Jahan’s favorite wife was entrusted with the royal seal, worked alongside the young emperor and accompanied him to the battlefields, even during her many pregnancies. Although Mumtaz has been immortalized as a paragon of feminine beauty, historians recognize that she was also an astute and accomplished political practitioner, like many imperial Mughal women before her. Steadfast in his five-year pursuit of her, Jahan married Mumtaz in 1612. The Taj Mahal celebrates the great love of India’s Mughal ruler Shah Jahan for his beloved wife Arjumand Banu Begum, better known to history as Mumtaz Mahal or “jewel of the palace.” Jahan first spotted Mumtaz in the bazaar at Agra, selling silks and beads, and the young prince fell madly in love at first sight with the Persian aristocrat.
India’s beloved poet Rabindranath Tagore famously called the Taj Mahal, “…a teardrop on the cheek of time,” and visitors to this new Wonder of the Modern World and UNESCO World Heritage site are quickly entranced not only by its stunning beauty but also by the love story that inspired it. India’s most iconic landmark is a stunning monument to love, loss, and eternal fidelity.
