AND YOU THOUGHT OF ONE LADLI BEGUM BURIED IN LAHORE
THERE ARE INDEED MANY AND NUR JAHAN’S DAUGHTER WAS NEVER HERE
TRACING LADLI BEGUM DAUGHTER OF NUR JAHAN
*ink and pigments on paper
*5.3 x 4.2 cm
The earliest Ladli Begum seems to be the sister of Abu Fazal, whose mausoleum is on Sikandara road, near Alam Ganj, in Agra. She died in 1017 AH 1608 AD. There is another Ladli Begum in Hyderabad who is the wife of Tegh Paigha and she died in 1236 AH. The legend is that Ladli Begum daughter of Nur Jahan lies buried in her mothers mausoleum in Shahdara. But Dr Abdullah Chaghatai notes that he saw the grave of Ladli Begum in Nisar Bagh of Khusro son of Jahangeer in Allahabad. And out of the blue, we see the grave of Ladli Begum in the Ithemad ud daula complex in Agra buried with the rest of Nur Jahan’s family. Who is correct? No one is bothered with the truth.
We know that Ladli Begum was born in 1605 and was presented to Jahangeer along with her mother in 1610. But we do not know when she died and how she died. Obviously her husband Shahryar was first blinded and then killed. And we know that she was sitting on the elephant on which Nur Jahan tried to rescue her husband from the captivity of Mahabat Khan. We know there were wounds and some even say that it was Ladli Begum who was wounded by the arrow from the soldiers of Mahabat Khan. It is said that Nur Jahan had a son too. Nothing is known of him. But we do know that Ladli Begum had a daughter and her name is given as Arzani Begum, Wali Begum or even Lardili Begum. Nur Jahan’s Diwan gives us a name of Mehr Afroze and Mehr Afroze may be the daughter of Ladli Begum. The plot cannot be unraveled easily.
We present photographs of known graves of Ladli Begum daughter of Empress Nur Jahan. Speculate!
There is more to tell.
Shaikh MubarakRA Nagauri was the scion of a family from Yemen, which had come and settled
in Reel in Sindh (now in Pakistan). His father Shaikh Khizr migrated and settled in Nagaur
near Ajmer. Shaikh MubarakRA was born in Nagaur in 911 AH (1505-06 AD). His teacher in
initial stages was Shaikh Attan (Turky). He then moved to the school of Khwaja Ahrar. When
he left Nagaur and came to Ahmadabad, he joined the school of Shaikh Gazarooni, an eminent
scholar of the city. Shaikh treated Mubarak as his son. During his stay in Ahmadabad, he met
many scholars and learnt whatever he could from each of them. He returned home in 1551 AD
but settled down in Agra (Chhar Bagh) instead of Nagaur. At Agra Mir Rafiuddin Safavi
Muhaddith was the sajjada.
Shaikh MubarakRA’s two elder sons, Abul Faiz Faizi and Abul Fazal were born here. Shaikh
MubarakRA was free in his thinking and beliefs and naturally all these things were nothing less
than infidelity (kufr) and heresy (ilhad) in the eyes of the conservatives. The result was that till
Faizi and Abul Fazal reached the Mughal Emperor Akbar’s court, he could not rise to any
position. Shaikh MubarakRA was persecuted by the conservative court ulama. When Faizi and
Abul Fazal joined the Emperor’s court as courtiers, Shaikh MubarakRA heaved a sigh of relief.
There is no doubt that Shaikh MubarakRA, along with his two sons, had a great role to play in
the development of Emperor Akbar’s religious thinking and his launching Deen-e-Ilahi.
Shaikh MubarakRA is the author of many books. The most famous among them is tafseer
(commentary on Quran), Manba al-Uyoon al-Maani-o-Matla al-Shamoos al-Masani, in four
volumes. He wrote this book during the last days of his life, when he had lost his eyesight. He
dictated the whole book with, the help of his memory. Shaikh MubarakRA died at the age of 90
years on 17 Ziqada, 1001 AH (4 December, 1593 AD) at Lahore. His body was brought to
Agra (Chhar Bagh) and buried there. It appears that his grave was later shifted to Roza Ladli
Begum in Sikandra. — Malik Ram.
Shaikh MubarakRA’s being a Mahdavi is well known among the Mahdavis and non-Mahdavis.
Mullah Badayuni admits that Shaikh MubarakRA was a Mahdavi in his book, Nijat al-Rashid.
NagauriRA had compiled a chronogram, Maza Mahdi, on the death of Imam Syed MuhammadAS
Jaunpuri (910 AH). Shaikh MubarakRA had sent an istifta (religious enquiry) to Hazrat Abdul
Malik SujawandiRA Aalim Billah who, in reply, wrote a book, Minhaj al-Taqweem, in Arabic.
Tareekh-e-Sulaimani says that during the debate in the court of Salim Shah, Shaikh MubarakRA
supported Hazrat Shaikh AlaiRA and suffered for it. Akbar Shah Khan Najibabadi says that
Shaikh MubarakRA’s father Shaikh Khizr Nagauri also was a Mahdavi. — Muqaddima Siraj al-
Absar, III edition, Hyderabad, 1990 AD, pages 239-242).