JAHANGIR. Sam, eldest son of the emperor Akbar, succeeded his father as emperor of Dehli, October 1605, and assumed the title of Jahangir, world's conqueror. He early remedied some vexatious laws which had escaped Akhar's notice, forbade his officers opening bales of merchandise without the merchants' consent, abolished the punishments of cutting off ears and noses, forbade the use of wine, regulated the sale of opium, and he restored the Muhammadan creed on his coin, together with most of the forms of that religion. In March 1606, A.n. Zi IIaj 1014, his eldest son Khusru fled from court towards Lahore, and, being defeated there, attempted to reach Kabul, but was seized and brought in chains before his father, and made to witness the agonies of 700 of his followers, whom Jahangir impaled in a line leading from the gate of Lahore. Jahangir expatiates in his Memoirs on the long duration of their agonies. Khusru was kept under surveillance till his death, which occurred in the Dekhan about A.D. 1621, while under the control of Prince Kurrum, afterwards Shah Jahan. In A.D. 1607 (A.n. 1016) Jahangir sent an army under Muhabbat Khan against the rang of Udaipur, and another army under Khau Khanan to effect a settlement of the Dekhan, but Malik Ambar, an Abyssinian, the Nizam Shahi and Adal Shahi dynasties, and the Mahrattas kept the imperial troops in continuous employ till the close of his reign, which saw the commencement of the rise of the Hindu race that at length put an end to the Moghul dynasty. In the sixth year of his reign (A.D. 1611, A.U. 1020) Jahangir married Nur Jahau, widow of Slier Afghan Khau. She was a high-spirited but artful woman ; her name was put upon the coins along with that of her hus band, the emperor took no step without consult ing her, and in every affair in which she took an interest her will was law. Her father Ghaias-ud Din was made prime minister, and her brother Asof Khan was placed in a high station. To her influence was due the great improvement in the conduct of Jahangir after the first few years of his reign ; be was still capricious and tyrannical, but his barbarous cruelties were discontinued, and he drank only at night and in his private apart ments. She was his constant attendant until his death, aiding him with her counsel, but also em broiling him with her intrigues in behalf of her own and husband's relatives. Jahangir had bestowed on Prince Kurrum the title of Shah Jahan, and declared him heir-apparent ; and in October 1616 (Zi Kaida 1025) the emperor moved to Mandu to support the prince in his efforts to reduce the sovereigns of the Dekhan, in which ho was entirely successful. Sir Thomas Roe, ambassador from James I. of England, accompanied him on the march, and speaks highly of the courtesy and hospitality of the nobles and the magni ficence of the court. But while Jahangir was in Kashmir in 1621 (A.R. 1030); the Dekban again required Shah Japan's presence, and while engaged there Nur Jahan used all her influence to secure the suc cession of her son-in-law Prince Shahriar, the youngest son of Jahangir, who had married her daughter by Sher Khan Afghan. Dissensions arose from this between Jahangir and Prince Shah Jahan, and the prince rebelled, A.D. 1623 (A.u. 1032), retreating at first to Mandu and afterwards by way of Telingana into Bengal (A.D. 1624), of which he obtained possession along with Behar, and then advanced towards Allahabad to oppose Prince Parviz and Muhabbat Khan. But he was
overpowered, his army dispersed, and himself constrained once more to seek refuge in the Dekhan, where he united with Malik Ambar, but was deserted by his army, and, A.D. 1625 (A.u. 1034), he submitted to his father, and sent two of his sons, Dara Shekho and Aurangzeb, to court as hostages for his good behaviour. Nur Jahan induced Jahangir to order Muhabbat Khan to the court to answer charges of oppression and em bezzlement during the time he had occupied Bengal. When he approached the camp, then on the Hydaspes, he was not permitted to see the emperor, on which he seized on the emperor's person, March 1626 (Jamadi-ul-Akhir A.H. 1035). Nur Jahan at first was separated, but shortly rejoined and released her husband, who marched back from Kabul to Lahore and then on to Kashmir. Jahangir while in Kashmir was attacked with asthma, and for change of air lie was moving towards Lahore, but before he had got over a third of the journey he sank under the complaint, on the 28th October 1627 (Alt 28 Safar 1037), and he was buried at the Shah Darra, 3 miles W. of Lahore, on the opposite bank of the Ravi. Shahriar made an unsuccess ful effort to seize the throne, but Shah Jahan arrived from the Dekhan, and was proclaimed emperor at Agra on the 26th January 1628 (A.n. 7 Jamadi-ul-Akhir 1037). Jahangir's tomb is con structed entirely of marble, of fine workmanship, beneath which rests the body of the monarch. The tomb of his wife Nur Jahan has been ruined ; precious stones were daily carried away by the restless Sikhs. Jahangir also married the sister of Raja Man, but the Rajputni princess early put an end to her life by swallowing poison, dis gusted with the quarrels of her husband and son. His drinking-cup was formed out of a large ruby. A few years ago it had been placed for sale in one of the English jewellery shops at Calcutta by the ex-king of Lucknow. The cup had been scooped hollow out of an uncommonly large-sized ruby more than three inches long, by as many broad, in the fashion of a goblet, with the name of Jahangir inscribed upon it in golden characters. Side by side was placed also a similar but smaller cup, with a leg to stand on, which had belonged to the great Timur. The cup having passed into private property, its whereabouts cannot be any more traced. In his reign, Persian was the court language, but the people spoke Hindustani; and the emperor and some of his ministers spoke Ttrrki. Jahangir's memoirs were written by several authors, and have several titles, amongst others the Wakiat - i - Jahangiri and Doazdah Sala-i Jahangiri ; and Jahangir himself seems to have written the 18 years of his but ceased to record on account of his age, and Muhammad Hdia continued it till the emperor's death. Jahangir wrote in Chaghtai Turki. The Imperial Gazet teer says that in his earlier years he had accepted the eclectic faith of his father. It is said that on his accession he had even permitted the divine honour paid to Akbar to be continued to himself. His first wife was a Hindu princess ; figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary adorned his rosary ; and two of his nephews embraced Christianity with his full approval. — Elphinstone, pp. 483– 505 ; Gaz. ; Mohan Lars Travels, p. 17; Tr. Hind. v. p. 460.