Gauhar Ara Begum (; 17 June 1631 – 1706) was a Mughal princess and the 14th and youngest child of the Mughal emperor

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. 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 to be the Order of succession, rightful successor to a demise of the Crown, deceased or deposition (politics), deposed monarch. The rivals are ...

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

Life

Born on 17 June 1631, the day her mother Mumtaz Mahal 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 Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

. Following her father's downfall, she involved herself in the organising of the marriages of her relatives. When Sipihr Shikoh, son of her eldest brother

Dara Dara is a given name in several languages. Dara, Daraa, or DARA may also refer to: Geography Africa * Dar'a, region in northern Ethiopia * Dara (woreda), region in southern Ethiopia Asia * Dara (Mesopotamia), an archeological site in Mard ...

married Aurangzeb's daughter Zubdat-un-Nissa 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 Shahjahanabad colloquially known as Old Delhi( Hindustani: ''Purāni Dillī'') is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city and officially named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan decided to shi ...

in 1706. Aurangzeb, who was stationed in the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

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 1631 births 1706 deaths 17th-century Indian Muslims People from Burhanpur Indian people of Iranian descent Daughters of emperors 17th-century Mughal Empire people