1. Jahangir's upbringing was heavily influenced by the cultural and spiritual heritage of his family, setting the stage for his later rule as emperor.
61 Facts About Jahangir
1. 2.
Jahangir's reign was marked by a combination of artistic achievement and political intrigue, set against the backdrop of the Mughal Empire's considerable expansion and consolidation.
3.
Jahangir's rule is distinguished by his commitment to justice and his interest in the arts, particularly painting and architecture, which flourished during his reign.
4.
Jahangir's reign was characterized by a complex relationship with his nobility and family, notably reflected in his marriage to Mehar-un-Nisa, who wielded significant political influence behind the throne.
5.
Jahangir had two full elder twin brothers, Hassan Mirza and Hussain Mirza, born in 1564, both of whom died in infancy.
6.
Jahangir's parents, Akbar and Mariam Zamani, in hope of having a son born to them even made a pilgrimage to Ajmer Sharif Dargah, barefoot, to pray for a son.
7.
Jahangir became his favorite wife and soon rose to the level of a consort rather than being a mere wife.
8.
Jahangir honored her with the title "Shah Begum" after she gave birth to Prince Khusrau Mirza, the eldest son of Jahangir.
9.
Jahangir gave birth to two daughters of Salim, both of whom died during childhood and Prince Khurram, the future emperor Shah Jahan, who was Jahangir's successor to the throne.
10.
Jahangir married a third Rathore Rajput princess, Kunwari Karamsi Deiji, daughter of Rao Keshav Das of Merta linked with the house of Marwar.
11.
Jahangir married a daughter of Abdullah Khan Baluch of Sind.
12.
In 1594, Jahangir was dispatched by his father, Akbar, alongside Asaf Khan known as Mirza Jafar Beg and Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak to defeat the renegade Raja Vir Singh Deo Bundela and to capture the city of Orchha which was considered the centre of the revolt.
13.
Jahangir arrived with a force of 12,000 after many ferocious encounters and finally subdued the Bundela and ordered Vir Singh Deo to surrender.
14.
Jahangir appointed his favourite Vir Singh, as the ruler of Orchha by removing his elder brother Raja Ram Shah.
15.
Jahangir became one of his chief consorts after her marriage.
16.
Jahangir became one of his chief consorts and was designated the honorary title of "Padshah Begum" and for most of the reign of Jahangir retained this title.
17.
Jahangir was one of the later chief consorts of Jahangir.
18.
Jahangir was the widow of a high-ranking Persian nobleman Sher Afgan.
19.
Jahangir was witty, intelligent, and beautiful, which attracted Jahangir to her.
20.
Jahangir's abilities are said to range from fashion and jewellery designing, perfumery, hunting to building architectural monuments and more.
21.
The ancestral lineage of Jahangir were traced from the House of Babur.
22.
Jahangir was found to be more militarily capable, and he crushed the rebellion in a week.
23.
Jahangir had all the young aristocrat supporters of Khusrau tortured, impaled and made him watch them in agony as a warning.
24.
In 1608, Jahangir posted Islam Khan I to subdue the rebel Musa Khan, the Masnad-e-Ala of the Baro-Bhuyan confederacy in Bengal, who was able to imprison him.
25.
In 1613, Jahangir issued a sanguinary order for the extirpation of the race of the Kolis who were notorious robbers and plunders living in the most inaccessible parts of the province of Gujarat.
26.
Jahangir was bestowed the title of 'Mallika-e-Hindustan' by Akbar and was referred to as same during Jahangir's reign.
27.
Jahangir himself was outraged and ordered the seizure of the Portuguese town Daman.
28.
Jahangir ordered the apprehension of all Portuguese within the Mughal Empire; he further confiscated churches that belonged to the Jesuits.
29.
Jahangir then gathered his forces under the command of Ali Kuli Khan and fought Raja Lakshmi Narayan Bhup of the Kingdom of Koch Bihar in the far eastern province of Bengal.
30.
Jahangir was responsible for ending a century-long struggle with the Sisodia Rajput house of Mewar.
31.
