sentences, and held his imperial seal, the Mehr Uzaz, without which decrees were not valid. Her allowance of one million rupees a year is the highest on record for a Mughal wife.
- Historical linkNur Jahan
Mumtaz Mahal was the daughter of Asaf Khan, elder brother of Nur Jahan, so Jahangir's chief consort was her aunt and, after her marriage to Khurram, her stepmother-in-law. Both women descended from Mirza Ghias Beg, I'timad-ud-Daulah, whose family came to India impoverished in 1577 when he entered Akbar's service at Agra. The two are set against each other in the record: Nur Jahan wielded open power under Jahangir, while Mumtaz, though she held Shah Jahan's seal, was portrayed as having no political ambition.
- Associated withAgra Fort
Mumtaz Mahal was born at Agra in April 1593 and married there in 1612. As empress she lived with Shah Jahan in the Khas Mahal of the Agra Fort, decorated beyond any other empress's residence with gold and precious stones and given rose-water fountains of its own. The only architectural foundation that can be connected to her own patronage is a riverside garden at Agra now known as the Zahara Bagh, in line with the practice of Mughal noblewomen commissioning buildings.
- Succession in timeJahanara Begum
When Mumtaz Mahal died at Burhanpur in 1631, her seventeen-year-old daughter took her place as first lady of the empire, with the title Padshah Begum and charge of the imperial seal, although Shah Jahan had three surviving wives. Shah Jahan gave Jahanara half of her mother's personal fortune of ten million rupees and divided the rest among the other children, and Jahanara gradually brought him out of a year of mourning. She also saw through Dara Shikoh's wedding, which her mother had planned.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Mumtaz Mahal". Ebba Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra (2006); Giles Tillotson, Taj Mahal (2008).
Open Mumtaz Mahal in the repository →