Gauhar Ara Begum (; 17 June 1631 – 1706) was a Mughal princess and the fourteenth and youngest child of the Mughal emperor

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

and his wife

Mumtaz Mahal Mumtaz Mahal (/'/; ), born Arjumand Banu Begum (27 April 1593 – 17 June 1631) was the empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, oft ...

. Her mother died giving birth to her in 1631. Gauhar Ara, however, survived the childbirth and lived for another three quarters of a century. Little is known about her and whether she was involved in the

war of succession A war of succession is a war prompted by a succession crisis in which two or more individuals claim the Order of succession, right of successor to a demise of the Crown, deceased or deposition (politics), deposed monarch. The rivals are typic ...

for her father's throne. Gauhar Ara died in 1706, aged about 75.

Life

Born on 17 June 1631, the day her mother

died, Gauhar Ara Begum appears to have kept a fairly low profile throughout the reigns of her father and brother. Evidence vaguely indicates that she may have supported her fourth brother Murad Bakhsh's bid for the throne during the War of Succession. Were this to be true, this role was unlikely to have been particularly active since, unlike her father and sister Jahanara, she was not imprisoned afterwards by her victorious brother

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

. She, following her father's downfall, involve herself in the organising of the marriages of her relations. When

Sipihr Shikoh Sipihr Shikoh (13 October 1644 – 2 or 3 July 1708) also known as Sipihr Shukoh, was a Mughal prince as the fourth son of Crown Prince Dara Shikoh and his consort Nadira Banu Begum. Life He was also the grandson of the fifth Mughal Emperor S ...

, son of her eldest brother

Dara Dara is a given name used for both males and females, with more than one origin. Dara is found in the Bible's Old Testament Books of Chronicles. Dara �רעwas a descendant of Judah (son of Jacob). (The Bible. 1 Chronicles 2:6). Dara (also known ...

married Aurangzeb's daughter

Zubdat-un-Nissa Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum (; 2 September 1651 – 17 February 1707) was a Mughal princess, the third daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb and his wife Dilras Banu Begum. Life Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum was born on 2 September 1651 in Multan. Her father was Aur ...

in 1673, Gauhar Ara and her maternal cousin Hamida Banu Begum arranged the wedding ceremony. She had taken a greater role in 1672 with the marriage of Dara's granddaughter Salima Banu Begum (whom Gauhar Ara had adopted and raised) and Aurangzeb's fourth son Prince Muhammad Akbar. She took the place of the bride's mother, with the wedding being described as a gala event: "On both sides of the road from the Delhi gate to the mansion of the Begum (i.e. Gauhar Ara) wooden structures were set up for illumination."

Death

Gauhar Ara Begum died in

Shahjahanabad Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. T ...

in 1706. Aurangzeb, who was stationed in the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...

at the time, was stricken by the death. He was reported to have continuously repeated "Of all the children of Shah Jahan, she and I alone were left."

Ancestry

In popular culture

*Gauhar Ara Begum is a principal character in Ruchir Gupta's novel ''Mistress of the Throne'' (2014).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauhar Ara Begum Mughal princesses People from Agra Mughal nobility 1631 births 1706 deaths 17th-century Indian monarchs 17th-century Indian Muslims Women of the Mughal Empire People from Burhanpur Indian people of Iranian descent Daughters of emperors