Gauhar Ara Begum (; 17 June 1631 – 1706) was a Mughal princess and the fourteenth and youngest child of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan 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 right of successor to a deceased or deposed monarch. The rivals are typically supported by factions within the royal court. Foreign pow ...

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. She, following her father's downfall, involve herself in the organising of the marriages of her relations. When Sipihr Shikoh, son of her eldest brother Dara 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 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 bounded by the ...

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