Nadira Banu Begum

Nadira Banu Begum (14 March 1618 – 6 June 1659) was a Mughal princess and the wife of Crown Prince Dara Shikoh, the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. After Aurangzeb's rise to power, Dara Shikoh's immediate family and supporters were in danger. Nadira died in 1659, a few months before her husband's execution, and was survived by two sons and a daughter.

Family and lineage
Nadira Banu Begum was born a Mughal princess and the daughter of Sultan Parvez Mirza, the second son of Emperor Jahangir from his wife Sahib-i-Jamal Begum. Her mother, Jahan Banu Begum, was also a Mughal princess and the daughter of Sultan Murad Mirza, the second son of Emperor Akbar. Nadira was a half-cousin of her future husband, Dara Shikoh, as her father was the older half-brother of Shikoh's father, Shah Jahan.

Marriage
In 1631 arrangements for the planned wedding of Dara Shikoh and Nadira Begum were halted when Shikoh's mother, Empress Mumtaz Mahal, died while giving birth to her fourteenth child, Gauharara Begum. After the Empress' death, the Mughal Empire plunged into mourning. Shah Jahan was consumed by grief, but, after the coaxing of many including his favorite daughter Jahanara Begum, Shah Jahan allowed wedding plans to resume under her oversight.

Begum and Shikoh married on 11 February 1633 at Agra amidst grand celebrations. The nikah ceremony was performed after midnight. By all accounts, Begum and Shikoh were both devoted to each other, and Shikoh never married again.

Begum bore eight children: two sons, Sulaiman Shikoh (1635) and Sipihr Shikoh (1644), and a daughter Jahanzeb Banu Begum (born later, though the specific date is unknown), affectionately known as Jani Begum, surviving to play important roles in future events.

Nadira Begum wielded great influence in her husband's harem and was granted the right to issue farmans and nishans. This privilege was allowed only to those who held the highest rank in the imperial harem. The only other woman who had this right apart from Begum was her cousin and sister-in-law, Jahanara Begum. The two women are believed to have gotten on well, a fact which probably sprung from Jahanara’s involvement in Begum's wedding and her closeness to her brother. Jahanara had consciously decided to support Shikoh, the most beloved to her of all of her siblings, over Aurangzeb, and she made outward demonstrations of this decision by declaring her love for her eldest brother Dara Shikoh. According to legend, when Aurangzeb fell sick sometime during his teen years, he called Jahanara to ask her if she would support him in his bid for the crown. She refused. Despite how unpopular this made her in his sight, she went on to become the head of the harem in Aurangzeb’s court.

Begum amassed a fine collection of paintings made by Shikoh, a patron of the arts, said to be a fine painter. He gifted these to her, calling her his "dearest and intimate friend." The collection was bound in together in what is now known as the "Dara Shikoh Album," currently held in a museum collection.

Death
Nadira Begum died on 6 June 1659 of dysentery while she was accompanying her husband and family in Bolan Pass, Pakistan. Her death drew Shikoh into such a frantic state of grief that his own fate appeared as a matter of indifference to him.

Begum's last wish was to be buried in India so Shikoh sent his deceased wife's corpse for burial in Lahore under guard of his soldiers. The princess' tomb was built next to Mian Mir's tomb in Lahore, Pakistan, who had been the spiritual instructor of Dara Shikoh.

In popular culture

 * Nadira Banu Begum is a principal character in Indu Sundaresan's historical novel Shadow Princess (2010).
 * Nadira Banu Begum is a character in Ruchir Gupta's historical novel Mistress of the Throne (2014).