Mumtaz Mahal

Mumtaz Mahal was the wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and the lady for whom the Taj Mahal was built. The Encyclopaedia of Islam gives her name as Arjumand Banu Begam, and says the title Mumtaz Mahal was conferred on her after Shah Jahan's accession. ¹

She was the daughter of Abu l-Hasan Asaf Khan, who was the brother of Nur Jahan. ¹ Another article calls Asaf Khan the son of I'timad al-Dawla and says she married Shah Jahan in 1612 at the age of nineteen. ² She was his favourite wife and bore him fourteen children, seven of whom grew up. ¹ Among them was Aurangzeb, her third son, born at Dohad in Malwa on 15 Dhu l-Qa'da 1027/3 November 1618. ³

The article describes her as reportedly beautiful and amiable, and says Shah Jahan loved her tenderly. ¹ The article on the diwan notes that Dayanat Khan was the diwan of Mumtaz Mahal in the first year of Shah Jahan's reign, which shows that she had her own household officers. ⁴ The article on Agra adds that the Muthamman Burj in the fort was built for the empress. ²

She died at Burhanpur in the Deccan, after the birth of a daughter. One article gives the date as June 1631, another as 1041/1631, and a third as 1040/1631, so the museum records the year 1631 and the month June, and notes the difference in the Hijri year. ^{2 1 5} The article on Burhanpur says she was buried there temporarily at Zaynabad before her body was removed to Agra for permanent burial. ⁶

The article on Shah Jahan says that on 7 Dhu l-Qa'da 1040/6 June 1631 the emperor ordered the building of a mausoleum for his wife, completed in 1053/1643 at a cost of fifty lakhs of rupees. ⁷ The article on Hind architecture dates the work 1041-52/1631-43 and says the tomb took its name from her title Mumtaz Mahal, distorted by popular etymology into Taj Mahal. ⁸ The article on Agra, by contrast, says she was popularly known to her contemporaries as Taj Mahal. ² Shah Jahan, who died in 1076/1666, lies buried beside her. ⁷