The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c18.96

v4.c18.96

By race Shāh Jahān was three-quarters Indian, both his mother and grandmother having been Rājput ladies of high birth, and the failure of his sons and army in the enterprise against Balkh showed that the Mughul line in India was no longer able to cope with the hardy and turbulent tribesmen beyond the Hindū Kush. Each of the Mughul emperors from Akbar to Aurangzīb seemed to realise and avoid the faults of his predecessor more diligently than to emulate any good qualities that existed. As a youth Shāh Jahān was accustomed to see his father indulging to excess in drink, and Jahāngīr himself records that he was unable to persuade his son even to taste liquor till he was twenty-four.¹ And throughout his life, while his marriage to Mumtaz Mahall proved a pleasing example of conjugal happiness for nearly twenty years, and later he became addicted to sensual pleasures, he never subordinated his own judgement to female influences as Jahāngīr did.