Excerpts from Jahangirnama - Jahangir and his Relatives

This post which you are going to read now deals mainly with the experience of a blog reader, Preeti, who was reading Jahangirnama. I wanted some one else(other than me) to share the review of that book, so asked her to share her personal views after going through that memoir. She shared it on blog. {Link} This post talks of Jahangir's relationship with his parents, step-mothers, foster mother, etc. The Focus is on his relation with his mother.

I am posting her review/comment "as it is" here. I have tried to be as brief as possible & added my views in RED color only , because i want this post to be read as an independent assessment of hers only. I will be posting my views later in a separate post.

Here we go:

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Reference:
The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India
By Jahangir, tr. Wheeler M. Thackston, Oxford University Press, 1999

Hello, I have just had a wonderful week reading excerpts of the Jehangirnama.
Abhay had requested I share some of the snippets from my reading with you all.

I want to start with a DISCLAIMER: 
I only read it in bits and pieces as I was primarily interested in Jehangir’s relationship with his mother/parents and with his step mothers. So I indexed the names I was interested in and only read those sections. Here are some facts and my thoughts as well:

1. 
There is no ambiguity in the Jehangirnama about the status of his mother what so ever! Mariam-Uz-Zamani(MUZ) is the only one (besides for his grandmother Hamida Bano) who he addresses as HER MAJESTY /HAZRAT Mariam-Uz-Zamani. At other times he addresses her as my exalted mother. Akbar is also addressed as His Majesty, Arsh Arshiyani or my exalted father.
 
His stepmothers are addressed simply as "Ruqayya Sultana Begum - daughter of Hindal Mirza" and "Salima Sultan Begum -  daughter of Gulrukh Begum". There are no titles prefixed in front of their names at all. Even Nur Jehan is NOT referred to as Her Majesty after her many titles.

{
If missed, do check out this post. 
It is about the mosque of Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum Sahiba in Lahore, even here in the inscriptions, her name is mentioned along with the epithet - "Hazrat".
The Mosque of Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum at Lahore | Pictures, Persian Inscriptions, English Translations, Explanations, & more
}


2. 
JEHANGIR AND HIS FOSTER MOTHER : 

It is without doubt that he loved this lady immensely….possibly more than his own mother. I know Abhay clarified with Ika { Here is that post : Link } earlier about what Jehangir said when his foster mother died but he also said something similar when talking about Qutubudin Koka: “when I was an infant I was looked after by her. The intimacy I have with her I do not have with my own mother”. Clearly this signifies to me he was closer to his foster mother than to MUZ.

{ 
My views:

The foster mother of Jahangir was a daughter of the Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Chisti, by whose blessings he was born. She was also the mother of Jahangir's favorite foster brother - Qutub-ud-din Koka, who became his private secretary after Jahangir became the Emperor. He was also made a Governor of Bengal. Clearly all these points leave no doubt that he respected her a lot, and held her in high regard. She was his foster mother and also the mother of his favorite foster brother. 

We all know, how much Akbar regarded his foster mother - Jiji Anga. He shaved his head ONLY twice in his life. Once at the death of his own mother-Hamida Bano and other at the death of his foster mother-Jiji Anga. He even carried the corpse of Jiji Anga for some distance with her. Mughals regarded their sisters/senior ladies with respect.


Some details in this regard were shared by Radhika, {Link} which i am sharing here also. 

Akbar was equally respectful towards Maham Anga, Jiji Anga etc. Generally, very high noble women who were trustworthy and close to the royal family were chosen as the foster mothers(anagha). Once a woman nursed a prince, she remained his foster mother for life and was treated as such. Akbar deeply mourned the death of Jiji Anga too by shaving off his head and moustache. And he forgave his foster brothers (koka) like Adham Khan, Mirza Koka etc many times.

The foster brothers and even the husbands of the foster mothers (atakah) became part of the imperial family and rose high in the imperial service. Mirza Aziz Koka was given the title of Khan-i-Azam and rose to a level just below that of a prince of royal blood. His daughter was married to Akbar's grandson, Khusrau. Shams ud-din Ataka was Jiji Anga's husband and rose to the level of vakil at the time of his death. The sons of Mirza Aziz Koka also rose to respectable positions in the reign of Jahangir, despite the fact that Jahangir wanted to severely punish Aziz Koka for his involvement in the rebellion of Khusrau.

Salim, we know, always bowed deeply to his mother out of respect for her. He even touched her feet. It seems, he extended the same respect towards his mother-in-law, Gulrukh Miranshahi, too. Once she fell sick in 1614 and offered a robe of honour to Salim. He accepted it against the propriety of the Emperor. This shows that he regarded the mother as above all and deserving to be honored.

