Later Mughals v1.c8.s19: Sec. 19.—End of Jahandar Shah’s Reign.
Later Mughals v1.c8.s19
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Sec. 19.—End of Jahandar Shah’s Reign.
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Although Jahandar Shah lived a few days longer, and we shall recount his actual death in the next chapter, still his reign being ended, it will be convenient to interpose in this place the few details about him which remain to be noted.
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Dates of Birth and Death. His life was taken on the 16th Muharram 1125 H. (11th February, 1713). As he was born on the 10th Ramzan 1071 H. (10th May, 1661), his age at death was 53 (lunar) years, four months, and six days.
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Length of Reign. His reign, counting from the 21st Safar 1124 H., the day on which he was crowned, to the 16th Muharram 1125 H., the day on which he died, lasted ten months and twenty-five days. (1125 y. 0 m. 16 d.—1124 y. 1 m. 21 d.)
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Coins. The verses on his coins were—
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(1) Zad sikka bar jar chun mihr sahib-i-qiran. Jahandar Shah, padshah-i-jahan. ‘Jahandar Shah, Emperor of the World, Lord of the Conjunctions, struck sun-like money of gold.’
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2. Dar afaq zad sikka chun mihr o mah. Abul-fath-i-ghazi, Jahandar Shah. ‘In the horizons struck money like sun and moon, Abdul-fath, the champion, Jahandar Shah.’ In the first line there is a variant, bar (upon) appearing instead of chun (like).
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3. Zad sikka dar mulk chun mihr o mah. Shahan Shah-i-ghazi, Jahandar Shah. ‘Jahandar Shah, king of kings, the champion, struck money in the realm like sun and moon.' There is also the following variant of the first line, *Ba zad sikka-i-nuqra chun mihr o mah*, 'Struck silver money, like sun and moon.'
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∗ M. Mhd., 156; Warid, 143b; Kamwar Khan, 128; Ijad, 110a. Mhd. Qasim Aurangabadi, Ahwal-ul-khawaqin, 58, has different details. According to him Jahandar Shah put up at a way-side cook-shop, where he wrote a note, and by urgent entreaty prevailed on the man to get it into Asaf-ud-daulah’s hands, and if Fate were propitious he would reward him with a mansab and money. One Muhsin, a servant of Asaf-ud-daulah’s, was a customer of the cook-shopman. This servant took the note and gave it to his superior, the Nawab’s nazir, and from him it passed to the Nawab. On getting the note, Asaf-ud-daulah sent men to seize Jahandar Shah.
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Mint Towns. In the three collections at the British Museum, the India Museum, Calcutta, and the Panjab Museum, Lahor, I count up twenty-eight coins of this sovereign. On three the place of coining is absent or illegible. The rest belong to the following mints; Lahor (1), Shahjahanabad (5), Akbarabad (5), Lakhnau (2), Patna (2), Cambay (1), Surat (3), Burhanpur (2), Aurangabad (4). I am very much surprised at finding Patna in the list, a place where he never had any authority. The other names represent fairly enough the local limits of his brief authority.
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Title after Death. His special title after his death was *Khuld aramgah*, 'Peaceful in Paradise.'
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Character. His character has been perhaps sufficiently disclosed in the course of our story, and it hardly needs further elucidation. In his earlier years, in the Dakhin and during his government of Multan, he seems to have been a fairly active soldier. It is said that, during the struggle for the throne after Alamgir's death, the only thing that Azam Shah feared was Muizz-ud-din's soldierly qualities. But Jahandar Shah's acquisition of the crown was more due to happy accidents than to his own exertions; and his conduct during his few months of power showed him to be quite unfitted to hold rule over others, being unable, even according to the somewhat lax Eastern standard, to govern himself. He was the first sovereign of the house of Taimur who proved himself absolutely unfitted to rule. The only good quality left to him, in popular estimation, was his liking for and liberality to religious mendicants. In company with Lal Kunwar, he visited them and 'kissed their feet'. He was also fond of watching the fighting of elephants. He delighted in illuminations and fire-works, himself setting fire to the *Lanka*, the mimic fortress of Ravan, the ravisher of Sita. The cause of his fall is likened by Warid truly enough to the case of the exiled monarch, who attributed his ruin to morning slumbering and midnight carousing. [Warid 140b, Yahya 119a.]
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Wives.—Jahandar Shah was married on the 5th Shaban 1087 H. (14th October, 1676) to the daughter of Mirza Murad Kam, Mukarram Khan Safawi, and then, on the 18th Ramzan 1095 H. (30th August, 1684) to that lady's niece, Sayyid-un-nissa Begam, daughter of Mirza Rustam, son of Mukarram Khan. Another wife was Anup Bai, who died at Dihli on the 25th Zul Qada 1147 H. (17th April 1735). She was the mother of Aziz-ud-din (Alamgir II). One wife, or rather concubine, was the woman we have so often mentioned, Lal Kunwar, a dancing girl, created Imtiyaz Mahal after Jahandar Shah's accession.*
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Children. The children of Jahandar Shah are shown in the following table :—
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Muizz-ud-din, Jahandar Shah
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Azz-ud-din (1) Izz-ud-din (2) Aziz-ud-din (3) Rabi Begam (4) Daughter (5).
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Yahya Khan, 119a, calls the younger sons Izz-ud-daulah and Muin-ud-daulah.
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(1) Azz-ud-din. The date of his birth is not recorded, but it must have been before 1103 H. (1691-2), in which year he is mentioned. He was married in 1118 H. (1706-7) to the daughter of Amir Khan deceased, and again on the 24th Ramzan 1121 H. (23rd November, 1709) to a Sayyid Begam, daughter of Bidar Bakht, son of Azam Shah. Azz-ud-din was blinded on the 6th Muharram 1126 H. (21st January 1714), and died at Dihli on the 8th Zul Hijja 1157 H. (12th December, 1744).
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(2) Izz-ud-din. This Prince's year of birth has not been traced, but he, too, is mentioned in 1103 H. (1691-2). He died in confinement at Dihli on the 8th Rabi II. 1151 H. (25th July, 1738).
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(3) Aziz-ud-din. He was born at Multan in 1099 H. (1687-8), his mother being Anup Bai. He succeeded to the throne in 1167 H. (1754) under the title of Alamgir the second, and he will be dealt with when we reach the end of his reign.
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(4) Rabi Begam. She was betrothed to Bidar Dil, son of Bidar Bakht, on the 22nd Rabi I. 1122 H. (20th May 1710), and died on the 14th Rajab of the same year, (7th September, 1710).
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There must have been another daughter, since Jahandar Shah had another son-in-law, Khwaja Musa Sarbuland Khan, son of Khwaja Yaqub Surbuland Khan Naqshbandi Bukhari, who died on the 4th Jamadi I. 1152 H. (8th July 1739) at Shahjahanabad, aged nearly seventy. This man's father died in 1096 H. (1684-5), *T-i-Mhdi*.