Parhez Banu Begum

Summary

Parhez Banu Begum (21 August 1611 – c. 1675) was a Mughal princess, the first child and eldest daughter of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan from his first wife, Qandahari Begum. She was also the older half-sister of her father's successor, the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Parhez Banu Begum
Shahzadi of the Mughal Empire
Born21 August 1611
Agra, India
Diedc. 1675 (aged 63–64)
Delhi, India
Burial
HouseTimurid
FatherShah Jahan
MotherQandahari Begum
ReligionSunni Islam

Life edit

Parhez was born on 21 August 1611 in Agra to Prince Khurram (the future emperor Shah Jahan) and his first wife Kandahari Begum. She was named 'Parhez Banu Begum' (Persian: "the abstinent Princess")[1] by her paternal grandfather, Emperor Jahangir. However, in the Maasir-i-Alamgiri, she is referred to as Purhunar Banu Begum.[2] Her father, Prince Khurram, was the third son of Emperor Jahangir, while her mother, Kandahari Begum, was a princess of the prominent Safavid dynasty of Iran (Persia) and was a daughter of Sultan Muzaffar Husain Mirza Safavi (who was a direct descendant of Shah Ismail I).[3]

Parhez was Shah Jahan's first child and his eldest daughter and was brought up by the Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, who had been Emperor Akbar's first wife,[4] and who had also brought up her father, Shah Jahan till the age of 13.[5]

Although her mother was not Shah Jahan's favourite wife, nonetheless, she was loved by her father; who had earnestly requested his daughter, Jahanara Begum (his eldest daughter from Mumtaz Mahal) on his deathbed, to look after Parhez. She was also loved and well-cared for by her younger half-brother, Aurangzeb.[2]

Death edit

Perhez died on 19 October 1675 in Delhi. The nobles of the subah buried her in the mausoleum (garden) built by her.[6]

Ancestry edit

References edit

  1. ^ Fraser, James (1742). The History of Nadir Shah: Formerly Called Thamas Kuli Khan, the Present Emperor of Persia. ... At the End is Inserted, a Catalogue of about Two Hundred Manuscripts in the Persic and Other Oriental Languages, Collected in the East. By James Fraser. W. Strahan. p. 29.
  2. ^ a b 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. 187. ISBN 9788170743002.
  3. ^ Nicoll, Fergus (2009). Shah Jahan. New Delhi: Viking. p. 64. ISBN 9780670083039.
  4. ^ Findly, Ellison Banks (1993). Nur Jahan, empress of Mughal India. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 98. ISBN 9780195360608.
  5. ^ Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan (1999). The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India. Translated by Thackston, Wheeler M. Oxford University Press. p. 437. ISBN 978-0-19-512718-8.
  6. ^ Sarkar, Jadunath (1947). Maasir-i- Alamgiri.
  7. ^ a b Beale, Thomas William; Keene, Henry George (1894). An Oriental Biographical Dictionary. p. 309.
  8. ^ a b Mehta, J.l. (1986). Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India. p. 418.
  9. ^ a b Singh, Nagendra Kr (2001). Encyclopaedia of Muslim Biography: Muh-R. p. 427.
  10. ^ a b Mehta (1986, p. 374)
  11. ^ a b Mukherjee, Soma (2001). Royal Mughal Ladies and Their Contributions. Gyan Books. p. 128. ISBN 978-8-121-20760-7.