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Jodha Bai: A Fact Check on Mughal History

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Jodha Bai, as we know her, is the title by which we refer more often to the Rajput wife of Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar, the third Emperor of the Mughal (originally Timurid) dynasty who ruled between 1556 and 1605 A.D. She appears in various folklores of the popular "Akbar Birbal stories for Children '' as a queen, and these fictional tales on the wit of Birbal often are in fact our first introduction to both Akbar and Jodha Bai as children. These folktales have been taken up by various animators to be made into series. India's most popular platform of entertainment, besides its cricket, is Bollywood and Hindi cinema.


One of the most iconic movies ever made in the industry is "Mughal-e-Azam", which revolves around yet another fictitious tale of Prince Salim, later Jahangir, falling for a dancing girl from his father's harem, Anarkali. There, we see Prithviraj Kapoor in his iconic voice as Akbar, referring to his queen and Salim's mother as Jodha as well. Skip to Ashutosh Gowariker's most popular historical movie so far, the 2008 Hritik-Aishwarya starrer "Jodha Akbar" Yet again, the Rajput princess from Amer has been addressed as Jodha Bai. This movie inspired the later Zee TV drama called "Jodha Akbar" by the television star producer Ekta Kapoor, where yet again she has been portrayed as his love and the chief queen.



Who should be referred to as Jodha Bai?


The princesses who hail from Marwar, presently Jodhpur, Mehrangarh Fort or any other place belonging to the Marwar Rathore rulers were actually addressed as Jodha Bai or Jodh Bai. That can also include Merta Princesses, the most popular one being Meera Bai, who was married to Bhoj Raj, the heir apparent of Rana Sanga of Chittorgarh, Mewar.


Was Akbar's wife Jodha Bai?


Akbar married not one but many Rajput princesses under his alliance policy. He may have had princesses from Marwar in his harem as well. (Harem being where the women, including royals and their staff, stayed) But the princess of Amer, who is referred to as Jodha Bai, was not actually someone with that title. The title had, over time, been wrongly attributed to her. She is Harka Bai, born to Raja Bharmal of Amer and is also referred to as Heer Kanwar. Her date of birth remains unknown, as is the case with most Rajput women of her time, but her lineage is in no way related to the Rathores of Marwar. She came into Akbar's Harem after a marriage of Alliance between Amer and the Timurids. Akbar by then had two chief wives. His chief wife, cousin and consort, Rukaiya Sultana Begum, the daughter of his father's half-brother Hindal Mirza and Salima Sultana Begum, the daughter of his father's sister, who also happened to be a widow of his mentor Bairam Khan, who died in an attack. 


Harka Bai was prominent in establishing Akbar as a secular ruler and contributed to history by incorporating her Rajput culture and heritage into the Timurid legacy. She, along with other princesses who came from different Hindu states, made the Rajput Harem, which she in turn headed. She was not his Padshah Begum. She was the head of the Rajput Harem. Rukaiya remained Akbar's Padshah Begum throughout her life. The only reason Harka Bai finds more mention in Akbar's self-sponsored Biography by Abul Fazl, the Akbarnama, is that she had given birth to his first heir, Salim, after much difficulty in Akbar's life for an heir apparent. 


Upon Salim's birth, she was given the title of "Mariam Ur Zamani" or Mary of the Age. She lived well into her son's reign, had her own trading ships and business dealings and died in 1623 A.D. In Jahangir's own memorial, Tuzk E Jahangiri, he fondly remembers her by her title, Mariam Ur Zamani.




This scene from "Akbarnama" depicts the birth of Salim and Mariam Ur Zamani is shown on the bed, her complexion clearly more subcontinental than the Timurid ladies. This is perhaps the most detailed painting found of her alongside Hamida Banu Begum, Akbar's mother, who is seen (not in this part) in the painting wearing a Turkish hat. Salim was born in Sikri, a few miles from Agra, at the house of Salim Chisti, one of the descendants of the founder of the Chisti order of Sufism, Moinuddin Chisti, whose shrine is at Ajmer.


