| Khusrau Mirza | |
|---|---|
| Mirza[1] | |
 Prince Khusrau with a falcon | |
| Shahzada of theMughal Empire | |
| Born | 16 August 1587 Lahore,Mughal Empire |
| Died | 26 January 1622(1622-01-26) (aged 34) Burhanpur,Mughal Empire |
| Burial | Tomb of Khusrau Mirza,Khusro Bagh,Allahabad |
| Wives |
|
| Issue |
|
| House | Timurid |
| Father | Jahangir |
| Mother | Shah Begum |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
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Khusrau Mirza (16 August 1587 – 26 January 1622) was the eldest son of theMughal EmperorJahangir and his first wife,Shah Begum.[2][3] Being Jahangir's eldest son, he was the heir-apparent to his father but Jahangir favoured his son Khurram Mirza (the future emperorShah Jahan) as he held an animosity against Khusrau.[failed verification][4]
Beloved by his grandfather, the emperorAkbar, Khusrau Mirza came to be considered a candidate to succeed Akbar over his dissolute and choleric father, gathering a court faction which included his father-in-lawMirza Aziz Koka and his maternal uncleRaja Man Singh. After Jahangir's ascent to the Mughal throne in 1605, growing tensions would cause Khusrau to rebel in April 1606.[5] Rapidly defeated, Khusrau was blinded and imprisoned until 1619. In 1620, Khusrau was sent on a mission to Deccan with his brother Shah Jahan. He died atBurhanpur, on the 26 of January 1622: historians generally believe that he was killed by order of his brother.[6]
Khusrau was born inLahore on August 16, 1587, as the eldest son and second child ofJahangir. His mother,Man Bai, was the daughter ofRaja Bhagwant Das ofAmber, India (modern-dayJaipur), head of theKachhwaha clan and was the chief wife of his father. She was the niece of her mother-in-law,Mariam-uz-Zamani, and thus the maternal cousin of her husband.[7] On account of Khusrau's birth, Prince Salim (later known as Emperor Jahangir) honoured his wife Man Bai with the title ofShah Begum.
His mother was highly devoted to her husband and sided with him over her son when the latter plotted to overthrow his father. She continuously advised Khusrau to be sincere with his father. She committed suicide on May 5, 1605, by consuming opium when the hostility between the father and the son seemingly would not subside and the chances of their reconciliation faded.[8] He was extremely loved by his grandfather Akbar, whom Khusrau would call "Shahi Baba" (royal father), and his father Salim as "Shahi Bhai" (royal elder brother).[9]
Khusrau received an extensive and top-tier education which was overseen by Emperor Akbar. Akbar had appointed his most able and talented nobles for the education of the young Prince. He had commenced his linguistic education under the liberal scholarAbu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak who was the Grand Vizier of Akbar, and by his brother, the learned, Abu'l Khair.[citation needed]
He received military training under the most trusted and highest-ranking noble in the Mughal Court, his maternal uncle,Raja Man Singh. A revered Hindu Brahmin named Shiv Dutt Bhattacharya was appointed Khusrau's teacher who taught him at length about various Hindu scriptures.[citation needed] Furthermore, Akbar himself invested time in his military training to teach him different warfare tactics.[citation needed]
As noted by a European clergyman of the Mughal court,[citation needed] Khusrau had a pleasing demeanour and moderate manners which made him popular at court. At the age of 17 he had already distinguished himself on the battlefield.[10] On 28 March 1594, Akbar made an unprecedented decision in honour of the young prince in the Mughal Court by granting Khusrau a high imperial rank of 5000 horses when he was six years old.[citation needed] Along with the high-ranking Mansabs, he assigned the financial resources of the province ofOrissa to the young prince.[citation needed]Raja Man Singh, Akbar's most trusted general and one of his nine gems, was made his guardian.[11] Further, Akbar insisted that the prince was to remain under his exclusive charge and groomed him personally which was an honour exclusive to him only.[citation needed]
