Murad Bakhsh

Mirza Muhammad Murad Bakhsh (9 October 1624 – 14 December 1661)^[2] was a Mughal prince and the youngest surviving son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Empress Mumtaz Mahal.^[3] He was the Subahdar of Balkh, till he was replaced by his elder brother Aurangzeb in the year 1647.

Murad Bakhsh مراد بخش
Shahzada of the Mughal Empire Mirza[1]
Prince Murad Bakhsh in his 30s c. 1655
Subadar of Multan
Reign	1642 –14 December 1661
Emperor	Shah Jahan I Aurangzeb
Predecessor	Saeed Khan
Successor	Saeed Khan
Subadar of Balkh
Reign	16 February 1646 – 9 August 1646)
Emperor	Shah Jahan I
Successor	Aurangzeb
Subadar of Kashmir
Reign	20 August 1647 – July 1648
Emperor	Shah Jahan I
Subadar of Deccan
Reign	25 July 1648 – 14 September 1649
Emperor	Shah Jahan I
Subadar of Kabul
Reign	23 January 1650 – 1654
Emperor	Shah Jahan I
Predecessor	Quli Khan Turani
Successor	Said Khan
Subadar of Gujarat
Reign	March 1654 –14 December 1661
Emperor	Shah Jahan I Aurangzeb
Predecessor	Shaista Khan
Successor	Shah Nawaz Khan Safavi
Born	8 October 1624 Rohtasgarh Fort, Mughal Empire
Died	14 December 1661(1661-12-14) (aged 37) Gwalior Fort, Mughal Empire
Cause of death	Execution
Burial	Traitor's Cemetery (Gwalior)
Spouse	Sakina Banu Begum ​ ​ (m. 1638)​
Issue	Muhammad Yar Mirza Izzad Bakhsh Mirza Dostdar Banu Begum Asaish Banu Begum Hamraz Banu Begum
Names Mirza Muhammad Murad Bakhsh
House	House of Babur
Dynasty	Timurid dynasty
Father	Shah Jahan
Mother	Mumtaz Mahal
Religion	Sunni Islam
Seal

Family

Muhammad Murad Bakhsh was born on 9 October 1624, at the Rohtasgarh Fort in Bihar, as the sixth and youngest surviving son of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.^{[citation needed]} Murad's siblings included his two politically powerful sisters, the princesses Jahanara Begum and Roshanara Begum, as well as the heir-apparent to his father, his eldest brother, Crown Prince Dara Shikoh and the future Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

In 1638, Murad Bakhsh, at the age of fourteen years, married the Safavid princess, Sakina Banu Begum, daughter of Shah Nawaz Khan Safavi. She was the younger sister of his elder sister-in-law, Dilras Banu Begum, who was Aurangzeb's wife.^[4]

Governorship

Coin of Murad Bakhsh

He was appointed as the Subadar of Multan (1642), of Balkh (16 February 1646 to 9 August 1646), of Kashmir (20 August 1647 to July 1648), of Deccan (25 July 1648 to 14 September 1649), and Kabul (23 January 1650 to 1654), of Gujarat (March 1654), and Malwa.^[5]

Courtiers

• Raja Aman Khan Bahadur – Died in 1661, Mewat
• Darar Khan – Died 1673, Mewat
• Muhammad Rustam Shaikh – Died 1648, Deccan.
• Muhammad Allahauddin Shaikh – Died 1655. He was brother of Rustam Shaikh.
• Miah Khan – Died 1653, Deccan.
• Rajkumar Hariram Singh – 1622–1678(56), The Deputy of Murad Baksh from 1646 to 1651. He was second son of Raja Gaj Singh of Nagpur and the brother of Raja Amar Singh of Nagpur

• 

  Portrait of Murad Bakhsh by Balchand.

  Rajkumar Veer Singh – 1636–1680(44), Eldest son of Amar Singh of Nagpur.

