A Note on Meherunnisa and Jehangir

Dasharatha Sharma

A Note on Meherunnisa and Jehangir

Vol. 7 · No. 1March - 1931pp. 191–192English

Summary

Challenging a popular romantic narrative, this note reassesses the circumstances leading to the marriage of Mughal Emperor Jahangir and Mehrunnisa (later Nur Jahan). The author argues that the story of Jahangir orchestrating the death of Mehrunnisa’s first husband, Sher Afghan Khan, to wed her is a later embellishment. Contemporary chronicles indicate that Sher Afghan died because he rebelled against the Mughal governor of Bengal. Mehrunnisa was then taken into the imperial harem and lived there for several years before marrying Jahangir. The article suggests that political considerations, including alliance‑building and the consolidation of power, likely influenced their union. It calls for distinguishing historical fact from later romanticism and warns against imposing modern moral sensibilities on Mughal polygamy.

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Conclusion

The note concludes that Mehrunnisa’s marriage to Jahangir was shaped by political dynamics rather than romantic intrigue. By relying on contemporary sources and avoiding sensationalism, the author provides a clearer understanding of Mughal court life and cautions against perpetuating legends as history.

Key passages

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“According to Dr. Beni Prasad, the chief biographer.of the 4th great Mughal emperor, the story of Jehangir’s amour with Meherunnisa, later on the cclebrated cmpress Nurjehan, has to be rejected, because while it is found ‘nowhere in the earlier half of the seventeenth century,; we find it everywhere in the record of the-”
“The Phalodi Khyat which was written when Raja Sura Singha (1622-31) ruled at Bikaner states explicitly that the emperor had been in love with Nurjehan before her marriage with Sher Afgan”
“These two independent sources of testimony,—the one, an extract from a contemporary Rajput record, and the other, the substance of the remarks of a contemporary foreign traveller should, I think, Jead one to suspect the existence of such a love-affair even if no other sources of evidence were available.”

Works cited in this article

De Imperio Magni Mogalis, sive India vera commentarius. E varijs auctoribus congestus

Discussed in this article

People

Jehangir 4
Meherunnisa
Nurjehan 3
Dr. Beni Prasad
Prthvidhara 5
Sher Afgan
Joannes De Laet 3
Raja Sura Singha
Itmad Dola
Asaf Khan
Righavabhagta

Places

Bikaner 15

Texts & works

Phalodi Khyat
Sahitya Darpana 8

Dynasties, sects & groups

Rajput 4

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In this issue

Vol. 7 · No. 1

1–16On Foreign Element in the TantraP. C. Bagchi 17–18Dhorail Inscription of the Reign of Mahmud Shah: Saka 1455Nirad Bandhu Sanyal 19–27Cultivation in Ancient IndiaR. Ganguli 28–33SilaparikathaAnathnath Basu 34–36Inscriptions of Govindacandra Hari Candana in the Fort of LangalaveniLakshmi Narayan Harichandan Jagadeb 37–40The Candra Dynasty of ArakanJogendra Chandra Ghosh 41–54The Administration of the Delhi Empire in the Pre-Mughal PeriodJogindra Nath Chowdhuri 55–56Persian Inscriptions in the Gwalior StateRam Singh Saksena 57–77Dandin's Conception of the GunasPrakash Chandra Lahiri 78–92Origin of Madhava-Vidyaranya TheoryR. Rama Rao 93–116Early Visnuism and Narayaniya WorshipMrinal Das Gupta 117–124The Chronology of the Ksatrapas and the AndhrasHari Charan Ghosh 125–137The Lokayatikas and the KapalikasDakshina Ranjan Shastri 138–149A Short Chronology of Indian AstronomySukumar Ranjan Das 150–160Taranatha's History of Buddhism in India 161–162YajnesvaraKrishna K. Handiqui 163–169Date of the Mudra-RaksasaS. Srikanta Sastri 169–173Characteristic Features of the Sataka Form of DramaChintaharan Chakravarti 173–175On Manimekhala "the guardian deity of the sea” (a Cambodian document)Sylvain Levi 176–186Notes on DravidianL. V. Ramaswami Aiyar 187–190Bharatavakya and the BhagavadajjukamD. R. Mankad 190–191A Further note on BharatavakyaChintaharan Chakravarti 191–192A Note on Meherunnisa and JehangirDasharatha SharmaCurrent article 193–195Notes on Asoka RescriptsSailendra Nath Mitra 196–207ReviewsH. C. Ray, Niharranjan Roy 208–213Select Contents of Oriental Journals

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