True Love

Born This Day Series, Social Media Content

Born this day 1593: Mumtaz Mahal, Empress Consort of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, the woman whose death gave us one of the Wonders of the World. 

She was born Arjumand Banu Begum, to a noble Persian family. When she was 14, she was promised in marriage to Jahan, who was 15. Five years later, they were married, by which time he was obsessively in love with her (he had two other wives; once they each had a child, they were discarded). 

The name she was given means both the ‘Jewel of the Court’, and ‘Exalted Once of the Palace’. She was also named ‘Queen of the World’, ‘Queen of the Age’, and she was awarded the highest honour in the land, the Imperial Seal. We don’t actually know what she looked like; all likenesses of her are imagined.

She was clever, creative, a patron of artists and architects. She provided pensions to daughters of scholars, intervened on behalf of the poor, interceded to have death sentences commuted and became the power behind the throne. 

Mumtaz and Jahan were inseparable. Although she was pregnant for much of their married life, she traveled with him on his military campaigns. He showered her with gifts of land, a million rupee annual allowance, and a residence decorated with gold and precious gems.

The couple had 14 children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. Mumtaz died giving birth to the last, at age 38. Jahan was bereft to the point where it took him a year to re-appear in public. When he did, he ordered that a mausoleum be built for his wife. Twenty years and $100 million later (in today’s money), the Taj Mahal ('Crown of the Palace') was complete. Jahan died 35 years later; they rest here, together.