Prince Salim succeeded with the title Jahangir (Conqueror of World) in 1605. His son Khusrau revolted but was defeated and imprisoned. One of his supporters, Guru Arjun, the fifth Sikh Guru, was beheaded.
For Jahangir, the most irksome internal problem was that of the Rana of Mewar, head of the Sisodia clan of Rajputs at Udaipur who had successfully defied Akbar.
The capitulation of the Rana of Mewar signalled that resistance to the Mughal was futile. Much of Jahangir energy was devoted to the courtly culture of the Mughals.
A widely-known Muslim religious figure, Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi did not fare so well with Jahangir. His concern for Islamic revivalism and his anti-Hindu sentiments undoubtedly contributed to the sharpening division between the Islamic community and the Hindu community in the seventeenth century.
As soon as Jahangir expired, the wazir Asaf Khan, who had long been a quiet partisan of Prince Khurram, acted with unexpected forcefulness and determination to forestall his sister, Nur Jahan’s plans for Shahryar.
He then proclaimed Khurram emperor under the title of Shah Jahan by having his name read in the Friday prayers.
Nur Jahan
Nur Jahan, the twentieth and supposedly the most loved wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir, has been a household name in the Subcontinent.
In 1611, Jahangir married Mehrunnisa who was known as Nur Jahan (Light of World). Her father Itimaduddauala was a respectable person. He was given the post of chief diwan. Other members of her family also benefited.
Though she was not officially the ruler of Mughal India, Nur Jahan has been noted by historians to be the real power behind the throne.
A politically astute and charismatic figure, she ruled Mughal India as a co-sovereign of Jahangir and is known to have been more decisive and influential than he ever was.
Nur Jahan’s elder brother Asaf Khan was appointed as Khan-i-Saman, a post reserved for the nobles. In 1612, Asaf Khan’s daughter, Arjumand Banu Begum (later known as Mumtaj), married Jahangir’s third son, prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan).
