Daily Times

Today marks the 386^th death anniversary of the iconic historic figure Mumtaz Mahal, the infamous wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

The love story is regarded as the epitome of undying love and has been immortalized through the creation of the Taj Mahal which tourists from around the world flock to, in order to relive the historic love story.

However, how much of this epic tale of love and affection is actually true?

Born Arjumand Banu, Mumtaz Mahal was born to Persian nobility and first caught the attention of the emperor while he was out in the Meena Bazaar and glimpsed this beautiful young girl of 15. He then approached his father to help officiate the marriage and they were wed five years later in 1906.

The marriage is said to have been a very happy and successful one with Mahal playing a huge role in the Mughal court and even attaining the role of Chief Minister. She bore him a total of 14 children, seven of whom successfully made it into adulthood and later, she succumbed to a postpartum hemorrhage while giving birth to her 14^th child.

The story tells us; stricken with grief the Mughal ruler constructed one of the Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal, in her honour.

However, according to 16^th century Italian writer who worked in the Mughal courts, like previous Mughal courts, Shah Jahan’s court had many concubines, dancing girls and wives with Shah Jahan himself having 3.  According to the European chronicler Niccolao Manucci, “it would seem as if the only thing Shah Jahan cared for was the search for women to serve his pleasure” and “for this end he established a fair at his court. No one was allowed to enter except women of all ranks that is to say, great and small, rich and poor, but all beautiful.”

Beyond this fact, the loving husband also had an affair with Mumtaz Mahal’s sister, Farzana begum. And that too at a very old age. Some even believe shah Jahan was also the father of Farzana’s son.

Other than this, there are even claims cited by several explorers such as Jean Baptiste Tavernier and Peter Mundy that Shah Jahan had an incestuous relationship with his second oldest and reportedly most beautiful daughter, Jahan Ara Begum. Francois Bernier in his book ‘Travels in the Moghul empire’, “Begum Sahib, the elder daughter of Shah Jahan was very beautiful… Rumour has it that his attachment reached a point which it is difficult to believe, the justification of which he rested on the decision of the Mullahs, or doctors of their law. According to them it would have been unjust to deny the king the privilege of gathering fruit from the tree he himself had planted.”

All of this combined with the fact that she died at the age of 39 while giving birth to his 14^th child might lead us to believe that history does not necessarily do justice to the story of this Persian princess.

And after all, “What is history but a fable agreed upon?”