The unfortunate princess

The majesty of the Mughal Empire often conceals within its perplexing folds, many a heart-
rending tales of profound tragedy and suffering. One such story that I narrate here is of the
unfortunate princess, Nadira Banu Begum.
She was the noblest of Mughal Princesses with Emperor Akbar the Great as her paternal as
well as her maternal great grandfather.
Her mother, Princess Iffat Jahan Begum was a daughter of Emperor Akbar's second son,
Sultan Murad, and his consort Salima Sultan Begum, whose own mother was a daughter of
Emperor Babur.

Princess Nadira Princess Nadira with Dara

Her father was Sultan Muhammad Pervaiz Mirza -the second son of Emperor Jahangir- and
his wife Sahib-i-Jamal Begum, a great granddaughter of Emperor Akbar's wet nurse.
This noble lineage and unadulterated royal blood cast a curse that hounded her to a tragic
death in a forlorn deserted spot near Bolan Pass in Baluchistan and a solitary burial in
Lahore. This is the story of her tragic life.
Her father Sultan Pervaiz Mirza remained loyal to his father during the filial rebellions, first
by his elder brother Prince Sultan Khusrau and then by his younger brother Prince Khurram,
the future Emperor Shahjahan. However, like many Mughal princes, he was ravaged by
excessive drinking and opiate abuse, and died due to a head injury sustained in a drink
induced delirium at the young age of 38. By another account, he was poisoned by his younger
step brother, the ambitious and ruthless Prince Khurram -the future Emperor Shahjahan who,
having killed his eldest brother Prince Khusrau, wanted to clear the field for his own
succession.
Nadira Begum was born in Merta, Rajputana on 14 March 1618, and lost her father in 1622.
She grew up in Agra, and is reported to be considerably beautiful and very intelligent.
She was engaged to Prince Dara by his mother Empress Mumtaz Mahal. As the marriage was
being arranged in 1631, the Empress died during the birth of her fourteenth child. Shahjahan
was devastated and stopped taking interest in matters of empire. In the immediate aftermath
of his bereavement, the emperor was reportedly inconsolable and went into secluded
mourning for a year. When he appeared again, his hair had turned white, his back was bent,
and his face worn.
His eldest daughter, Jahanara Begum, gradually brought him out of grief and took her
mother's place at court. One of the first joyous events that she arranged was the marriage of
her brother Dara with Nadira, both of them being adored by her. She wanted to do it in style.
Harbans Mukhia writes in his book 'Mughals of India' that "Dara Shikoh's marriage to Nadira
Begum was a sort of landmark in extravagance even by Mughal standards. Jahan Ara was
placed in charge of the wedding. Considerations of economy being alien to both her
personality and her environment, she spent 1.6 million rupees (240 million in today's money)
on the festivities and gifts that were widely distributed among Princes, their sisters, wives and
daughters of high nobles, and so on. The bride's mother too spent 0.8 million rupees (120
million in today's money) on her dowry."

Procession of Nadira and Dara's marriage arriving at 40-pillared

palace
Procession of Nadira and Dara's marriage with gift plates.
A magnificent contemporary painting, now hanging in the Brooklyn Museum, NY depicts the
marriage procession headed for the Emperor's 40-pillared hall. There are numerous other
paintings showing the various stages of progress of marriage.
Dara, the heir apparent, was devoted to her wife and contrary to the practice of Mughal royals
did not marry again. They together had eight children of which four died in infancy.
Treasures Gallery of the British Library contains an album of paintings and calligraphy
compiled by Dara Shikoh that was gifted by him to Nadira Begum in 1646-47. The album
containing 74 folios has been called one of the great treasures of the Asian and African
department. It contains an inscription in the prince’s hand on folio 2 dated 1056/1646–47 that
records the gift of the album to his loving wife in the following words.
" īn muraqqa‘-i nafīs ba-anīs-i khāṣṣ u hamdam u hamrāz ba-ikhtiṣāṣ
Nādirah Bānū Bēgam dādah [shud az] Muḥammad Dārā Shikōh ibn Shāh
Jahān pādshāh-i ghāzī sannah 1056
(‘This precious volume was given to his dearest intimate friend Nadira
Banu Begum by Muhammad Dara Shikoh son of Shah Jahan emperor and
victor, year 1056/1646–47’)

