By SADIA DEHLVI
A lesser-known tomb in the dargah compound of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi is of Jehanara, the Sufi princess. On my Thursday visits, I usually offer prayers and place some flowers on Jehanara’s grave. One of the most attractive persons of Indian history, I feel deeply saddened at the neglect of Jehanara’s tomb.
The princess wielded tremendous influence during the reign of her father, the emperor Shahjehan. Beautiful, elegant, erudite, generous, cultured and loved by all, Jehanara enjoyed an allowance of six lakh rupees, half in cash and half in land. She built the Jama Masjid at Agra and laid out the Chandni Chowk Bazaar in Delhi. She patronized several other architectural projects including some of the Mughal gardens.
Mumtaz Mahal gave birth to her eldest daughter on 23 March 1614 AD. After the death of her mother, Jehanara enjoyed the status of the first lady in the royal household.
Dara Shikoh and Jehanara shared an interest in poetry, philosophy and mysticism.
In a quest for spiritual guidance, Shahjehan invited Mullah Shah, the leading disciple of Mian Mir in 1640 to the palace. Initially, the mystic refused, insisting that the kings of this world would not benefit from Sufi teachings. Mullah Shah later agreed, formally initiating Jehanara and Dara Shikoh as disciples.
Shahjehan, Dara and Jehanara continued to meet Mullah Shah regularly in Kashmir and Lahore.
Jehanara remained staunchly devoted to her father and looked after him during his incarceration on being deposed by his younger son Aurangzeb. She earned the displeasure of Aurangzeb for being close to Dara Shikoh. However, she remained his favourite sister and Aurangzeb yearned to win her respect.
Launching an attack on all those close to the prince, Aurangzeb decreed that Mullah Shah be bought to Delhi, but the mystic could not travel on account of ill health. Jehanara pleaded with Aurangzeb to excuse her spiritual Master. Aurangzeb then issued orders that Mullah Shah leave Kashmir and move to Lahore, where he lived in the house assigned to him by Shahjehan.
Jehanara arranged for one of her personal servants to look after him. When Mullah Shah died in 1666, he was buried close to the tomb of Mian Mir. Jehanara had a red sandstone mausoleum built over his grave, adding a beautiful garden in the compound.
An accomplished writer and poetess, Jehanara authored two Sufi manuals, Munis al Arwah, Confidant of Spirits, containing the life and teachings of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer, and Sahibbiya, an account of her spiritual mentor Mullah Shah.
Jehanara’s biography of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, compiled from other works on Sufis, is highly regarded for its literary value. It describes the author’s pilgrimage to during the Urs at Ajmer Sharif in 1643 AD and conveys her personal engagement with Sufi practices. Jehanara recited verses from the Holy Quran offering them to the inhabitants of the tomb, seeking the blessings of the blessed. The princess wrote of the mosque where she prayed in Ajmer, which had recently been reconstructed by her father.
The Sufi princess uses the word faqira—the feminine form of faqir—to signify her own spiritual vocation. According to her own admission, she was the first woman in the house of Timur to take to mysticism.
Jehanara regarded Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti as the supreme Sufi of India and felt a deep spiritual bond with him.
In the book, she writes: ‘Praise and favour be to God, and a hundred million thanks, for on Thursday, the fourth of the blessed month of Ramadan, I attained the happiness of pilgrimage to the illuminated and perfumed tomb of the revered saving Master (May God be pleased with him). With an hour of daylight remaining, I went to the holy sanctuary and rubbed my pale face on the dust of the threshold. From the doorway to the blessed tomb I went barefoot, kissing the ground. Having entered the dome, I went around the light-filled tomb of my Master seven times, sweeping it with my eyelashes, and making the sweet-smelling dust of that place the mascara of my eyes. At that moment, a marvellous spiritual state and mystical experience befell this annihilated one, which cannot rightly be written. From extreme longing I became astonished, and I do not know what I said or did’.
Jehanara continues: ‘For the several days when I stopped in the above mentioned buildings, from extreme courtesy I did not sleep on a leopard skin that night, I did not extend my feet in the direction of the blessed sanctuary of the revered saving master, and I did not turn my back towards him. I passed the days beneath the trees. If I had the choice, I would always have stayed in the sanctuary of that revered one, which is the marvellous corner of security—and I am a lover of the corner of security. I would also have had the honour and happiness of walking around it continuously’.
Jehanara remained unmarried and spent the last days of her life devoted to the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. She died in 1681 AD, and according to her wishes is buried opposite the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin. She had the simple marble mausoleum constructed during her own lifetime. The tomb lies under the open skies with an epitaph the poet princess wrote herself:
He is the Living, the Sustaining.
Let no one cover my grave except with greenery,
For this very grass suffices as a tomb cover for the poor.
The annihilated faqir Lady Jehanara,
Disciple of the Lords of Chishti,
Daughter of Shahjehan the Warrior
(May God illuminate his proof)!
