The Mughal Romance

Mughal Empire was one of the greatest empires of all times in the history of medieval India. It flourished not only in administration, politically and geographically but also in terms of romance. Babur, the first mughal emperor was a Lover of nature. He loved poetry and drinking. The greatest  glory of his character ,love of architecture and music is very well defined in Tarikhi rashadi by Haider mirza.And this quality was in his descendents also.

Akbar romance with Rajput princess Jodha bai is a well-known romantic love story and it has been picturised by Director Ashutosh Gowariker in bollywood flick Jodha-Akbar. But it cannot be totally defined as a love story as it was a done to maintain good political relations with Rajputs . it was one of the successful Akbar’s policy known as Rajput policy. This policy of Akbar can be justified from the fact that he also married Rajput princesses from Bikaner and Jaisalmer .

Prince salim also known as Jahangir the decendent of akbar lifted mughal romance to another level.Prince salim was bethrothed to the daughter of raja bhagwan das of amber at the age of 15 and was married in 1586. His love for women can be described by the fact that he had more than 800 wives in his harem. Salim –Anarkali is one of the most romantic love affair ever known of the Mughal period. This story is as follows:-

The Mughal prince Salim loved the courtesan Anarkali. The relationship of Salim and Anarkali outraged the Mughal emperor Akbar so much that both father and son decided to go on war. It is true that Salim broke into open rebellion against Akbar and declared himself emperor but it happened for other various reasons and Due to the lack of evidence and sources, the story of Anarkali is widely accepted to be either false or heavily embellished.

Shahjahan, the descendent of Jahangir,  gave India the symbol of love” Taj mahal”. Shahjahan was madly in love with his wife Mumtaz mahal that after her death he built the famous taj mahal in the memory of Mumtaz mahal. The brightest feature of Shahjahan ‘s character  as a man is his intense love for Mumtaz mahal ,the mother of 14th of his 16th children.It took 22 yrs and around 20000 people to construct Taj mahal . Today, the Taj Mahal stands as the ultimate monument to love, and homage to Mumtaz Mahal’s beauty and life.

Shahjahan love for his wife can be considered as the true Romance blossomed in Mughal era.