King Jahangir in Court
Akbar and Jahangir
Moghul Emperor Jahangir
This Mosque was constructed by Emperor Akbar as a token of his Devotion and Gratitude on the occasion of the birth of prince Salim(Jahangir) in the year 1455
emperor jehangir with the painting of a woman--anarkali?
emperor Jahangir with courtesan
emperor Jahangir with painting of ?Akbar?
Queen Noor Jehan:-Noor Jehan – QUEEN OF EMPEROR JEHANGIR
Tomb of Noor Jehan
Her real name was “Mehr-un-Nisaa”, In March 1611, luck knocked her door. She met the Emperor Jahangir at the palace “Meena Bazaar” during the spring festival. Jahangir was so fascinated by her beauty that he wasted no time in proposing her and they were married after two months. After her marriage she was conferred the title “Noor Jehan” ("Light of the world").
This affection led to Noor Jehan’s exerting a great deal of power in affairs of state. For many years, she effectively exercised imperial power and was recognized as the real force behind the Mughal throne. She is also known as one of the most powerful women who ruled a big part of South Asia with an iron fist. Emperor Jahangir even permitted coinage to be struck in her name, something that traditionally defined sovereignty.
Emperor Jahangir was captured by rebels in 1626 while he was on his way to Kashmir. Noor Jehan intervened to get her husband released. Jahangir was rescued but died on October 28, 1627. After his death, Noor Jahan, along with her daughter Ladli Begum, lived in Lahore until her death in 1645 and is buried at Shahdara in Lahore in a tomb she had built herself, near the tomb of Jahangir. Her brother Asaf Khan's tomb is also located nearby.
Emperor Jahangir died in 1627 AD on his way back from Kashmir to Lahore. According to his wish, he was buried in the spacious garden “Dilkusha” (1538x1538 feet) of his wife queen Noor Jehan at Shahdara on the banks of river Ravi. This tomb was built by his son Emperor Shah Jahan in 1637 AD
Anarkali's Tomb, Lahoreis situated on the premises of the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Lahore Pakistan and now houses the Punjab Records Office. Previously, it had been transformed into a Christian church by the invading British. A bazaar (market) located nearby on The Mall Road is named Anarkali bazaar after Anarkali. It is one of the oldest surviving markets in Pakistan, dating back at least 200 years.
The mausoleum is an octagonal building covered with a dome. At each corner of the building is an octagonal turret surmounted with a kiosk. In olden times, this building was surrounded by a garden that had at its entrance a double-storeyed gateway but no trace of the garden survives. The building still enshrines a beautifully inscribed monolithic sarcophagus. On the sarcophagus are inscribed 99 names of Allah and the Persian couplet:
تا قیامت شکر گویم کردگار خویش را
آہ گر من باز بینم روئ یار خویش را
tā qiyāmat shukr gūyam kardigāre khīsh rā
āh! gar man bāz bīnam rūī yār-e khīsh rā
I would give thanks unto my God unto the day of resurrection
Ah! could I behold the face of my beloved once more
On the northern side of the sarcophagus are inscribed the words "مجنون سلیم اکبر" (majnūn Salim Akbar, the one profoundly enamoured by Salim, son of Akbar).
The sarcophagus also bears two dates, given in both letters and in numerals: 1008 Hijri (AD 1599-1600) on the eastern side of the sarcophagus and 1024 Hijri (AD 1615-16) on the western side.
Scholar Ahsan Quraishi mentions one more inscription in the tomb, that is said to have been destroyed by General Ventura, the French mercenary fighting for the Sikhs, who used the monument as his residence. The contents of this extinct Persian inscription can be translated as follows: "The innocent who is murdered mercilessly and who dies after enduring much pain, is a martyr. God considers him/her a martyr".
The son of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, Salim, fell in love with an ordinary but beautiful courtesan Anarkali. He was mesmerized by her beauty and fell in love as soon as he saw her. But the emperor could not digest the fact that his son was in love with an ordinary courtesan. He started pressurizing Anarkali and devised all sorts of tactics o make her fall in the eyes of the young, love smitten prince. When Salim came to know of this, he declared a war against his own father. But the mighty emperor's gigantic army is too much for the young prince to handle. He gets defeated and is sentenced to death.
This is when Anarkali intervenes and renounces her love to save her beloved from the jaws of death. She is entombed alive in a brick wall right in front of her lover's eyes. Some people however say that she did not die. The tomb was constructed on the opening of a secret tunnel unknown to Salim. It is said she escaped through that tunnel and fled the place, never to return again. Thus, ends the tragic love story of Salim and Anarkali
POST SCRIPT:- BECAUSE ANARKALI WAS BURIED(ALIVE)IN LAHORE IN 1599 PRINCE SALIM (THEN EMPEROR JEHANGIR)MADE THE MAUSOLEUM FOR HER IN LAHORE IN 1615;LATER WHEN HE DIEDIN 1627;HE WILLED;HIS REMAINS SHOULD BE NEAR HERS ;IN LAHORE AT SAHDRA .HIS FAMOUS MAUSOLEUM CAN BE SEEN IN LAHORE.
