Shah Jahan

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Shah Jahān

Learn More in these related Britannica articles: The mingling of Hindu and Muslim traditions was expressed in all the arts, especially…. The name Taj Mahal is a derivation of her name. He grew up as a serious-minded and devout youth, wedded to the Muslim orthodoxy of the day and free from the royal Mughal traits of sensuality and drunkenness. He showed signs of military…. His reign marked the cultural zenith of Mughal rule, but his military expeditions….

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Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He came from a long line of successful Mughal emperors, including his grandfather Akbar the Great , and was the third son of Emperor Jahangir. In the meantime, Jahan declared himself emperor at the beginning of his reign in He had the support of one of his uncles, which furthered the disarray in his family. For the next 16 years, Shah Jahan spent a fortune building a resplendent tomb, known as the Taj Mahal, both to honor his late wife and as a way to alleviate his grief.

Qazwini, the official court recorder, said this of the couple.

He conquered territories to the southwest in India and then to the northeast in Persia in modern-day Iran in the mids. Things were going well for the Mughal Empire. After military successes against the Persians in the s, the Persians took back territories they lost to the Mughal Empire in the late s and early s.

Everywhere Jahan went, he renovated and rebuilt forts, palaces and residences. He built elaborate palaces, including the famous Red Fort at Agra and the Jami Masjid mosque, to show off his power on the Indian subcontinent.

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• Shah Jahan - Shah Jahan Life History - Shah Jahan Biography - Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan;
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Renovations at forts and palaces included walls encrusted with gaudy gemstones. Jahan had six thrones bequeathed to him from his forebears, but they were not enough. He commissioned the famous Peacock throne, a resplendent chair that had hundreds of diamonds, emeralds, pearls and rubies. The room in which the Peacock throne sat had archways of silver and gold, and Jahan surrounded himself with silk carpets and beautiful tapestries. This display of wealth, coupled with military losses, led to poor economic choices and bankruptcy.

He was the founder of Shahjahanabad, now known as "Old Delhi". There were also other buildings, initiated by this creative emperor: Besides, the court of the Emperor was, it seems, of a high quality and very impressive, for the European visitors of the time. The throne of the Peacock, with its flamboyant procession of natural colors giving the illusion of movement, was in rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Many nobles possessed great wealth, too. When he died in , his son Aurangazeb had already taken power for 8 years.

Of course, a great number of children were born of these unions, many of whom, unfortunately, died young. Shah Jahan was a Muslim, as we can see from his constructions, especially the Taj Mahal. These two first marriages are not marriages of love but of reason, coming to break the engagement which already united in the young Shah Jahan, still named by his name of "Khurram", with Arjumand Bano Begum, the granddaughter of a Persian nobleman, who was only 14 years old at that time. She became the love of his life and for whom he will build the Taj Mahal.

They married in and lived, according to the chroniclers of the time, a great love story.

Shah Jahan - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is on the occasion of their marriages that Shah Jahan offered his wife the name "Bijou du Palais", and it is under this name that we know her today: The passion that united them was sincere, obviously. At his death Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal to serve as a tomb. One of the most beautiful evidence of love on Earth, it seems.