Introduction to Story Of The Red Fort Tears
The harem of Mughals was full of Mughal princesses since Akbar’s time as Akbar stopped the tradition of marrying the princesses. There was a reason for this extremely inhuman tradition.
Akbar had seven sisters, Bakshibanu Begum, Akika Sultana Begum, Ameena Banu Begum, Bakht Unisa Begum, Sakina Banu Begum, Jahan Sultana Begum and FakhrUnnisa Begum.
The husbands of these seven begums were called Mirza and these seven Mirzas considered themselves equal to Akbar. Also, Read- Cool Clan Names
They not only dealt arrogantly with Akbarbut also rebelled against him to establish their reign by overthrowing Akbar’s reign.
Akbar was neither able to kill nor imprison is brothers-in-law as his sisters were married to them. In the end, the rebellion wasn’t over until Akbar killed his rebel brothers-in-law.
For this reason, Akbar made a rule that in the future Mughal princesses will not be married to anyone. Following this rule, Akbar didn’t get his four daughters Aram Banu Begum, Khanam Sultan Begum, ShakarUsnisa Begum, and MehrunnisaBegum Married to anyone.
Akbar’s son, Jahangir also didn’t get his three princesses, MajiyarBehruz, Bahar Banu Begum, and Nithar Begum married to anyone yet Jahangir’s son Shah Jahan had to deal with the husband of his step-sister Ladli Begumbefore his ascension.
The story of Ladli Begum goes like this – Jahangir married his beloved Nur Jahan by killing her husband SherAfgan.
Nur Jahan had a daughter from SherAfgan called Ladli Begum. When Nur Jahan was escorted from Bengal to Agra, Ladli Begum also accompanied her to Jahangir’s harem where she was brought up like a princess.
When Ladli Begum stepped into adolescence, Nur Jahan married Ladli Begum to her husband Jahangir’s son Shaharyar who was born from another begum.
When Jahangir fell ill, Shah Jahan, who was known as Khurram in those days, could only become king by killing Shaharyar.
However, Shaharyar had to die at the hands of Khurram because he was also Khurram’s half-brother and Shah Jahan knew that he wasn’t going to get the Mughal throne without killing his eighteen uncles and brothers. Also Read- Guild Names
Therefore, Shah Jahan strictly enforced the rules made by his grandfather Akbar to not marry the princesses and didn’t get any of his four princesses married.
By following this rule, the emperor was relieved of the possibility of any rebellious activity from his sons-in-law or brothers-in-law, but a new problem had arisen.
So now, the princesses used to live as a part of the emperor’s harem throughout their lives and now they were participating openly in the war of succession for the future emperor.
Shah Jahan’s harem was also infected with this dangerous problem. All four of his princesses were now young and they also, along with their brothers had started participating in the blood-shedding game of Mughal politics.
The four princesses took hold of one brother each. Jahanara with Dara Shikoh, Roshanara with Aurangzeb, Gauhar Ara with Murad, and Purhunar Begum with Shahshuja started laying pieces of conspiracy on the political chess to make their respective brothers the king.
The four princesses dreamt the brother of their choice to be seated on Takht-E-Taus and become the rightful owner of Kohinoorand the Red Fort of Delhi.
Thus due to the policy formulated by Akbar, Mughals were liberated from the problems of brothers-in-law and sons-in-law, but now they were surrounded by the conspiracies of their own sisters and daughters.
Shah Jahan’s other three princesses, Pur-HunarBegum, Roshanara Begum, and Gaura Begum considered it as an insult that their elder brother DaraShikoh and elder sister Jahanara had imprisoned the emperor and the way the three younger brothers were sent away from the capital, in the same way, all the Begums of Shah Jahanand the three younger princesses were also distanced from the emperor.
Purhunar Begum, Roshanara Begum, and GauhraBegum tried very hard to enter their father’s chamber once by any pretext and see whether the king was still ill or he was kept captive by the infidels.
Shahjahan’s younger princesses always mentioned Dara and Jahanara as Infidels. When the princesses failed to achieve their goal, they wrote to the princes of their side, exaggerating the condition of the emperor’s disease.
All three princesses didn’t forget to write in their letters that Infidels Dara and Jahanara had imprisoned King and no one was allowed to visit the Emperor’s chamber except for the Hakim(Doctor).
The doctor is also kept under strict surveillance within the harem and is not allowed to talk to anyone. Shahjahan’s all four princesses lived inside the Red Fort, but Purhunar Begum, Roshanara Begum, and Gauhra Begum rarely got to see their father’s face after they were adolescent.
The king couldn’t bear to see them. Only Jahanara Begum was the favorite daughter of Shah Jahan and only she used to go to the King’s chamber.
Therefore, the three younger princesses had spread rumors about her that she is not the king’s daughter but his mistress.
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The people of Delhi also used to say a lot of things about Jahanara. The restlessness of the three younger princes sitting thousands of kilometers away from the capital began to increase day by day after reading the letters received from their sisters.
They were convinced that the king was seriously ill and that Jahanara and Dara Shikoh had imprisoned him, but at the same time, each of them suspected that the king might have died and that Dara Shikoh and Jahanara are planning to occupy the throne within, by quietly disposing of his body!
The lust of preempting the red fort wasn’t allowing the princes to work with patience and fortitude. Anyways, the question of succession in Mughalprinces was solved only by the blood of the princes.
Generation to generation, Mughal princes used to kill each other to get their father’s throne and wealth. Shahjahan’s four princes couldn’t assure themselves of the reality of the Red Fort, still, the Changezi and Taimuri blood were thrusting in their veins to depart towards Delhi and capture the throne as this blood could not understand any other language than bloodshed.
