De-facto Mughal Emperor
Shahryar Mirza
(born
Salaf-ud-Din Muhammad Shahryar
; 6 January 1605 ? 23 January 1628) was the fifth and youngest son of the Mughal emperor
Jahangir
. At the end of Jahangir's life and after his death, Shahryar made an attempt to become emperor, planning, supported and conspiracy by his one in influence and all-powerful stepmother
Nur Jahan
, who was also his mother-in-law. The succession was contested, though Shahryar exercised power, based in
Lahore
, from 7 November 1627 to 19 January 1628, but like his father, he allowed Nur Jahan to run the affairs and consolidate his reign, but she did not succeed, and he was defeated and was killed at the orders of his brother Khurram, better known as
Shah Jahan
once he took the throne. Shahryar would have been the fifth
Mughal Emperor
, but is usually not counted in the list of Mughal Emperors.
Early years
[
edit
]
Shahryar was born a few months before his grandfather, Emperor
Akbar
's death in 1605.
[2]
In the 16th year of Jahangir's reign, Shahryar married
Mihr-un-nissa Begum
, the daughter of his potentate and domineering step-mother
Nur Jahan
by her first marriage to
Sher Afghan
. Shahryar and Mihr-un-nissa had a daughter Arzani Begum.
[3]
[4]
At Nur Jahan's request, he was given the
pargana
of
Dholpur
and its fort from Jahangir which
Prince Khurram
wanted for himself. He appointed Daria Khan, an Afghan, as its in-charge. This led to a skirmish between Nur Jahan's appointed in-charge Sharifu-l-Mulk, who was a servant of both Shahryar and Daria Khan. Sharifu-l-Mulk arrived on the scene shortly, and tried to force himself into the fort.
[5]
On October 13, 1625, Jahangir appointed Shahryar as Governor of
Thatta
. Sharif-ul Mulk carried out the administration as the Deputy of the Prince.
[6]
Reign (1627?1628)
[
edit
]
After the death of his father
Jahangir
on 28 October 1627, Shahryar, as
Nur Jahan
desired, ascended to the Mughal throne, but for only three months. Since he was in Lahore at the time, he immediately took over the imperial treasury and distributed over 70
lakh
rupees among old and new noblemen to secure his throne. Meanwhile, on the death of the Emperor, Mirza Baisinghar, son of the late
Prince Daniyal
, fled to Lahore and joined Shahryar.
Soon, near Lahore, Shahryar's forces met those of
Asaf Khan
, (father of
Mumtaz Mahal
), who wanted his son-in-law Shah Jahan to ascend the throne, and had already proclaimed
Dawar Bakhsh
as Emperor near Agra, as a stop-gap arrangement to save the throne for Shah Jahan. Shahryar lost the battle and fled into the fort, where the next morning he was presented in front of Dawar Baksh, who placed him in confinement and two to three days later had him blinded by Asaf Khan, thus bringing his short reign to a tragic end. It is said that Shahryar also had a form of leprosy due to which he had lost all his hair including his eyebrows and eyelashes.
[7]
Shahryar Mirza as a Poet
Like all Mughal princes, Shahryar also had training in poetry and, after he was blinded towards the end of his life, he wrote a poignant verse titled,
Bi Gu Kur Shud didah-i-Aftab
.
[8]
Death
[
edit
]
On the 2nd Jumada-l awwal, 1037 A.H., (1628), Shah Jahan ascended to the throne at Lahore, and on the 26th
Jumada-l awwal
, January 23, 1628, upon his orders, Dawar, his brother Garshasp, Shahryar, and Tahmuras and
Hoshang
, sons of the deceased
Prince Daniyal
, were all put to death by
Asaf Khan
.
[9]
[10]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
After Shahryar's death, Shah Jahan ruled the empire for thirty years, until imprisoned by Aurangzeb and dying eight years later.
Asaf Khan
, was made the prime minister of
Mughal Empire
, and
Nur Jahan
, with an annual pension of two
lakh
and spent the rest of her days, confined in her palace in Lahore, along with her daughter
Mihr-un-nissa Begum
, the widow of Shahryar.
[11]
Nur Jahan died in 1645 at age 68.
[12]
Further reading
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Sarkar, Kobita (2007).
Shah Jahan and His Paradise on Earth
. Agra, India: K.P. Bagchi & Company. pp. 16?17.
- ^
Sarkar, Kobita (2007).
Shah Jahan and His Paradise on Earth
. Agra, India: K.P. Bagchi & Company. pp. 16?17.
- ^
The Grandees of the Empire - Jahangir's children,
Sultan Shahryar
Ain-i-Akbari
, by
Abul Fazl
, Volume I, Chpt. 30.
- ^
Ali Q
Ain-i-Akbari
, by
Abul Fazl
, Volume I, chpt. 310, "'Ali Q.'s daughter, who, like her mother, had the name of Mihrunnisa, was later married to Prince Shahryar, Jahangir's fifth son.".
- ^
Dholpur
The Riyazu-s-Salatin (Gardens of the Sultans), a History of Bengal, by Ghulam Husain Salim ‘Zayadpuri’. 1787-8.
- ^
Shahryar Governor
The Calligraphers of Thatta
By Muhammad Abdul Ghafur, 1968, Pakistan-Iran Cultural Association. Page 18.
- ^
Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, By Asiatic Society of Bengal, Asiatic Society (Calcutta, India). Published 1868. p. 218.
- ^
Dictionary of Indo-Persian Literature, by Nabi Hadi, page 554.
- ^
Death of the Emperor (Jahangir)
The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period
, Sir H. M. Elliot, London, 1867?1877, Vol 6.
- ^
Shahryar
Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India
, by Ellison Banks Findly,
Oxford University Press
US, page 275-282, 284, "23 January...".
- ^
Noor Jahan
Archived
3 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
University of Alberta
.
- ^
Shah Jahan
britannica.com
.