In 1615, Jahangir captured Kangra Fort, whose Katoch rulers came under Mughal vassalship during the reign of Akbar.
32.
Jahangir considered his third son, Khurram as his favourite son.
33.
Since it was both a commercial center at the border of the Mughal Empire and the burial place of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, Jahangir dispatched Prince Shahryar to repel the Safavids.
34.
In 1623, Emperor Jahangir sent his tehsildar, Khan Alam, to Safavid Persia, accompanied by 800 sepoys, scribes and scholars, along with ten howdahs well decorated in gold and silver, to negotiate peace with Emperor Abbas after a brief conflict in the region around Kandahar.
35.
In 1626, Jahangir began to contemplate an alliance between the Ottoman Empire, the Mughals, and the Khanate of Bukhara of the Uzbeks against the Safavids, who had defeated the Mughals at Kandahar.
36.
Jahangir even wrote a letter to the Ottoman Sultan, Murad IV.
37.
Jahangir's ambition did not materialise due to his death in 1627.
38.
Jahangir was trying to restore his health by visiting Kashmir and Kabul.
39.
Jahangir went from Kabul to Kashmir but decided to return to Lahore because of a severe cold.
40.
Jahangir's efforts influenced Abul Fazl, protegee of emperor Akbar, to support Ahmad Sirhindi in effort to convince Jahangir to reverse the policies of Akbar of tolerating Hindus in Mughal court.
41.
Jahangir issued bans on cowslaugher and animal slaughter on certain days of the week in continuance of his father's policy.
42.
Jahangir continued his father's policy of patronizing Brahmins and temples.
43.
Jahangir's lands were confiscated and his sons imprisoned as Jahangir suspected him of helping Khusrau's rebellion.
44.
Jahangir developed friendly relations with Jahangir and accompanied him on his journey to Kashmir just before the latter's death.
45.
However, the ban was quickly rescinded but Jahangir neglected to mention that in his memoirs.
46.
Jahangir even issued the zodiac series of gold and silver coins which had images of zodiac symbols alongside the radiating sun in the background, due to his faith in astrology.
47.
Jahangir had a strong inclination toward pragmatism, reason and skepticism.
48.
Jahangir swiftly punished a self-proclaimed guru who displeased him, expelled a yogi while destroying his idol, and imprisoned a renowned Muslim scholar who, in his view, held an inflated sense of self-importance and hoodwinked people by peddling mysticism.
49.
Jahangir maintained a deep reverence for the tombs of saints and firmly believed in the power of holy men's prayers, particularly those he credited with enabling his birth.
50.
Jahangir held faith in astrology and ensured he gave alms to counteract the negative effects of unfavorable planetary alignments.
51.
Jahangir continued the Mughals tradition of being scrupulously secular in outlook.
52.
Jahangir bound and displayed much of the art that he commissioned in elaborate albums of hundreds of images, sometimes organized around a theme such as zoology.
53.
Jahangir himself was far from modest in his autobiography when he stated his prowess at being able to determine the artist of any portrait by simply looking at a painting.
54.
Jahangir used his wealth and his luxury of free time to chronicle, in detail, the lush natural world that the Mughal Empire encompassed.
55.
At times, he would have artists travel with him for this purpose; when Jahangir was in Rahimabad, he had his painters on hand to capture the appearance of a specific tiger that he shot and killed because he found it to be particularly beautiful.
56.
Jahangir had his artist Govardhan travel to Prayagraj to paint sadhus.
57.
Jahangir was notable for his pride in the ability of his court painters.
58.
Jahangir then challenged Roe to pick out the original from the copies, a feat Sir Thomas Roe could not do, to the delight of Jahangir.
59.
Jahangir is widely considered to have been a weak and incapable ruler.
60.
Jahangir had a keen interest in conducting his own scientific experiments.
61.
Jahangir challenged the widely accepted belief about the aggressiveness of mountain sheep, investigated the effectiveness of bitumen for healing broken bones using a chicken, and compared the air quality of Ahmadabad and Mahmudabad by observing the rate of decay in sheep carcasses.