Aurangzeb too, respected his sister Jahanara Begum a lot, despite the fact that she was on side of his brother - Dara Shikoh, his rival during the war of succession. We discussed this aspect on these posts. The links:>

Jahanara - Begum 
Jahanara Begum - A Sufi Fakeera or a Padshah Begum
} 




3. 
MARIAM-UZ-ZAMANI: She is mentioned throughout the book several times.

a. MUZ’s house was the center of his social life. All the Lunar and Solar weighing ceremonies when he was in the palace are held at her house. Many weddings of Jehangir's kids are also held at her house as narrated by Jehangir himself.

There are two beautiful/ tender narrations about his mother when Jehangir was personally writing his own memoirs:

{
My views: {Link}
He writes - On his birthday, he used to go to his mother's palace. A number of royal functions took place in the house of his mother Mariam-uz-zamani like Jahangir's solar weighing, Jahangir's marriage, and his son, Shehzada Parviz's wedding to daughter of Sultan Murad Mirza.
}


b. After Jehangir marches to Lahore following Khusrau’s rebellion, he writes : “I ordered Khurram to bring Her Majesty MUZ and my harem to me.”

When their entourage came nearer he writes - “I got on a boat and attained the happiness of paying homage and greeting my mother in the vicinity of a village named Dhar. After executing the rites of Korunish, Sajda ( prostration) and Taslim and after observing the formalities of the young owe the elders under the terms of the Genghis code and Timurid law….”-

The translator specifies that Jehangir performed the above three rites only to MUZ and then observed the formalities of greeting the other elders too.

** I was really struck by Jehangir doing Sajda to his mother, as far as I know in Islam Sajda is only done in front of god. So he obviously thought of her as God's representative on earth. (my interpretation)

{
My views:

Sajda - This position involves having the forehead, nose, both the hands, knees and all toes touching the ground together, and it is done before The Almighty in Islam, while praying.

Taslim -  It is the concluding portion of the prayer in Islam, here we recite - Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah ( this means "Peace and blessings of Allah be unto you") once while facing the right direction, and once while facing the left.

Those who watch the show Jodha Akbar(or any other show, for that matter) must have seen Akbar, while finishing his prayers, when he gets up from the position of Sajda, he turns to right and the other time he turns to left, while speaking some divine words. This is the same practice of Taslim.
}

c. During the plague of Agra when Jehangir was in Fatehpur Sikri, he says : “ On Jan 6, 1618 Her Majesty MUZ came from Agra to meet me and I attained the happiness of waiting on her. I hope that the shadow of her protection and affection will always be over the head of this supplicant. ”


d. DEATH OF MARIUM-UZ-ZAMANI : Despite so many tender references to her through out his memoirs her death is noted in two lines with no major expression of grief: " At this time news came from Agra that Her Majesty MUZ had passed away. It is hoped that God will inundate her in a sea of mercy. "

There can be many explanations for this but here are mine:

a. Jehangir was really sick by this time and had handed over the writing of his memoirs to as stated by Jehangir himself. It is anyone's guess that the writer could have expressed the events in his own interpretation.

b. He was in Ajmer when this happened and was facing a rebellion from Khurram at that time. He was REALLY SHAKEN by this event as is evident by the sharp change in the tone of his writings after Khurram’s rebellion.

c. By this time Nur Jehan’s hold on him was complete! It is unclear whether Jehangir was even in his senses most of the time or whether Nur Jehan controlled all that was written in his memoirs.

{
My Views:
Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum passed away in 1623. At this time, Jahangir was NOT writing his memoirs. His health was very low. He had assigned this work to another historian in 1622 itself, and hence this 2-line reference about her death is the one given by that historian.
}

 4. 
RUQAYYA SULTANA BEGUM: She is mentioned exactly twice in the entire memoirs by Jehangir.


a. The First time she is mentioned as the person who raised Khurram .

“ I gave a garden left in Agra by Shah Quli Khan who had no heir to Hindal Mirza’s daughter Ruqayya Sultan Begum, the respected wife of my exalted father. My Father entrusted her with my son Khurram and she loved him a thousand times more than if he had been her own”.

NOTE: 
Nowhere does he talk about his own personal feeling for Ruqayya Begum although he undoubtedly appreciated her for raising Khurram.


b. Second time she is mentioned in that famous trip to Kabul.

On the internet we are lead to believe that Jehangir and Shah Jehan both accompanied Ruks for a pilgrimage to Kabul.

I was wonder struck then at the powers of Ruqayya Begum. NOTHING CAN BE MORE MISLEADING THAN THIS STORY.

In the Jehangirnama he narrates the entire sequence of events by saying:

"After the question of Khusrau’s rebellion was settled and he was in custody, Jehangir organized a HUNTING TRIP to Kabul which he says was the land of his forefathers. By the way, he took his entire Harem and Khusrau (Shackled!) and Shah Jehan with him. After touring the gardens made by many of his relatives ( including Hamida Banu Begum), On the fourth or 5th day he visits Babur’s grave and this is what he says: “ Ruqayya Sultan Begum, Mirza Hindal’s daughter had not yet visited her father’s grave but on this day she did”.

