Mumtaz Mahal

Mumtaz Mahal (meaning "the elect of the palace"; born Arjumand Banu) (April 27, 1593 – June 17, 1631) is Empress consort of the Mughal Empire from January 19, 1628 to June 17, 1631 and is the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site, Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World, is commissioned by her husband to act as her final resting place.

Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjumand Banu Begum in Agra to a family of Persian nobility.

She is the daughter of Abdul Hasan Asaf Khan, a wealthy Persian noble who holds high office in the empire, and the niece of Nur Jahan, the wife of Emperor Jahangir and the power behind the emperor.

She is married at the age of nineteen on 30 April 1612 to Prince Khurram, later known by his regnal name, Shah Jahan, who confersupon her the title "Mumtaz Mahal".

Although betrothed to Shah Jahan since 1607, she ultimately becomes his second wife in 1612.

Mumtaz bears her husband fourteen children, including Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's favorite daughter), and the Crown prince Dara Shikoh, the heir-apparent, anointed by his father, who temporarily succeeds him, until deposed by Mumtaz Mahal's sixth child, Aurangzeb, who ultimately succeeda his father as the sixth Mughal emperor.

Mumtaz Mahal dies in 1631 in Burhanpur, Deccan (present-day Madhya Pradesh), during the birth of her fourteenth child, a daughter named Gauhara Begum.

Shah Jahan has the Taj Mahal built as a mausoleum for her, which is considered to be a monument of "undying love".