Jahangir and Nur Jahan: Power and Art at the Mughal Court

Jahangir, the fourth Mughal emperor, ruled much of the Indian subcontinent from 1605 to 1627. In 1611 he married Nur Jahan, a Persian-born widow who became the most powerful woman in Mughal history: she issued orders, had coins struck in her name and helped steer imperial politics. Their partnership produced one of the most refined courts of the early modern world, famous for painting, gardens and architecture, but also for factional struggles that shaped the succession.

Background: Akbar’s heir

Jahangir was born Prince Salim on 31 August 1569, the son of Akbar the Great and a Rajput princess of Amber. His relationship with his father was difficult. In 1600 he rebelled and set up his own court at Allahabad, and in 1602 he was blamed for the murder of Akbar’s friend and historian Abu al-Fazl. Father and son were reconciled before Akbar’s death in October 1605.

Salim took the throne in Agra as Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir, “Seizer of the World”. He inherited a stable and wealthy empire with an efficient system of ranks (mansabs) and revenue collection, which he largely kept in place. In his memoir he describes hanging a golden “chain of justice” with bells at the Agra fort, so that people with grievances could call for the emperor’s attention, and he issued a set of ordinances on taxes, roads and the treatment of subjects at his accession. Early in his reign his own son Khusrau rebelled; the revolt was crushed in 1606, and Khusrau was later blinded.

Nur Jahan’s early life

Nur Jahan was born Mehr-un-Nissa in 1577 near Kandahar, as her parents travelled from Iran to India. Her father, Mirza Ghiyas Beg, entered Akbar’s service and rose to high office. Under Jahangir he became chief minister, with the title Itimad-ud-Daula (“Pillar of the State”).

In 1594 Mehr-un-Nissa married Ali Quli Istajlu, a Persian officer known as Sher Afgan. He was killed in a clash with imperial officials in Bengal in 1607, and she came to court as a lady-in-waiting. Later stories claim that Jahangir had loved her since youth and arranged her husband’s death, but there is no reliable evidence for this.

Marriage and rise to power

Jahangir met Mehr-un-Nissa in 1611, reportedly at the royal spring market, and married her in May of that year. He gave her the title Nur Mahal (“Light of the Palace”) and in 1616 Nur Jahan (“Light of the World”).

Her family rose with her. Her father remained chief minister until his death in 1622, and her brother Asaf Khan became a leading noble. In 1612 Asaf Khan’s daughter, Arjumand Banu Begum, married Prince Khurram, the emperor’s favourite son. Historians often describe Nur Jahan, her father, her brother and Khurram as a powerful faction that dominated the court in the 1610s.

Nur Jahan’s power was unusual but not hidden. Jahangir himself wrote that he had handed much of the business of state to her. She issued imperial orders (farmans) under her own seal, received petitions, managed land grants and traded on her own account, including in cloth and indigo. In the last years of the reign gold and silver coins were struck with her name, a privilege no other Mughal empress enjoyed.

Art, nature and the court

Jahangir was a passionate observer of the natural world. His memoir, the Jahangirnama (also called Tuzuk-i Jahangiri), records plants, animals, weather and court events in remarkable detail. He commissioned painters to record rare birds and animals, including a dodo and a turkey brought by traders.

Under his patronage Mughal painting reached a peak of naturalism and refinement. Leading artists included Abu al-Hasan, whom he titled Nadir al-Zaman (“Wonder of the Age”), the animal painter Ustad Mansur and the portraitist Bishandas, whom he sent to Iran to paint Shah Abbas. Allegorical portraits showed Jahangir as a ruler of the world, sometimes embracing Shah Abbas or preferring a Sufi to kings.

Nur Jahan was a patron in her own right. She designed textiles, commissioned gardens and caravanserais, and built the tomb of her parents at Agra, the Itimad-ud-Daula, completed around 1628. Its white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones anticipated the Taj Mahal. Jahangir recorded that her mother, Asmat Begum, had discovered a method of making attar of roses. He also described Nur Jahan shooting tigers from an elephant on a royal hunt.

Europeans at the court

Jahangir’s reign saw growing contacts with Europe. Portuguese Jesuits were present at court, and English merchants of the East India Company sought trading rights. The ambassador Sir Thomas Roe, sent by King James I, stayed with the court from 1615 to 1619. His journal gives a vivid outsider’s view of Jahangir’s daily audiences, drinking parties and Nur Jahan’s influence, and he helped secure privileges for the English factory at Surat.

Rebellion and the end of the reign

In the 1620s the court alliance broke apart. Nur Jahan married her daughter from her first marriage, Ladli Begum, to Jahangir’s younger son Shahryar, and appeared to favour him as heir. Khurram, who had won the title Shah Jahan for his campaigns in the Deccan and against Mewar, rebelled in 1622–23 and fought his father’s armies until 1626. In the same years Shah Abbas of Iran captured Kandahar in 1622.

In 1626 the general Mahabat Khan, fearing Nur Jahan’s hostility, seized Jahangir in his camp on the Jhelum river. Nur Jahan’s attempt to rescue him by force failed, but she later helped engineer his release. By then Jahangir was in poor health, worn by asthma and years of heavy drinking and opium use, which he openly admitted in his memoir.

Jahangir died on 28 October 1627 on the way back from Kashmir. Asaf Khan backed his son-in-law Shah Jahan, who defeated Shahryar and was crowned in 1628. Nur Jahan retired to Lahore; she is traditionally credited with beginning Jahangir’s tomb at Shahdara, near the city. She died on 17 December 1645 and was buried nearby.

Timeline

• 1569, 31 August: Prince Salim, the future Jahangir, is born.
• 1577: Mehr-un-Nissa, the future Nur Jahan, is born near Kandahar.
• 1605, October: Akbar dies and Jahangir becomes emperor.
• 1607: Nur Jahan’s first husband, Sher Afgan, is killed in Bengal.
• 1611, May: Jahangir marries Mehr-un-Nissa.
• 1615: Sir Thomas Roe arrives at the Mughal court.
• 1622: Kandahar falls to Shah Abbas; Prince Khurram’s rebellion begins.
• 1626: Mahabat Khan briefly seizes Jahangir.
• 1627, 28 October: Jahangir dies; Shah Jahan takes the throne in 1628.
• 1645, 17 December: Nur Jahan dies in Lahore.

Legacy

Jahangir is often remembered as a pleasure-loving ruler, but historians stress that the empire remained stable and prosperous under him, and that his curiosity and patronage made his court a centre of art. His memoir is one of the most personal documents written by any early modern ruler.

Nur Jahan’s reputation has swung between extremes. Older historians often portrayed her as a scheming woman who dominated a weak husband. More recent work presents her as an able co-ruler who used the means available to a royal woman with unusual skill. Her coins, buildings and orders remain concrete evidence of her authority.

Why it matters

The reign of Jahangir and Nur Jahan shows the Mughal Empire at a high point of wealth and culture, and it reveals how power could be shared at the top of a court usually dominated by men. Its succession struggles also set the stage for Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal.