Mumtaz Mahal

Mumtaz Mahal ([mʊmˈt̪aːz mɛˈɦɛl], Persian: ممتاز محل‎, romanized: momtaz mahal; born Arjumand Banu Begum, in Persian: ارجمند بانو بیگم‎; 27 April 1593 – 17 June 1631)[1] was the Empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.[2] The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World,[3] was commissioned by her husband to act as her tomb.[4]

For other uses, see Mumtaz Mahal (disambiguation).

Mumtaz Mahal
17th or 18th-century portrait of Mumtaz Mahal
Padshah Begum
Tenure19 January 1628 – 17 June 1631
PredecessorNur Jahan
SuccessorJahanara Begum
BornArjumand Banu Begum
27 April 1593
Agra, Mughal Empire
Died17 June 1631(1631-06-17) (aged 38)
Burhanpur, Mughal Empire
Burial
Taj Mahal, Agra
SpouseShah Jahan (m. 1612)
Issue
among others...
HouseTimurid (by marriage)
FatherAbu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan
MotherDiwanji Begum

Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjumand Banu Begum in Agra to a family of Persian nobility. She was the daughter of Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan, a wealthy Persian noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire, and the niece of Empress Nur Jahan, the chief wife of Emperor Jahangir and the power behind the emperor.[5] She was married at the age of 19 on 30 April 1612 to Prince Khurram,[6] later known by his regnal name Shah Jahan, who conferred upon her the title "Mumtaz Mahal" (Persian: the exalted one of the palace).[7] Although betrothed to Shah Jahan since 1607,[8] she ultimately became his second wife in 1612.[9][10] Mumtaz and her husband had fourteen children, including Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's favourite daughter),[11] and the Crown prince Dara Shikoh, the heir-apparent,[12] anointed by his father, who temporarily succeeded him, until deposed by Mumtaz Mahal's sixth child, Aurangzeb, who ultimately succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor in 1658.[13]

Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 in Burhanpur, Deccan (present-day Madhya Pradesh), during the birth of her fourteenth child, a daughter named Gauhar Ara Begum.[14] Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built as a tomb for her, which is considered to be a monument of undying love. As with other Mughal royal ladies, there are no contemporary likenesses that are accepted as of her, but numerous imagined portraits were created from the 19th century onwards.

Family and early life

Mumtaz Mahal was born as Arjumand Banu on 27 April 1593[15] in Agra to Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan[8] and his wife Diwanji Begum, the daughter of a Persian noble, Khwaja Ghias-ud-din of Qazvin.[16] Asaf Khan was a wealthy Persian noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire. His family had come to India impoverished in 1577, when his father Mirza Ghias Beg (popularly known by his title of I'timad-ud-Daulah),[17] was taken into the service of Emperor Akbar in Agra.[5]

Asaf Khan was also the older brother of Empress Nur Jahan, making Mumtaz a niece, and later, a step daughter-in-law of Nur Jahan, the chief consort of Emperor Jahangir, Shah Jahan's father.[18] Her older sister, Parwar Khanum, married Sheikh Farid, the son of Nawab Qutubuddin Koka, the governor of Badaun, who was also the emperor Jahangir's foster brother.[19] Mumtaz also had a brother, Shaista Khan, who served as the governor of Bengal and various other provinces in the empire during Shah Jahan's reign.[20]

Mumtaz was remarkable in the field of learning and was a talented and cultured lady.[21] She was well-versed in Arabic and Persian languages and could compose poems in the latter.[22][21] She was reputed to have a combination of modesty and candor, a woman warmly straightforward yet bemusedly self-possessed. Early in adolescence, she attracted the attention of important nobles of the realm. Jahangir must have heard about her, since he readily consented to Shah Jahan's engagement with her.[23]

Marriage
Mumtaz Mahal with an attendant.

Mumtaz Mahal was betrothed to Shah Jahan around 30 January 1607,[6] when she was 14 years old at the time and he was 15. They were, however, married five years after the year of their betrothal on 30 April 1612 in Agra.[6] The marriage was a love-match.[24] After their wedding celebrations, Shah Jahan, "finding her in appearance and character elect among all the women of the time", gave her the title "Mumtaz Mahal" Begum ("the Exalted One of the Palace").[25][26] During the intervening years between their betrothal and marriage, Shah Jahan had married his first wife, Princess Kandahari Begum in 1609 and in 1617, after marrying Mumtaz, took a third wife, Izz-un-Nissa Begum (titled Akbarabadi Mahal),[27] the daughter of a prominent Mughal courtier.[28][29] According to the official court historians, both the marriages were political alliances.[28]

By all accounts, Shah Jahan was so taken with Mumtaz that he showed little interest in exercising his polygamous rights with his two other wives, other than dutifully siring a child with each.[30] According to the official court chronicler, Motamid Khan, as recorded in his Iqbal Namah-e-Jahangiri, the relationship with his other wives "had nothing more than the status of marriage. The intimacy, deep affection, attention and favour which Shah Jahan had for Mumtaz exceeded what he felt for his other wives."[26][31] Likewise, Shah Jahan's historian Inayat Khan commented that 'his whole delight was centered on this illustrious lady [Mumtaz], to such an extent that he did not feel towards the others [i.e. his other wives] one-thousandth part of the affection that he did for her.'[32]

Mumtaz had a loving marriage with Shah Jahan. Even during her lifetime, poets would extol her beauty, grace, and compassion. Despite her frequent pregnancies, Mumtaz travelled with Shah Jahan's entourage throughout his earlier military campaigns and the subsequent rebellion against his father. She was his constant companion and trusted confidant, leading court historians to go to unheard lengths to document the intimate and erotic relationship the couple enjoyed. In their nineteen years of marriage, they had fourteen children together (eight sons and six daughters),[32] seven of whom died at birth or at a very young age.[14]

Mughal empress

Upon his accession to the throne in 1629,[33] Shah Jahan designated Mumtaz as his chief empress with the title of 'Malika-i-Jahan' ("Queen of the World")[6] and 'Malika-uz-Zamani' ("Queen of the Age")[34] and mallikai-hindustan ("Queen of the hindustan").[35] Mumtaz's tenure as empress was brief, spanning a period of only three years due to her untimely death, nonetheless, Shah Jahan bestowed her with luxuries that no other empress was given before her. For example, no other empress' residence was as decorated as Khas Mahal (part of Agra Fort), where Mumtaz lived with Shah Jahan. It was decorated with pure gold and precious stones and had rose-water fountains of its own. Each wife of the Mughal emperor was given a regular monthly allowance for her gastos (housekeeping or travelling expenses); the highest such allowance on record is the one million rupees per year given to Mumtaz Mahal by Shah Jahan.[36]

Shah Jahan consulted Mumtaz in both private matters and the affairs of the state, and she served as his close confidant and trusted adviser. At her intercession, he forgave enemies or commuted death sentences.[37] His trust in her was so great that he gave her the highest honour of the land – his imperial seal, the Mehr Uzaz,[38] which validated imperial decrees.[39] Mumtaz was portrayed as having no aspirations to political power, in contrast to her aunt, Empress Nur Jahan, the chief consort of Emperor Jahangir, who had wielded considerable influence in the previous reign.[40]

A great influence on him, often intervening on behalf of the poor and destitute, she also enjoyed watching elephant and combat fights performed for the court. Mumtaz also patronized a number of poets, scholars and other talented persons. A noted Sanskrit poet, Vansidhara Mishra, was the Empress's favourite.[21] On the recommendation of her principal lady-in-waiting, Sati-un-Nissa, Mumtaz Mahal provided pensions and donations to the daughters of poor scholars, theologians, and pious men.[41] It was quite common for women of noble birth to commission architecture in the Mughal Empire, so Mumtaz devoted some time to a riverside garden in Agra, which is now known as Zahara Bagh. It is the only architectural foundation which can be connected to her patronage.[42]

Death and aftermath
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Taj Mahal is the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan.

Mumtaz Mahal died from postpartum hemorrhage in Burhanpur on 17 June 1631[43] while giving birth to her fourteenth child, after a prolonged labor of approximately 30 hours.[14][15] She had been accompanying her husband while he was fighting a campaign in the Deccan Plateau. Her body was temporarily buried at Burhanpur in a walled pleasure garden known as Zainabad originally constructed by Shah Jahan's uncle Daniyal on the bank of the Tapti River.[44] The contemporary court chroniclers paid an unusual amount of attention to Mumtaz Mahal's death and Shah Jahan's grief at her demise. In the immediate aftermath of his bereavement, the emperor was reportedly inconsolable.[45] Apparently, after her death, he went into secluded mourning for a year.[45] When he appeared again, his hair had turned white, his back was bent, and his face worn.[46] Mumtaz's eldest daughter, Jahanara Begum, gradually brought her father out of grief and took her mother's place at court.[47]

Mumtaz Mahal's personal fortune (valued at ten million rupees) was divided by Shah Jahan between Jahanara Begum, who received half and the rest of her surviving children.[48] Burhanpur was never intended by her husband as his wife's final resting spot. As a result, her body was disinterred in December 1631 and transported in a golden casket escorted by her son Shah Shuja and the deceased empress's head lady-in-waiting back to Agra.[49] There it was interred in a small building on the banks of the Yamuna River. Shah Jahan stayed behind in Burhanpur to conclude the military campaign that had originally brought him to the region. While there, he began planning the design and construction of a suitable mausoleum and funerary garden in Agra for his wife. It was a task that would take 22 years to complete: the Taj Mahal.[50]

Taj Mahal
Cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal.
Tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal, alongside her husband Shah Jahan.

The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan to be built as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal. It is seen as an embodiment of undying love and marital devotion. English poet Sir Edwin Arnold describes it as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passion of an emperor's love wrought in living stones." The beauty of the monument is also taken as a representation of Mumtaz Mahal's beauty and this association leads many to describe the Taj Mahal as feminine.[51] Since Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decorations on graves, the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan are placed in a relatively plain crypt beneath the inner chamber with their faces turned to the right and towards Mecca.[52]

The Ninety Nine Names of God are found as calligraphic inscriptions on the sides of the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the crypt including, "O Noble, O Magnificent, O Majestic, O Unique, O Eternal, O Glorious…".[53] There are many theories about the origin of the name of this tomb and one of them suggests that 'Taj' is an abbreviation of the name Mumtaz. European travelers, such as François Bernier, who observed its construction, were among the first to call it the Taj Mahal. Since it is unlikely that they came up with the name, it is suggested that they might have picked it up from the locals of Agra who called the Empress 'Taj Mahal' and thought the tomb was named after her and the name began to be used interchangeably. However, there is no firm evidence to suggest this. Shah Jahan had not intended to entomb another person in the Taj Mahal;[54] however, Aurangzeb had Shah Jahan buried next to the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal rather than build a separate tomb for his father.[55][56] This is evident from the asymmetrical placement of Shah Jahan's grave on one side of his wife's grave which is in the centre.[57][58]

A crater was named in her honour on asteroid 433 Eros, along with another one after her husband.[59]

Literature
  • Arjumand Banu (Mumtaz Mahal) is a principal character in Indu Sundaresan's novel The Feast of Roses (2003) and its sequel, Shadow Princess (2010), begins with her death.[60]
  • Mumtaz Mahal is a main character in Sonja Chandrachud's novel Trouble at the Taj (2011). She appears in the book as a ghost.[61]
  • In John Shors' novel Beneath a Marble Sky (2013), Mahal's daughter, Princess Jahanara, tells the extraordinary story of how the Taj Mahal came to be, describing her own life as an agent in its creation and as a witness to the fateful events surrounding its completion.[62]