Nadira Begum had a dreamy life as the consort of the heir apparent till Shahjahan fell sick
and a premature war of succession commenced between his quarrelsome sons. Aurangzeb,
the ablest general in the field and the most devious manipulator in diplomacy, emerged
victorious. Dara was on the run and headed for Lahore. With their eldest son Sulaiman
Shikoh in Kashmir as governor and unable to come to their help with his troops, Nadira
Begum refused to leave the side of her husband in this time of misery and misfortune.
Dara, with his wife, reached Lahore to reorganize his army. A Rajput Raja Sarup Singh,
whose territory was in northern Punjab adjoining the mountains of Kashmir, came over with
four thousand horse and ten thousand infantry and promised further fifteen thousand cavalry
and three hundred thousand infantry. Despite these unbelievable numbers, Dara in his
desperation believed him and begged him to come to his side. Niccolao Manucci in his 'Storia
do Mogol' records that to secure his loyalty to her husband's cause, Nadira Begum offered
him water to drink with which she had washed her breasts (because she was not lactating) and
called him her son. The raja drank the water, swore allegiance, and asked for money to pay
his troops. Dara gave him one million rupees but raja promptly switched sides and never
came to the aid of the prince.
With Aurangzeb approaching fast, Dara wanted to escape to Kabul but found the route
blocked. Instead, he marched -with his family including his wife, son Siphir Shikoh and two
grandsons, sons of Sulaiman- towards Multan at the head of eight thousand troops. From
Multan, the party went to the island fort of Bhakkar in the Indus River. On receipt of news of
Aurangzeb's approach, Dara marched again, leaving his grandsons with some of his trusted
troops in the fort. Nadira again accompanied him to an uncertain future. He diverted to Thatta
in November 1658, crossed the Run of Kutch to go over to Gujrat and encamped in
Ahmadabad. In the ensuing battle with Aurangzeb, Dara lost again. He backtracked through
Run of Kutch and crossed River Indus, attempting to go to Persia through Bolan Pass.
This area was under Jiwan Khan, a villainous chieftain, whose life Dara had once saved from
the wrath of Shahjahan. It was here that Nadira died under tragic circumstances. Dara himself
was arrested by Jiwan Khan and delivered to Aurangzeb.
Dr. Bernier, a French physician attached to Dara, wrote a book titled 'Travels in Mughal
Empire'. He writes, "The Princess died of died of dysentery and vexation." A painting in the
above-mentioned 'Dara Shikoh Album' depicts Dr. Bernier examining the Princess with her
worried husband looking on in a setting that clearly depicts Dara on the run.

Manucci -loyal to Dara

till the very end- was at
Bhakkar and resisted the
siege till Dara with his
fellow prisoners was
brought there to ask his
loyalists to surrender.
He, therefore, must have
been aware of the
circumstances of
princess's death.
According to him, 'wife
of Dara, finding herself
in such a difficulty,
along with her son Sipihr
Shukoh, and her
daughter Jani Begum,
resolved to take her life
with her own hands, so
that she might not live to
see her sons' and her
husband's tragic and
lamentable end.
She is even quoted by
Manucci as having said
that "O beloved prince!
O beloved sons! Now are
your misfortunes at their
height! Now has the hour
come for your lives to
end. With your blood the
cruelty of Aurangzeb
will be assuaged. Would
Dr. Bernier examining Princess Nadira
to God that my life could suffice to quench the thirst of this ferret, or that with it I could
restore yours, then would not Aurangzeb be so oppressive to you, nor so cruel to me! What
could become of me after such a loss? Could I survive without sons, without a husband?
Could I endure the deeper disgrace of becoming a concubine to Aurangzeb? God does not
delight in this my evil state. But since there is now no other remedy, by taking my life I put
an end to all my pains, and this tyrant gathers in by my death a portion of the spoils intended
to grace his triumph.'
Speaking thus, she took the poison, which was so potent that as soon as she swallowed it, she
fell dead.
It is possible that both versions of her death are correct. She may have been weakened by
dysentery when she took the poison to avert being captured by Jiwan Khan.
Her last wish was to be buried in Hindustan. Dara requested some of his loyal soldiers to
carry her body to Lahore to be buried near his venerated saint Mian Mir's tomb. His soldiers
complied with his command but circumstances of their travel are not known.
Her death came at a merciful time, else she would have had to endure the brutal murder of
her son Sulaiman, his two sons -at Bhakkar fort- and her husband Dara, whose head was
severed and presented to Shahjahan in his captivity by his son, the pious Aurangzeb.
The life of her younger son Siphir was spared by Aurangzeb whose daughter he later married.
Her daughter Jani Begum was married to Azam Shah, the eldest son of Aurangzeb, who was
killed in the war of succession against his brother Bahadur Shah I, the 7th Mughal Emperor.
As for her fears that she might be taken as a concubine by the revengeful Aurangzeb, Nadira
Begum was not far from the truth as the Emperor summoned both the surviving slave girls of
Dara and made the Georgian slave girl, Udaipuri Mahal, her concubine. The Hindu slave girl,
Ra'na-dil, who was previously a dancing girl, however refused to appear before Aurangzeb
and instead cut her hair and slashed her face to save her honour.
Princess Nadira's mortal remains were brought to Lahore and buried adjacent to Mian Mir's
shrine in the middle of what has been reported to be a large water tank at the time but is a
char-bagh turned playground now. A causeway stands from the eastern end of the ground to
the tomb, which is in typical elegant Mughal style with the cenotaph on a well raised
platform. There are signs -like the two rows of now non-functional fountains in red stone
water channels- that the park has been renovated in the past. The crowded playground has
been spared encroachment despite the rapid increase in population on all its sides. The tomb
itself, however, is an advance state of decay and needs attention for cleanliness, and
preservation for the future generations.
During my last visit to the place earlier this year, I saw about a dozen different cricket teams
playing in the grounds around the tomb. As I was taking a picture, my camera caught a hard
hit tennis ball flying inside the building and bouncing off the white marble grave -depriving
the unfortunate Princess of peace that she so desperately desired in her turbulent life.

Parvez Mahmood retired as a Group Captain from PAF and is now a software engineer. He
lives in Islamabad and can be reached at parvezmahmood53@gmail.com.
Ceiling of Princess Nadira's tomb
Causeway to Princess Nadira's tomb
The grave is a drug-edict's habitat.
A tennis ball flying in to the tomb.
The mausoleum of Mian Mir