Shah Jahan I, part 2
—Jason

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With his reign secure, Shah Jahan ushered in a massive cultural revival throughout the Mughal Empire.  While military campaigns were an annual event for him, Shah Jahan also embodied the teachings of his grandfather in his expansion of cultural arts.  With the wealth of the empire, Shah Jahan was able to establish and support an ever-increasing court which included some of the most talented scholars, architects, and religious figures from across the entire region. 

While a devout Sunni Muslim, Shah Jahan did not force the conversion of opposing religious communities within his empire.  In fact, he often discussed and debated the merits of other religions with their adherents.  His view, as well as that of his predecessors, was that it was better not force cultural assimilation on their diverse subjects in order to prevent rebellions.  This policy of religious and cultural tolerance ensured that internal stability was generally maintained.  A major reversal of this policy was prompted by the appearance and activities of Portuguese Jesuits who attempted to convert Hindus and Muslims.

This view of religious tolerance in the Mughal Empire did not however mean he was unwilling to use religion as part of the justification for war his Shiite Persian Safavid neighbors. Over the course of his reign, Shah Jahan allied with the Ottoman Empire, another Sunni power, to jointly war against the Persians.  This continual conflict drove the continued growth of a large, and well-equipped, gunpowder-based army.  Despite his best efforts, Shah Jahan permanently lost the city of Kandahar to the Persians in 1649.  As a consolation to this humiliation, Shah Jahan took control of the Khyber Pass, which prevented the Safavids from invading northern India.

Shah Jahan is likely best-known today for his architectural achievements.  Because he had the wealth, materials, and skilled artisans of a massive empire to utilize, Shah Jahan built some of the most beautiful shrines, mosques, fortresses, and palaces anywhere in the world.  His reign has been identified as the culmination, and perfection, of the Mughal architecture: a blending of both Central Asian Islamic and Indian styles into a unique form.

During his reign, he oversaw the construction of the Red Fort in Old Delhi, which became his primary residence after shifting the capital from Agra in 1638.  This impressive fortress-palace was expanded by later Mughal emperors.  As the empire declined, the Red Fort repeatedly fell to other invaders, with its final plundering conducted by the British during the Indian Mutiny in 1857.  The Red Fort was designed by Ustad Ahmad Lahori, the same architect who also built the Taj Mahal. 

Shah Jahan deeply loved Mumtaz Mahal, his second wife, since before their marriage in 1612.  Empress Mumtaz enjoyed a relationship with her husband that is viewed as one of the most romantic love stories of all time.  She was active in the affairs of the court and regularly intervened on behalf of the poor and destitute.  Empress Mumtaz also interceded to curb the punishment and sentences of her husband’s enemies.  They produced fourteen children before her death on 17 June 1631. 

They were accustomed to traveling together even to war, and so the royal couple were on a military campaign in the Deccan Plateau when this tragedy occurred.  After a grueling 30 hours of labor, Mumtaz died of a hemorrhage.  Upon her death, Mumtaz was temporarily buried at Burhanpur on the bank of the Tapti River.  Her body was disinterred in December 1631 and transported in a golden casket back to Agra by one their sons.  There, it was re-interred in a small building on the banks of the Yamuna River. Shah Jahan began designing and planning the construction of a suitable mausoleum for Mumtaz: it was a task that would take over two decades to complete, the Taj Mahal.

Shah Jahan was inconsolable but finished the Deccan campaign.  On his return to Agra, he entered a one-year long period of secluded mourning.  Upon his return to the court, one of his first acts was to commission Ustad Ahmad Lahori to build a funerary monument to Mumtaz.  Shah Jahan employed the best architects from across not only India, but Central Asia and the Middle East, giving them nearly unlimited access to the best materials to create on the Taj Mahal. 

The location chosen was in Agra along the south bank of the Yamuna River.  This was not simple burial site; the Taj Mahal was an entire complex that included the mausoleum, a guest house, and massive ornamental gardens.  An estimated 20,000 artisans labored to complete the iconic ivory-white marble structure.  Thousands of tons of materials poured into the complex over the next 22 years as a never-ending tribute to Shah Jahan’s lost wife.

Because Islamic religious practices do not allow anthropomorphic depictions to be within mosques and mausoleums, intricate geometric designs, plant motifs, and calligraphic verses from the Quran cover both the exterior and interior spaces.  Some of the most elaborate and beautifully crafted decorations were lavished upon the monument.  Despite this extravagance, the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan were placed in a relatively plain crypt beneath the inner chamber with their faces turned to the right, towards Mecca.

Shah Jahan fell ill in 1658, prompting a brief but bloody civil war between his sons Dara Shirok and Aurangzeb.  Shah Jahan recovered from his illness, but he was declared incompetent and deposed by the victorious Aurangzeb.  His newly crowned son placed Shah Jahan under house arrest until his death on 30 January 1666.  Despite his siblings wishes for an elaborate funeral, Emperor Aurangzeb quietly interned Shah Jahan alongside his wife in the crypt at the Taj Mahal.