War of succession

Murad Baksh, younger brother of Aurangzeb

On 30 November 1657, he proclaimed himself emperor at Ahmedabad, after reports that his father was ill. During the same year, he received the Ottoman ambassador Manzada Husain Agha, who arrived in the port of Surat and was on his way to meet Shah Jahan in Agra. Manzar Hussain Agha mentions his disappointment regarding the wars between Shah Jahan's sons.^[6]

Murad Bakhsh joined hands with Aurangzeb to defeat Dara Shikhoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan. In fact, it was the ferocious charge led by Murad Bakhsh and his Sowars that eventually turned the outcome of the battle in favor of Aurangzeb during the Battle of Samugarh.^{[citation needed]}

On 7 July 1658, while he was in a tent with his brother Aurangzeb, he was intoxicated, secretly sent to the prison and transferred to Gwalior Fort from January 1659.^[7]

He faced a trial that sentenced him to death for having murdered former Diwan clerk named Ali Naqi, in 1661. Aurangzeb then replaced Murad Bakhsh as the Subedar of Gujarat, and placed Inayat Khan as the new Mughal commander of Surat.^[8]

Death

On 14 December 1661, after spending three years in prison, he was executed at Gwalior Fort.^[9][10] With the last of his brothers now dead, Aurangzeb was the undisputed emperor of the Mughal Empire.^{[citation needed]}

Ancestry

Ancestors of Murad Bakhsh

8. Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, Mughal Emperor[11] 4. Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir, Mughal Emperor[12] 9. Mariam-uz-Zamani[11] 2. Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Shah Jahan I, Mughal Emperor[13] 10. Udai Singh, Raja of Marwar[14] 5. Jagat Gosain[12] 11. Manrang Devi of Gwalior[14] 1. Murad Bakhsh 12. I'timad-ud-Daulah[15] 6. Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan[16] 13. Asmat Begam[17] 3. Mumtaz Mahal[13] 14. Ghias ud-din 'Ali Asaf Khan[18] 7. Diwanji Begum[16]

See also

• Moradabad
• Shah Jahan
• Mughal–Safavid War (1649–1653)

References

1. Mughal title Mirza, the title of Mirza and not Khan or Padshah, which were the titles of the Mongol rulers.
   Timurid Prince
2. "DELHI (Mughal Empire)". Archived from the original on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
3. "The Indian Empire – Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 2, p. 402". Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
4. Waldemar, Hansen (1986). The Peacock Throne: The Drama of Mogul India. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 124.
5. "Peshawar, Pakistan, 1980", Crossing the River Kabul, Potomac Books, pp. 153–155, doi:10.2307/j.ctt1p6jhvp.50, retrieved 24 December 2023
6. Farooqi, Naimur Rahman (1 January 1989). Mughal-Ottoman relations: a study of political & diplomatic relations between Mughal India and the Ottoman Empire, 1556-1748. Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli.
7. Storia Do Mogor. ISBN 9781141894567. ^{[full citation needed]}
8. Flores, Jorge; Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2004). "The Shadow Sultan: Succession and Imposture in the Mughal Empire, 1628-1640". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 47 (1): 80–121. doi:10.1163/156852004323069402. ISSN 0022-4995. JSTOR 25165022.
9. The Rediscovery of India: A New Subcontinent – Ansar Hussain Khan
10. "Sháh-Jahán-námas – The History of India". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
11. Mehta (1986, p. 374)
12. Mehta, J.l. (1986). Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India. p. 418.
13. Sarker, Kobita (2007). Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth: the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals. p. 187.
14. Mukherjee, Soma (2001). Royal Mughal Ladies and Their Contributions. Gyan Books. p. 128. ISBN 978-8-121-20760-7.
15. Subhash Parihar, Some Aspects of Indo-Islamic Architecture (1999), p. 149
16. Thackeray, Frank W.; Findling, John E. (2012). Events That Formed the Modern World. p. 254.
17. Shujauddin, Mohammad; Shujauddin, Razia (1967). The Life and Times of Noor Jahan. Caravan Book House. p. 1.
18. Ahmad, Moin-ud-din (1924). The Taj and Its Environments: With 8 Illus. from Photos., 1 Map, and 4 Plans. R. G. Bansal. p. 101.