An incident noted by a Christian missionary, on his first encounter with Prince Khusrau, records, "On the evening following our arrival, the Emperor (Akbar) called us and showed us pictures of our Savior (Jesus Christ) and the Blessed Virgin (Mother Mary), and held them in his arms with as much as reverence as though it was our priests. When we saw the holy pictures, we knelt down and saw that the Emperor's 10-year-old grandson (Khusrau), the Prince's son, also clasped his hands and bent his knees: wherein the Emperor was delighted and said to the prince (Salim) "Look at your son (Khusrau)!"[12]
He was praised in the biography of his grandfather,Akbar.Abul Fazl described him as a young prince with possession of great wisdom.[citation needed] Akbar also proclaimed that he loved his grandchildren (Khusrau and Khurram) more than his children.[citation needed] After the death ofPrince Daniyal, the favourite son of Akbar, Akbar openly started bestowing imperial favours on Khusrau and his supporters which were prerogative of the apparent successor. Akbar made Khusrau the commander of 10,000 forces, after which his status became equal to that of his father,Salim.[citation needed] His status in subsequent months was raised above his father's when Akbar assigned him a drum and tuman-togh (A staff with a Yaks tail fur affixed), the symbols of honour that were exclusive to the Emperor himself.[citation needed]
His father-in-law, the foster brother of Emperor Akbar,Mirza Aziz Koka was so devoted to the cause of Khusrau that he is recorded to have repeatedly declared:
I am willing that they (the fate) should convey the good news of his (Khusrau's) sovereignty to my right ear and should seize my soul from my left ear.[13]
Khusrau's first wife and chief consort was the daughter of extremely powerfulMirza Aziz Koka, known as Khan Azam, son of Jiji Anga, Emperor Akbar'sWet nurse. The marriage took place in 1602 and an order was given that S'aid Khan Abdullah Khan and Mir Sadr Jahan should convey 100,000 rupees[14][15] as sachaq to the Mirza house by the way of Sihr Baha.[16] She was his favourite wife, and was the mother of his eldest son,Dawar Bakhsh,[17] and his second son, Prince Buland Akhtar Mirza, born on 11 March 1609, who died in infancy.[18]
Another of Khusrau's wives was the daughter of Jani Beg Tarkhan of Thatta.[19] She was the sister of Mirza Ghazi Beg. The marriage was arranged by Khusrau's grandfather, EmperorAkbar.[20][21] Another of his wives was the daughter of Muqim, son of Mihtar Fazil Rikabdar (stirrup holder). She was the mother of Prince Gurshasp Mirza, born on 8 April 1616.[22][23] Khusrau had also an other son, Rateskar Mirza, by an unknown woman; and a daughter,Hoshmand Banu Begum, born in about 1605, and married to Prince Hoshang Mirza, son of PrinceDaniyal Mirza.[24]
EmperorAkbar, who had been deeply disappointed with Khusrau's father, Prince Salim, due to his debauchery, negligence of duties, and rebellions against him,[citation needed] favoured his grandson for the succession to the Mughal throne. In 1605, after the death of Akbar, he was succeeded by Salim (Jahangir), resulting in the decline of Prince Khusrau's position and influence in the court. Jahangir was extremely angered by his son as he was favoured by Akbar for succession to the Mughal throne and had been insincere towards him.[citation needed] Khusrau was eventually pardoned by Jahangir, by the intervention of Jahangir's mother and sisters, as well as Khusrau’s stepmothers and sisters.Mariam-uz-Zamani, Khusrau's grandmother and Jahangir's mother, became the main defender of Khusrau during Jahangir's reign. As noted by a Christian missionary present in the Mughal court, she secured a pardon for the prince along withSalima Sultan Begum,Shakr-un-Nissa Begum, and Emperor Jahangir's other sisters upon Jahangir's succession.[25][non-primary source needed]
