A'la Azad Abul
Muzaffar Shahab ud-Din Mohammad Khurram,
known by his imperial name Shah Jahan, (Urdu: شاه جهاں; Persian: شاه جهان king of the world)
(also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan) (January 5, 1592 –
January 22, 1666) was the Indian emperor
of the Mughal Empire in South
Asia from 1628 until 1658. He was the fifth Mughal
emperor after Babur, Humayun, Akbar,
and Jahangir. While young, he
was the favourite of his legendary grandfather, Akbar
the Great.
At a young age, he
was chosen as successor to the Mughal throne after the death of Emperor
Jahangir. He succeeded to the throne upon his father's death in 1627. He is
considered one of the greatest Mughals. His reign has been called the Golden
Age of the Mughals and one of the most prosperous ages of Indian civilization.
Like Akbar, he was eager to expand his vast empire. In 1658, he fell ill and
was confined by his son Emperor
Aurangzeb in Agra
Fort until his death in 1666.
The period of his
reign was the golden age of Mughal
architecture. Shah Jahan erected many splendid monuments, the
most famous of which is theTaj Mahal at
Agra, built in 1632–1648 as a tomb for his beloved wife, Empress Mumtaz
Mahal. The Moti Masjid,
Agra and many other buildings in Agra, the Red
Fort and the Jama
Masjid in Delhi,
mosques in Lahore, extensions to Lahore
Fort and a
mosque in Thatta also commemorate him. The famous Takht-e-Taus or
the Peacock Throne,
said to be worth millions of dollars by modern estimates, also dates from his
reign. He was also the founder of the new imperial capital called Shahjahanabad,
now known as Old Delhi. Other important buildings of Shah Jahan's rule were the Diwan-i-Am and Diwan-i-Khas in
the Red Fort Complex in Delhi and the Moti
Masjid in the Lahore Fort. Shah Jahan is also
believed to have had a very refined taste in the arts and architecture, and is
credited with having commissioned about 777 gardens in Kashmir,
his favourite summer residence. A few of these gardens survive, attracting
thousands of tourists every year.
