Shah Jahan Born: Builder of the Taj Mahal

Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal. The fifth Mughal emperor ruled the Indian subcontinent at the peak of its wealth and territorial extent, commanding an empire of over 150 million people whose treasury dwarfed most European kingdoms combined. Born on January 5, 1592, in Lahore, he took the throne in 1628 after a brutal succession war against his brothers. His reign is remembered as the golden age of Mughal architecture. The Taj Mahal, built as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died in childbirth in 1631, consumed 22 years of construction, 20,000 laborers, and resources drawn from across Asia. Marble came from Rajasthan, jade and crystal from China, turquoise from Tibet, sapphires from Sri Lanka. He also commissioned the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid in Delhi, and the legendary Peacock Throne, encrusted with so many gems that the throne room was said to glow. The Peacock Throne alone was reportedly worth twice the cost of the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan's ambitions extended beyond architecture. He attempted to recapture Samarkand, the ancestral Mughal homeland, and launched expensive campaigns in the Deccan that strained the treasury. In 1658, as he fell seriously ill, his four sons fought a war of succession. Aurangzeb, the most ruthless, won. He deposed his father and imprisoned him in the Agra Fort, where Shah Jahan spent the last eight years of his life with a view of the Taj Mahal across the river. He died in captivity on January 22, 1666, and was buried beside Mumtaz in the tomb he had built for her.