Disscusing Shahjahan
Points to ponder about
Shahjahan 1. Shahjahan was a
cruel king. On becoming the king, Shahjahan imprisoned his step mother Nur
Jahan. He sent brother Shahryar to the gallows. He had earlier got rid of
brother Khusrau. Now he got Khusrau's sons Dawar and Garshasp executed.
Jahangir's brother Daniyal had died earlier. Shahjahan now killed Daniyal's
sons Tahmuras and Hoshang ― all on 23 January 1628. 2. He loves only
violence and sex. He has no artistic sensibilities. *He raped his own
daughter Jahanara and justified it, saying that a gardener must enjoy the
fruit he produced.* 3. A ruffian by
nature, Shahjahan refused to be tutored by the plethora of tutors appointed
from time to time. His misdeeds of dacoity and arson throughout India, while
in revolt against his emperor father Jehangir, made the latter record, in
sheer despair and anguish, that his son Shahjahan was a wretch and a
scoundrel. How dare any historian
ignore the father's estimate of his own son and call the miscreant a noble
lover of art and finer things. 3. There is no
evidence of Shahjahan being deeply attached to Mumtaz-ul-Zamani (so called
Mumtaz Mahal) except few Bollywood films. Mumtaz-ul-Zamani was only one among
Shah Jahan's various wifes and hundreds of sex slaves. To marry her he killed
her husband. *She died giving birth to her 14th child. (She died in
Burhanpur, a thousand kilometer away from Agra).* Soon after her death,
Shahjahan married her sister. Such was his love! Mumtaz-ul-Zamani's
name is changed by the historians to Mumtaz Mahal to suit the story of
Tajmahal. 4. No historian has ever tried to verify the myth of Shahjahan's authorship of the Taj by asking as to how many palaces did Shahjahan build for a living Mumtaz before he built one for a dead Mumtaz? Nobody's historical conscience was disturbed by the doubt of Shahjahan venturing on a sepulchral project of the dimensions and magnificence of a Taj Mahal within two years of his accession to the throne. He could not have l |