Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan was a Mughal Emperor who reigned from 1628 to 1658. He is known for his architectural achievements, most notably the Taj Mahal.

He wasn't an architect or engineer but brought his experience of military command to the exercising of administrative organisation. He brought together a team of the greatest architects of the time - Ustad Ahmad Lahori and others - to create great monuments. He gave his name to Shahjahanabad, which he took as his capital as Agra, the previous capital, had become overcrowded. The rest of the world called it Delhi.

He built there the Red Fort, which was used both as a military barracks and a home for Emperors. It's a huge building, the size of a small city. Muhammad Waris, appointed as Shah Jahan's personal historian, tells us "it had six gateways with as many as twenty-one bastions, of which some were circular and some octagonal." I've been there and seen a Son et Lumiere production.

Lest we imagine that Jahan was always a power for good, let's ignore the vulgarity and self-serving of the Taj Mahal (it's a mausoleum where he and his wife are buried) and concentrate on the fact that he murdered his three brothers to take the throne after his father, Emperor Jahangir, died. I did say he was a military man, didn't I?

Eventually he was overthrown and imprisoned by his son. Karma.

But his monuments remain, so that we all know Shah Jahan and none of us his son.