Films

Other

Issue
Children of Mumtaz Mahal
NamePortraitLifespanNotes
Hur-un-Nisa Begum
 3 March 1613 –
5 June 1616		 Died of smallpox at the age of 3.[68]
Jahanara Begum
Padshah Begum		 23 March 1614 –
16 September 1681		 Shah Jahan's favourite and most influential daughter. Jahanara became the First Lady (Padshah Begum) of the Mughal Empire after her mother's death, despite the fact that her father had three other consorts. She died unmarried.
Dara Shikoh
Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba, Jalal ul-Kadir, Sultan Muhammad Dara Shikoh, Shah-i-Buland Iqbal		 20 March 1615 –
30 August 1659		 The eldest son and heir-apparent. He was favoured as a successor by his father, Shah Jahan, and his elder sister, Princess Jahanara Begum, but was defeated and later killed by his younger brother, Prince Muhiuddin (later the Emperor Aurangzeb), in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne. He married and had issue.
Shah Shuja
 23 June 1616 –
7 February 1661		 He survived in the war of succession. He married and had issue.
Roshanara Begum
Padshah Begum		 3 September 1617 –
11 September 1671		 She was the most influential of Shah Jahan's daughters after Jahanara Begum and sided with Aurangzeb during the war of succession. She died unmarried.
Aurangzeb
Mughal emperor		 3 November 1618 –
3 March 1707		 Succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor after emerging victorious in the war of succession that took place after Shah Jahan's illness in 1657. He married and had issue.
Izad Bakhsh
 18 December 1619 –
February/March 1621[69]		 Died in infancy.
Surayya Banu Begum
 10 June 1621 –
28 April 1628[69]		 Died of smallpox at the age of 7.[68]
Unnamed son
 1622 Died soon after birth.[69]
Murad Bakhsh
 8 October 1624 –
14 December 1661		 He was executed in 1661 as per Aurangzeb's orders.[70] He married and had issue.
Lutf Allah
 4 November 1626 –
13 May 1628[69]		 Died at the age of one and a half years.[68]
Daulat Afza
 8 May 1628 –
13 May 1629[71]		 Died in infancy.
Husn Ara Begum
 23 April 1630 –
1631[69]		 Died in infancy.
Gauhar Ara Begum
 17 June 1631 –
1706		 Mumtaz died while giving birth to her on 17 June 1631 in Burhanpur. She died unmarried.

