Name Shahryar Mirza Predecessor Akbar Father Jahangir Parents Jahangir Successor Shah Jahan Role Mughal prince House Timurid dynasty | Burial Lahore Died January 23, 1628 Children Arzani Begum Issue Arzani Begum Spouse Ladli Begum | |
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Reign 7 November 1627 - 23 January 1628 Similar People Jahangir, Nur Jahan, Taj Bibi Bilqis Makani, Sultan Murad Mirza, Shah Jahan | ||
Shahryar (16 January 1605 – 23 January 1628) was the fifth and youngest son of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. After Jahangir's death, Shahryar made an attempt to become emperor and was successful with the help of his powerful stepmother Nur Jehan, who was also his mother-in-law. However, he was only titular and suffered defeat and was killed at the orders of his victorious brother Shah Jahan. His only daughter was married to Aurangzeb.
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Early life
Shazada Salef ud din Muhammad Sheharyar was born a few months before his grandfather, Emperor Akbar's death (in 1605). His mother was a Daughter of Raja Birbal. He was the younger halfbrother of Rebel Prince Khusrau Mirza, The Drinker Muhammad Parviz. He was cared by also of Nur Jahan.
The prince was educated by Muhammad All Irfan and Fatima Bibi Kashmiri appointed by Nur Jahan. In the 16th year of Jahangir's reign, Shahryar married Mihr-un-nissa Begum, the daughter of his step-mother Nur Jahan by her first marriage to Sher Afghan. Shahryar and Mihr-un-nissa had a daughter Arzani Banu Begum.
At Nur Jahan's request, he was given the pargana of Dholpur and its fort from Jahangir which Prince Khurram wanted for himself. He appointed Daria Khan, an Afghan, as its in-charge. This led to a skirmish between Nur Jahan's appointed in-charge Sharifu-l-Mulk, who was a servant of both Shahryar and Daria Khan. Sharifu-l-Mulk arrived on the scene shortly, and tried to force himself into the fort.
On October 13, 1625, Jahangir appointed Shahryar as Governor of Thatta. Sharif-ul Mulk carried out the administration as the Deputy of the Prince.
Ascension and death
After the death of his father Jahangir on 28 October 1627, Shahryar, as Nur Jahan desired, ascended to the Mughal throne, but for only three months). Since he was in Lahore at the time, he immediately took over the imperial treasury and distributed over 70 lakh rupees among old and new noblemen to secure his throne. Meanwhile, on the death of the Emperor, Mirza Baisinghar, son of the late Prince Daniyal, fled to Lahore and joined Shahryar.
Soon, near Lahore, Shahryar's forces met those of Asaf Khan, (father of Mumtaz Mahal), who wanted his son-in-law Shah Jahan to ascend the throne, and had already proclaimed Dawar as Emperor near Agra, as a stop-gap arrangement to save the throne for Shah Jahan. Shahryar lost the battle and fled into the fort, where the next morning he was presented in front of Dawar Baksh, who placed him in confinement and two to three days later had him blinded by Asaf Khan, thus bringing his short reign to a tragic end. It is said that Shahryar also had a form of leprosy due to which he had lost all his hair including his eyebrows and eyelashes.
Like all Mughal princes, Shahryar also had training in poetry and, after he was blinded towards the end of his life, he wrote a poignant verse titled, Bi Gu Kur Shud didah-i-Aftab. On the 2nd Jumada-l awwal, 1037 A.H., (1628), Shah Jahan ascended to the throne at Lahore, and on the 26th Jumada-l awwal, January 23 1628, upon his orders, Dawar, his brother Garshasp, Shahryar, and Tahmuras and Hoshang, sons of the deceased Prince Daniyal, were all put to death by Asaf Khan.
After Shahryar's death, Shah Jahan ruled the empire for thirty years, until imprisoned by Aurangzeb and dying eight years later.
Asaf Khan, was made the prime minister of Mughal Empire, and Nur Jahan, with an annual pension of two lakh and spent the rest of her days, confined in her palace in Lahore, along with her daughter Mihr-un-nissa Begum, the widow of Shahryar. Nur Jahan died in 1645 at age 68.