Jahangir

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JAHANGIR

JAHANGIR (1569–1627), Mughal emperor (1605–1627). Jahangir ("World Grasper") was born Muhammad Salim. Married at fifteen, ultimately over eight hundred women occupied his harem, and his strong constitution was ruined by alcohol and opium. In 1600 he revolted against his father, Akbar, declared himself emperor, and refused to march on Kandahar to stave off the Persians. In 1602 he had the last of his father's great ministers, Abul Fazl, murdered. He was, nonetheless, forgiven by his father and was named as his successor.

As emperor, Jahangir promulgated twelve regulations that continued his father's policies of conciliation, religious tolerance, and justice, although he was a more orthodox Muslim than his father. Under Jahangir, the bureaucracy expanded dramatically, but the empire did not. In 1606 his eldest son, the popular Khusrau, revolted, and in suppressing that Punjab-based rebellion, Jahangir initiated a brutal conflict with the Sikhs. Khusrau was partly blinded and imprisoned for life, and was murdered in 1622 by his younger brother, Prince Khurram, the future emperor Shah Jahan.

Jahangir's reign changed dramatically with his marriage in 1611 to the Persian princess Nur Jahan ("Light of the World"), a beautiful, intelligent, and highly cultured and ambitious woman who set the fashions for the age and soon ruled the empire in all but name. Jahangir may have ordered the murder of her husband in 1607 in order to marry her. Nur Jahan, her father, and her brother, along with Prince Khurram, dominated the faction-ridden court until Prince Khurram rebelled in 1623, and the final years of Jahangir's reign were riven with conflict. With Nur Jahan came a greater infusion of Persian culture to Jahangir's court, especially miniature painting. Nur Jahan married her daughter by her first husband to Jahangir's youngest son, Shahryar. She and Jahangir had no children together.

Jahangir did not have his father's energy or drive, and his long desultory war against Mewar was concluded unfavorably in 1615. His campaigns from 1610 against Ahmednagar were also conducted fitfully and unsuccessfully. His son Prince Khurram was more successful in 1616, and he obtained the surrender of Ahmednagar, though it remained independent until 1629. Prince Khurram also captured Kangra in 1620. In 1622, however, Kandahar was lost to the Persians.

During the day Jahangir carried out his imperial duties, met with people, and was capable of great energy; at night he loved pleasure, and was an alcoholic with a mercurial and violent temper. In 1623 Shah Jahan rebelled, and he and his father were not reconciled for two years.

Jahangir allowed the British East India Company to establish a trading post at Surat, where the representative, Captain William Hawkins, arrived in 1608 and spent three years at Jahangir's court. The British ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, served at his court between 1615 and 1619. This was of historical importance because it allowed the Europeans to make inroads into India. Jahangir wrote his memoirs, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, but in his last year his health was broken. He tried to restore it by visiting his Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir. He died on his return and was buried in Lahore.

Roger D. Long

See alsoAkbar ; Babur ; Shah Jahan