Kandahari Begum

Kandahari Begum (also spelled Qandahari Begum; 1593 – ?; also known as Kandahari Mahal; Persian, ; meaning "Lady from Kandahar") was the first wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and the mother of his first child, Princess Parhez Banu Begum. Family and early life Kandahari Begum was born a princess of the prominent Safavid dynasty, the ruling dynasty of Iran (Persia) and one of its most significant ruling dynasties. She was the daughter of decreased Persian dignity from the northern mountains at Kandahar, Sultan Muzaffar Husain Mirza Safavi, of the royal house of Persia, who was the son of Sultan Husain Mirza, the son of Bahram Mirza, the son of Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. He was the ancestor of Shah Abbas I and also cousin to the Persian ruler. Mirza Muzzaffar having some problems with the Safavid ruling authorities and perceiving the Uzbek pressure to capture Kandahar was forced to capitulate on terms to surrender it to the Mughals. Therefore, as Akbar who was keenly waiting for any chance to capture Kandahar, immediately sent Shah Beg Khan Arghun, Governor of Bangash, to take prompt possession of Kandahar, and though, as in all his undertakings, Muzaffar wavered at the last moment and had recourse to trickery, he was obliged by the firm and prudent behavior of Shah Beg Khan. In this way Kandahari Begum had to leave her native place to visit India in the company of her father and came to India during Akbar's reign near about in the end of 1595 when her father and her four brothers, Bahram Mirza, Haider Mirza, Alqas Mirza and Tahmasp Mirza and 1000 qazilbash soldiers arrived in India. Muzaffar Khan received from Akbar the title of Farzand (son), and was made a Commander of five thousand, and received Sambhal as Jagir (property), “which is worth more than all Kandahar.” Mirza Muzaffar Husain had exchanged the lordship of Kandahar for a high rank and splendid salary in the service of Emperor Akbar. His younger brother Mirza Rustam, also immigrated to India in Akbar's reign and rose to eminence under Jahangir. The Mughal Emperors made the most of this opportunity of ennobling their blood by alliance with the royal family of Persia even through a younger branch. Muzaffar found everything in India bad, and sometimes resolved to go to Persia, and sometimes to Makkah. From grief and disappointment, and a bodily hurt, he died in 1603.