HE WAS THE ONLY MUGHAL EMPEROR BURIED IN LAHORE --ALL BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR ANARKALI
The Story of Anarkali[ AS PER WIKIPEDIA]
The Great Mughal emperor Akbar and his wife, Jodha, were blessed with a son named Prince Saleem (later Emperor Jahangir). He was a spoiled and rude boy and because of this, Akbar the Great sent his son away to the army for fourteen years to learn the discipline required to rule the empire. Finally, Akbar allowed this son to return to the main palace in Lahore, (the capital of the Mughals). Since this day was one of great celebration, the harem (court) of Akbar decided to hold a great Mujra (dance performance) by a beautiful girl named Nadeera D/O Noor Khan Argun. Since she was an exceptional beauty, "like a blossoming flower", Akbar named her as Anarkali (blossoming pomegranate).
During her first and famous Mujra in Lahore,Pakistan, Prince Saleem fell in love with her and it later became apparent that she was also in love with him. Later, they both began to see each other although the matter was kept quiet. Later, however, Prince Saleem informed his father, Akbar, of his intention to marry Anarkali and make her the Empress. The problem was that Anarkali, despite her fame in Lahore, was a dancer and a maid and not of noble blood. So Akbar (who was sensitive about his own mother, Hamida Begum, being a commoner) forbade Saleem from seeing Anarkali again. Prince Saleem and Akbar had an argument that later became very serious after Akbar ordered the arrest of Anarkali and placed her in one of the jail dungeons in Lahore.
After many attempts, Saleem and one of his friends helped Anarkali escape and hid her near the outskirts of Lahore. Then, the furious Prince Saleem organized an army (from those loyal to him during his fourteen years there) and began an attack on the city; Akbar, being the emperor, had a much larger army and quickly defeated Prince Saleem's force. Akbar gave his son two choices: either to surrender Anarkali to them or to face the death penalty. Prince Saleem, out of his true love for Anarkali, chose the death penalty. Anarkali, however, unable to allow Prince Saleem to die, came out of hiding and approached the Mughal emperor, Akbar. She asked him if she could be the one to give up her life in order to save Prince Saleem, and after Akbar agreed, she asked for just one wish, which was to spend just one pleasant night with Prince Saleem.
After her night with Saleem, Anarkali drugged Saleem with a pomegranate blossom. After a very tearful goodbye to the unconscious Saleem, she left the royal palace with guards. She was taken to the area near present-day Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore where a large ditch was made for her. She was strapped to a board of wood and lowered in it by soldiers belonging to Akbar. They closed the top of the large ditch with a brick wall and buried her alive
She was placed in an upright position at the selected place and walled in with bricks. Prince Salim felt intense remorse at her death and had a monument raised over her sepulcher once he became Emperor.
The tomb, to the south of Lahore's Old City, has lost most of its original decoration. Octagonal in plan, its sides alternately measure 44 feet and 30 feet. It stands on an octagonal platform. On each corner there is a domed octagonal tower, and in the centre, a large dome on a high cylindrical neck. A notable feature of this massive structure is its upper storey gallery and bold outlines. It is one of the earliest existing examples of a double domed structure . The lower shell of the dome is constructed of small bricks in five stages or rings. The central dome is supported inside by eight arches 12 feet 3 inches thick. It is a masterpiece of solid masonry work of the early Mughal period.
In the time of Ranjit Singh, the building was occupied by his son Kharak Singh, who gave it to an Italian general, Ventura, who converted it into a private residence. The monolithic marble gravestone had already been removed. Later, it served as an office for the Punjab Board of Administration until 1851, when it was converted into a Protestant church. In 1891 it reverted to the Punjab government.
The sarcophagus, made of a block of pure marble of extraordinary beauty and exquisite workmanship, was put away in one of the side bays when the building was first converted into a church. It was then placed in the spot from which the altar had been removed rather than being replaced in its original central position. In 1940 the grave was found intact in its original position, five feet below the present floor. From accounts of its discovery, the grave is apparently of plastered brick-work, inscribed on the top and sides with the ninety-nine attributes of God and below with the inscription, "the profoundly enamored Salim, son of Akbar." The sarcophagus bears two dates, 1599 (supposed to refer to the death of Anarkali) and 1615 (supposed to be the date of the tomb's erection).
