Parhez Banu Begum Explained

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Parhez Banu Begum
Shahzadi of the Mughal Empire
Father:Shah Jahan
Mother:Qandahari Begum
Birth Date:21 August 1611
Birth Place:Agra, Agra Subah, India
Death Place:Delhi, Delhi Subah, India
Place Of Burial:Delhi
Religion:Sunni Islam

Parhez Banu Begum (Persian: پرهز بانو بیگم; 21 August 1611  - 19 October 1675) was a Mughal princess, the first child and eldest daughter of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan from his first wife, Qandahari Begum. She was also the older half-sister of her father's successor, the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Life

Parhez was born on 21 August 1611 in Agra to Prince Khurram (the future emperor Shah Jahan) and his first wife Kandahari Begum. She was named 'Parhez Banu Begum' (Persian: "the abstinent Princess")[1] by her paternal grandfather, Emperor Jahangir. However, in the Maasir-i-Alamgiri, she is referred to as Purhunar Banu Begum.[2] Her father, Prince Khurram, was the third son of Emperor Jahangir, while her mother, Kandahari Begum, was a princess of the prominent Safavid dynasty of Iran (Persia) and was a daughter of Sultan Muzaffar Husain Mirza Safavi (who was a direct descendant of Shah Ismail I).[3]

Parhez was Shah Jahan's first child and his eldest daughter and was brought up by the Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, who had been Emperor Akbar's first wife,[4] and who had also brought up her father, Shah Jahan till the age of 13.[5]

Although her mother was not Shah Jahan's favourite wife, nonetheless, she was loved by her father; who had earnestly requested his daughter, Jahanara Begum (his eldest daughter from Mumtaz Mahal) on his deathbed, to look after Parhez. She was also loved and well-cared for by her younger half-brother, Aurangzeb.

Death

Perhez died on 19 October 1675 in Delhi. The nobles of the subah buried her in the mausoleum (garden) built by her.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Fraser. James. The History of Nadir Shah: Formerly Called Thamas Kuli Khan, the Present Emperor of Persia. ... At the End is Inserted, a Catalogue of about Two Hundred Manuscripts in the Persic and Other Oriental Languages, Collected in the East. By James Fraser. 1742. W. Strahan. 29. en.
  2. Book: Sarker. Kobita. Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth : the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals. 2007. K.P. Bagchi & Co.. Kolkata. 9788170743002. 187. 1. publ..
  3. Book: Nicoll. Fergus. Shah Jahan. 2009. Viking. New Delhi. 9780670083039. 64.
  4. Book: Findly. Ellison Banks. Nur Jahan, empress of Mughal India. 1993. Oxford University Press. New York. 9780195360608. 98.
  5. Book: Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan . 1999 . The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India . Thackston . Wheeler M. . Wheeler Thackston . Oxford University Press . 437 . 978-0-19-512718-8 .
  6. Book: Sarkar, Jadunath. Maasir-i- Alamgiri. 1947.