Jahanara Begum

Jahanara Begum was born 23 March 1614, second child of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. When her mother died in 1631, the seventeen-year-old was named Padshah Begum and given charge of the imperial seal — her father's favorite, the most powerful woman in the empire. She threw her weight behind her brother Dara Shikoh as successor, but when Shah Jahan fell ill in 1657 a war of succession erupted. Jahanara sided with Dara; Aurangzeb won, placed their father under house arrest in Agra Fort, and stripped her of the title in favor of their younger sister Roshanara. She stayed with Shah Jahan until his…