Ancestry

References
  1. Pickthall, Marmaduke William; Asad, Muhammad (1 January 1975). "Islamic Culture". 49. Islamic Culture Board: 196. Retrieved 13 April 2017. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Lach, Donald F.; Kley, Edwin J. Van (1998). Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 2, South Asia. University of Chicago Press. p. 689. ISBN 9780226466972.
  3. Tillotson, Giles (2008). Taj Mahal. London: Profile Books. p. 11. ISBN 9781847652478.
  4. Phillips, Rhonda; Roberts, Sherma, eds. (2013). Tourism, Planning, and Community Development Community Development – Current Issues Series. Routledge. p. 128. ISBN 9781135711887.
  5. Frank W. Thackeray; John E. Findling, eds. (2012). Events that formed the modern world: from the European Renaissance through the War on Terror. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 254. ISBN 9781598849011.
  6. Findly 1993, p. 39.
  7. Ahmed, Akbar S. (2009). Islam Today a Short Introduction to the Muslim World. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. p. 94. ISBN 9780857713803.
  8. Tillotson 2012, p. 20.
  9. Tillotson 2012, p. 3.
  10. Tillotson 2012, p. 27.
  11. Richards, J.F. (1995). Mughal empire (Transferred to digital print. ed.). Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780521566032.
  12. Balabanlilar, Lisa (2015). Imperial Identity in the Mughal Empire: Memory and Dynastic Politics in Early Modern South and Central Asia. I.B.Tauris. p. 131. ISBN 9780857732460.
  13. Esposito, John L. (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 29. ISBN 9780199757268.
  14. Kumar, Anant (January–June 2014). "Monument of Love or Symbol of Maternal Death: The Story Behind the Taj Mahal". Case Reports in Women's Health. Elsevier. 1: 4–7. doi:10.1016/j.crwh.2014.07.001. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  15. Mullah Muhammad Saleh Kamboh: Shah Jahan-Nama, Lahore, 2013, p. 159
  16. Ahmad, Moin-ud-din (1924). The Taj and Its Environments: With 8 Illus. from Photos., 1 Map, and 4 Plans. R. G. Bansal. p. 101.
  17. Tillotson 2012, p. 194.
  18. "Abu Fazl 'Allami, Áín i Akbarí". Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  19. "Waqf board handles Muslim rulers' property". The Times of India. 2 October 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  20. Ball, Valentine (2007). Tavernier's travels in India between years 1640–1676 : being a narrative of the six voyages of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier to the east – especially to India, translated from the original French edition of 1676, with a biographical sketch of the author, notes, appendices, & c. (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p. 245. ISBN 9788120615670.
  21. Nath, Renuka (1990). Notable Mughal and Hindu women in the 16th and 17th centuries A.D. (1st ed.). New Delhi: Inter-India Publ. p. 115. ISBN 9788121002417.
  22. Sharma, Sudha (2016). The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India. India: Sage Publications. ISBN 9789351505655. Mumtaz Mahal was equally adept in Persian and Arabic as well as in writing poetry, besides being a patron of the learned and scholars.
  23. Hansen, Waldemar (1972). The peacock throne : the drama of Mogul India (1st Indian ed., repr. ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 38. ISBN 9788120802254.
  24. Findly 1993, p. 164.
  25. Pant, Chandra (1978). Nur Jahan and Her Family. Dandewal Publishing House. p. 112.
  26. Koch, p. 18.
  27. Sarker, Kobita (2007). Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth : the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals (1. publ. ed.). Kolkata: K.P. Bagchi & Co. p. 38. ISBN 9788170743002.
  28. Tillotson 2012, p. 21.
  29. Findly 1993, p. 308.
  30. Koch, Ebba (2006). The complete Taj Mahal and the riverfront gardens of Agra. Bookwise (India) Pvt. Ltd. p. 18.
  31. Qazwini. fol. 233a translated by Begley and Desai (1984), p. 14.
  32. Tillotson 2012, p. 30.
  33. Shujauddin, Mohammad; Shujauddin, Razia (1967). The Life and Times of Noor Jahan. Lahore: Caravan Book House. p. 121.
  34. Mehta, Jaswant Lal (1986). Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 425. ISBN 9788120710153.
  35. Findly 1994, p. 39.
  36. Findly 1993, p. 320.
  37. Hansen, Waldemar (1972). The peacock throne : the drama of Mogul India (1. Indian ed., repr. ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 93. ISBN 812080225X.
  38. Arya, Somraj (2013). 100 Years Life Sketch: Pathway to Spiritual Journey. Trafford Publishing. p. 121. ISBN 9781490719603.
  39. Smith, Bonnie G., ed. (2005). Women's history in global perspective : volume 2. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 109. ISBN 9780252072499.
