THE ABDUCTION OF EMPEROR JAHANGEER BY NAMELY MOHABBAT KHAN AND HIS 20,000 HINDU HORSEMEN
INDULGED IN AN UNIMAGINABLE INCIDENT IN HISTORY OF LAHORE REGION
The capacity of men to do the unusual is always there. But to abduct an Emperor is something which cannot comes in the mind of any person. Mohabbat Khan and his twenty thousand Hindu horsemen were bent upon doing the impossible. They had become too powerful and the Mughal administration wanted to reign them. They did not like the idea of being dictated upon in any way. The result they planned the abduction of the Emperor himself..
The Emperor was on his way to Kashmeer, The Army had crossed over as well as others. The Emperors entourage was left, which means the Emperor and few of his selected tour members. A tactical mistake. The Rajputs waded in the river, cut of the bridge, and forced the Emperor to go with them. The Emperor was going to draw his sword and end it there and then but was dissuaded to do so. Mohabbat Khan disappeared with the Emperor.
When Nur Jahan found out, she rushed for the rescue of her husband on an elephant with her infant daughter and the daughter’s nurse maid. She was accompanied by her four trusted eunuchs including Jawahar Khan and Nadeem. All eunuchs lost their lives for the Queen. Crossing the river was not an easy task and she came under direct attack,. Hale of arrows were showered on them and they too showered arrows on the enemy. The nurse maid was wounded and some say so was Ladli Begum. The women were drenched with blood and the elephant virtually wounded, the eunuchs killed in action. But Nur Jahan escaped to Lahore on her elephant. Asif Khan fled with his army to Rohtas Fort. Realizing there was no other way except to surrender if she wanted to be with her husband she did so. Both Emperor and his Queen were abducted and taken to Kabul. For two years the Emperor was imprisoned in Kabul. And nobody really knew. Then Nur Jahan started her diplomatic skills. Soon battles erupted between he Hindu horsemen and the Pathans there in Kabul and both could not tolerate each other. Nur Jahan formented rebellion and Mohabbat Khan was forced to flee from Kabul. The dissent became so intense, that Mohabbat Khan literally fled from the scene.
The incident remains the most bizarre in the history of the world. We literally think it is movie material and a really thrilling adventure movie can be made out of it. And what makes it more unique, that it is all real. It actually happened here in our world. The abduction of the Emperor himself.