So folks! 
It was Ruqayya Begum who went along with the entire harem for a hunting trip to Kabul NOT that Jehangir took her especially for a pilgrimage to Kabul.


5. 
SALIMA SULTAN BEGUM: She is also mentioned twice in his memoirs:

a. First time she is referred to is when he got news of her death. While he expresses no personal grief on her death it is evident he respects this lady a lot.

He describes her as - “She possessed all good qualities. Among women the combination of such talent and capability is rare.”

b. He narrates an account of a Attar invented by Nur Jehan’s mother and says that Salima Sultan Begum was present and named it Jehangiri Attar. He goes on to say “ May God Bless her soul.”

{
My Views:
This Ittar(Perfume) was invented by Asmat Begum, who was fond of these perfumes. No doubt, Nur Jahan Begum also had a liking for perfume, which she shared with her mother(Asmat Begum). The moment this perfume was brought to Jahangir's notice - Salima Begum was present at that place, she gave a name to it - "Ittar-i-Jahangiri".
}


6. 
JEHANGIR AND THE AMERIS: 

I was very disappointed with Jehangir in that he completely disowns his Rajput roots. While he makes many references to his paternal grandparents and even grand aunts, he only refers to the Man Singh, Bhagwan Das etc. as loyal servants of the court.

Of Raja Bharmal he writes - “In correctness, Allegiance and courage he was truly outstanding among his people.”

No mention that he was talking about his own grandfather. This has led to many speculations that Jehangir was not born of Raja Bharmal’s daughter.


{
My Views:

This case is very interesting. Raja Bharmal died in 1574, when Jahangir was only 5 years old. But, still Jahangir has praised him to the sky high limits, and not Man Singh. 
This can be due to 2 reasons as far as i think - 

i. Raja Bharmal was held in high regard by Akbar, OR

ii. Man Singh, though, was a brave/successful and distinguished general cum Navratan of Akbar, but Man Singh was the one who was ALSO thought to be guilty of supporting Khusrau in his open rebellion, by Salim. BUT, NO evidence was found against Raja Man Singh. Though, Khan-i-Khanan Abdur Rahim was punished/humiliated and even Mirza Aziz Koka was tried & thought to be executed, but Man Singh was simply transferred away to Bengal.

Though, there are select references in Jahangirnama, like - when Jahangir mentions that he sent a "jewel studded waist sword"(mark of honor) to Raja Man Singh in Bengal, later. 

He mentions that - "I made Raja Man Singh who was one of the greatest and most trusted noblemen of my father.......ruler of the province of Bengal."

}


7. 
JEHANGIR AND BIGOTRY: 

I was taken aback by his many references to Hindus as infidels, “ Blighted infidels” etc. I felt, I was reading Aurangzeb's chronicles at some points.. The only time he sounds conciliatory was when he talks about Jadrup.

All in all Jehangir was a complex person . His Memoirs were a stark reminder as to why I idolize and respect Shehanshah Jalaludin Mohammad Akbar so much!!! I am sorry but Jehangir was better than the ones who followed him but no match for Akbar.

{
At first instance, it may appear reading these lines that Jahangir was a bigot. I too, agree he was NOT Akbar. He was also, not a gifted writer like Abu'l Fazl to use camouflaged language. But, he was the best among all the successors of Akbar as far as religious tolerance is concerned. It was "normal" for him to address "others" as infidels(don't get me wrong friends), because this word in simple sense means - "NON-Believer". I think he refers those people as non-believers who were NOT from his religion. His memoirs do not reflect that he hated Hindus. Aurangzeb was a different man altogether, as we saw in these two posts.
Aurangzeb's Succession to Mughal Throne | An alternate Story
Aurangzeb -  An Assessment

He respected a Hindu Saint - Jadrup and held him in high regard. According to Jahangir, it was Jadrup who worshiped the "True God". Jahangir visited his hermitage many times. He even called his Vedantic philosophy as equal to that of Sufism. I was amazed to see this comparison. Interestingly, this saint Jadrup was "seen" by Akbar also, in his last years.

Jahangir has explained the Festival of colors(Holi) celebrated by Hindus(he does not call them infidels here). The most striking thing about him, i found was, his most minute understanding of Hindu culture. He writes - " It is a maxim of the Hindus that no good deed can be thoroughly performed by men in the social state without the partnership of the presence of a wife, whom they have styled the half of a man(ardhangini)." 

I wonder how come he had the knowledge of these minute Hindu rituals and religious know-how.

}

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Here is a rare picture of Jahangir and Akbar shared by Sunram on the blog. Here, Jahangir is holding the picture of Akbar in his hands.

EndNote:
This was a brief review of Jahangirnama with regards to his mother and other relatives. We can have more discussions here. 


Article Category : Mughals(Akbar)