In 1606, Khusrau rebelled against his father to secure the throne for himself. He left Agra with 350 horsemen on 6 April 1606 under the pretext of visitingAkbar's tomb in nearby Sikandra.[26] He was then joined by Hussain Beg and about 3,000 horsemen inMathura; and Abdur Rahim, the provincialdewan (administrator) ofLahore inPanipat. Khusrau reachedTarn Taran Sahib, nearAmritsar, he received the blessings ofGuru Arjan Dev.[27] Khusrau laid siege on Lahore, defended by Dilawar Khan. Emperor Jahangir relieved the siege and defeated Khusrau at the battle of Bhairowal. He was captured by Jahangir's army while crossing theChenab river, attempting to flee towardKabul.[28]
Khusrau was first brought to Delhi, where a novel punishment was meted out to him. He was seated in a grand style on an elephant and paraded downChandni Chowk, while on both sides of the narrow street, the noblemen and barons who had supported him were held at knifepoint on raised platforms. As the elephant approached each such platform, the luckless supporters were impaled on stakes (through their bowels), while Khusrau was compelled to watch the grisly sight and listen to the screams and pleas of those who had supported him. This was repeated numerous times throughout the entire length of Chandni Chowk.[citation needed]
In 1607, he was partially blinded and imprisoned in Agra. He accompanied his father on his trip to Kabul while in shackles. Jahangir, however, filled with guilt later asked his doctors to find a remedy for the recovery of his son's eyesight, though they remained unsuccessful.[citation needed]
Ellison B. Findly notes a strong-worded letter of Mariam-uz-Zamani to her son, Jahangir, written in the year 1616, expressing her concern for the safety of Khusrau; Mariam-uz-Zamani feared that if her nephew's charge was to be entrusted toPrince Khurram, that he would eventually kill Khusrau to secure his ascension to the throne, and it would be disastrous for the Mughal dynasty as the future male descendants would use it as a precedent to murder their brothers for the possession of the royal throne.[citation needed] This prediction would come true when Shah Jahan's children,Aurangzeb andDara Shikoh had a face-off for the royal throne eventually leading to the murder of Prince Dara Shikoh by his brother.[citation needed]
Nur Jahan is reported to have faked tears in front of her mother-in-law, Queen Mother Mariam-uz-Zamani for the possession of the charge of Prince Khusrau who was considered a powerful contender to the throne by the ambitious empress Nur Jahan.[29] It is noted that when Jahangir was drunk and was not in his senses, Nur Jahan would take advantage and often ask for the transfer of Prince Khusrau to themselves. In 1616, he was handed over toAsaf Khan, the brother of Nur Jahan. His grandmother, who was vehemently opposed to the transfer, was assured of Khusrau's safety by Jahangir. In 1620, Khusrau was handed over to Khurram.
In 1620, in order to secure her power in the Mughal court amidst Jahangir's declining health, Nur Jahan proposed a marriage of her daughterMihr-un-Nissa Begum to Khusrau. However, Khusrau repeatedly refused the marriage proposal, either for love of his wife or antipathy for Mihr-un-Nissa, and the proposal was passed on to and accepted byShahryar Mirza.[30]
In 1622, Khusrau was killed on the orders of Prince Khurram.[31]
To honour his son, Jahangir had him buried next to the tomb of his mother, Shah Begum, and ordered the construction of a mausoleum inKhusro Bagh inAllahabad.[32]
After the death of Jahangir in 1627, Khusrau's son, PrinceDawar Bakhsh was briefly made ruler of the Mughal Empire byAsaf Khan to secure the Mughal throne for Shah Jahan. On Jumada-l awwal 2, 1037 AH (December 30, 1627[33]), Shah Jahan was proclaimed as the emperor at Lahore.
On Jumada-l awwal 26, 1037 AH (January 23, 1628[33]), Dawar, his brother Garshasp, uncleShahryar Mirza, as well as Tahmuras andHoshang, sons of the deceasedPrince Daniyal, were all put to death by Asaf Khan,[34] who was ordered by Shah Jahan to send them "out of the world", which he faithfully carried out.[35]
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