Princess Jahanara , born in 1613 was the first daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal and sister to Emperor Aurangzeb. She was the eldest of her six siblings. She was conferred many titles in her lifetime, most commonly used was Begum Saheb . Others include Nawab Ulya- her royal highness. Sabihat al-Zaman (the Mistress of her Age) and the most important being Padshah Begim (Lady King). Her independence of action, influence, or power like most royal Mughal women was only dependent on her age, maternity, or marriage. It was also attributable to her elite personal lineages, because she was blue blooded, a Princess. Her Timurid ancestral tradition allowed her to live an unconventional life, by doing as she pleased similar to Gulbadan Begum: rejecting marriage, wearing men's clothing, playing polo, and manufacturing archery equipment etc. Early Years:
Jahanara early years were not spent in the confines of a luxurious palace but on the move as Emperor Jahangir had exiled her parents from the court. Along with her Family, she lived in huge tents, ate and drank from plates and goblets of gold, and wore the…show more content… The title is a play on one of the works of the Khwaja , the Anīs al-arvāḥ. She completed it on 21st Jan 1640 and signs off as “Jahanara, a speck of dust at the feet of the sages of Chisht” . The begum compiled it from a number of sources including her brother Dara Shikoh’s own treatise Safīnat al-awliyā. The suggestion that this manuscript might have been copied by Jahanara herself was first mentioned by William Irvine in a footnote of his translation of N. Manucci’s Storia do Mogor . Though, comparison with known examples of Jahanara’s handwriting also suggested that it was in fact