  40. Koch, p. 19.
  41. Wade, Bonnie C. (1998). Imaging sound : an ethnomusicological study of music, art, and culture in Mughal India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780226868400.
  42. Salma K. Jayyusi; Renata Holod; Antillio Petruccioli; André Raymond, eds. (2008). The city in the Islamic world. Leiden: Brill. p. 571. ISBN 9789004162402.
  43. Khan, 'Inayat; Begley, Wayne Edison (1990). The Shah Jahan nama of 'Inayat Khan: an abridged history of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, compiled by his royal librarian : the nineteenth-century manuscript translation of A.R. Fuller (British Library, add. 30,777). Oxford University Press. p. 647. ISBN 9780195624892.
  44. Preston, p. 171.
  45. Koch, p. 20.
  46. Begley, Wayne E. "The Myth of the Taj Mahal and a New Theory of Its Symbolic Meaning" (PDF). The Art Bulletin. 61.
  47. Annemarie Schimmel (2005). The empire of the Great Mughals : history, art and culture. translated by Corinne Attwood; edited by Burzine K. Waghmar; with a foreword by Francis Robinson (Revised ed.). Lahore: Sang-E-Meel Pub. p. 151. ISBN 9781861891853.
  48. Preston, p. 175.
  49. Preston, p. 176.
  50. Britannica Student Encyclopedia. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 2014. p. 11. ISBN 9781625131720.
  51. Tillotson 2012, p. 4.
  52. Khatri, Vikas (2012). Greatest Wonders of the World. V S Publishers. p. 128. ISBN 978-9381588307.
  53. "Taj Mahal Calligraphy". Taj Mahal. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  54. Ruggles, D. Fairchild (2008). Islamic gardens and landscapes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 117. ISBN 9780812207286.
  55. Tillotson 2012, p. 40.
  56. Tillotson 2012, p. 69.
  57. Tillotson 2012, p. 71.
  58. Diana; Preston, Michael (2007). Taj Mahal : passion and genius at the heart of the Moghul empire (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Walker & Co. p. 268. ISBN 9780802715111.
  59. Bergeron, Jacqueline, ed. (1994). Reports on Astronomy Transactions of the International Astronomical Union Volume XXIIA. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. p. 599. ISBN 9789401111003.
  60. Nithya Expresso (22 November 2010). "A whiff of the glorious past". New Indian Express.
  61. Krazy Kesh (4 March 2013). "Trouble at the Taj by Sonja Chandrachud – review". The Guardian.
  62. Beneath a Marble Sky. ISBN 0929701976.
  63. Raheja, Dinesh. "Suraiya: a success story". www.rediff.com. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  64. Kardar, Abdul Rashid (1 January 2000). "Shahjehan". IMDb. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  65. Kaur, Devinder Bir (20 December 2009). "Bewitching Bina". The Tribune. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  66. "Finding the protagonists". The Hindu. 17 December 2002. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  67. "Guerlain recounts the enchanting Legend of Shalimar". lvmh.com. 30 August 2013.
  68. Moosvi, Shireen (2008). People, taxation, and trade in Mughal India. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 115. ISBN 9780195693157.
  69. Sarker, Kobita (2007). Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth : the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals (1. publ. ed.). Kolkata: K.P. Bagchi & Co. p. 40. ISBN 9788170743002.
  70. Rapson, Edward James, ed. (1962). The Cambridge History of India. CUP Archive. p. 228.
  71. Taj Mahal: the illumined tomb: an anthology of seventeenth-century Mughal and European documentary sources. Compiled and translated by W.E. Begley and Z.A. Desai. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture. 1989. p. 23. ISBN 9780295969442.CS1 maint: others (link)
  72. Sunita Sharma, Veil, Sceptre and Quill: Profiles of Eminent Women, 16th–18th Centuries (2004), p. 45
  73. Shujauddin (1967, p. 1)
  74. Ahmad (1924, p. 101)

Bibliography
  • Koch, Ebba (2006) [Aug 2006]. The Complete Taj Mahal: And the Riverfront Gardens of Agra (Hardback) (First ed.). Thames & Hudson Ltd. pp. 288 pages. ISBN 0-500-34209-1.
  • Preston, Diana & Michael (2007). A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time (Hardback) (First ed.). London: Doubleday. pp. 354 pages. ISBN 978-0-385-60947-0.
  • Tillotson, Giles (2008). Taj Mahal. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674063655.
  • Banks Findley, Ellison (1993). Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India. Oxford, UK: Nur Jahan : Empress of Mughal India. ISBN 9780195074888.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.