Was there any Jodha Bai?


The most popular princess in the Mughal(Timurid) Harem, who was probably originally referred to as Jodha Bai or Jodha Begum, could be Salim's wife, Manwati Kanwar, the second Rajput princess Salim married. She was the daughter of Raja Udai Singh Rathore, better known as Mota Raja and granddaughter of Rao Maldeo Rathore of Marwar (Jodhpur).

She is better known as the mother of Prince Khurram, the later emperor Shah Jahan.


The prince Khurram was handed over to Akbar's first wife, Rukaiya Begum, whom he fondly called "Shah Ammi." Manwati's official royal title was "Jagat Gossain", and she was perhaps the closest contender to Nur Jahan to be Jahangir's consort. She died early, during the reign of Jahangir in 1619. She is remembered in his memoirs and has been clearly referred to as the Jodhpuri princess in various sources. Her residence was at the Jahangir Mahal of Agra Fort. 


Jagat Gossain



Fact check on popular culture:


A lot of our beliefs and knowledge actually come from popular media such as stories and movies, rather than facts. Here are a few popular facts that have been wrongly incorporated into our lives on the Mughals, as well as perhaps even in our history books. (I will add points here as I progress, so your inputs are welcome, with sources)


  1. The dynasty is called the Timurids. They hail from Timur the Lame, and their native place was Samarkand. The popular name Mughal was given to them by Europeans to reflect upon Babar's maternal side, hailing from Genghis Khan and the Mongols, who were often referred to as Barbaric. It was a futile attempt to make the dynasty look bad.

  2. The Baburnama is not original. The original accounts written by Babar were lost, and the recreated version has 8 different sources written over a long period in different versions post his death.

  3. The Humayun Nama, written by his half-sister Gulbadan Begum, under the patronage of Akbar, has been found in pieces. The rest of it remains missing.

  4. Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar was one of the first rulers to speak up against child marriage and Sati. 

  5. Anarkali is fiction. The entire story had been written later by a poet. However, some say there was a dancer girl called Nadira whom Salim took an interest in, causing a rift between him and his father, in a futile attempt to get back at his father. Salim, later Jahangir, throughout his life, acknowledged his love for his later wife, Nur Jahan.

  6. Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal on a property gifted by Raja Jagat Singh for his second official wife, Arjumand Banu Begum, Mumtaj Mahal, the mother of his children. He did not marry any of her relatives or her sister. His other chief Begums were Qandahari Begum (From Kandahar), Zainabadi Begum and Fatehpuri Begum.

  7. No outsiders were allowed into the inner zenanas of the Harem. Nor did they visit any princesses in person. Any attempt by Europeans claiming so is just bazaar gossip, including their theories of incest and affairs that pointed at the characters of the princesses, namely, Jahanara and Roshanara. Since these writers were sponsored by the courts of European kings, they cooked up these stories to please their patrons, mostly because they were intimidated by the power and freedom these princesses held

  8. Most think Aurangzeb was a cruel and unjust ruler. What they don't often know is that he was just like Shah Jahan. And ever since his mother's death, Shah Jahan was very partial toward his children. Dara got to sit on a golden throne after his defeat in Kandahar, while Aurangzeb was scrutinised over the smallest of details of whether he sent the emperor the good mangoes from his orchard or kept them for himself. (We will do that story some other time.)

  9. None of the wives belonging to any other religion was ever converted. The titles given to them were official honours and not a change of name. The mausoleums in their names were made in their honour, and they were not buried inside. The wives belonging to any other religion practised their own. Even Akbar or Jahangir followed certain rituals of Hinduism as well as Sufism. They were not devout Muslims, much like the later Prince Mohammad Dara Shikoh, son of Shah Jahan, who was perhaps the first one in the dynasty to officially embrace Sufism. 

  10. Most importantly, in conclusion, Jodha Bai was neither Akbar's first Rajput queen nor the mother of Salim. Akbar's Rajput queen was Harka Bai, and Salim's wife was Jodha Bai.


Bibliography:

These are some of the very basic starting books you can refer to.

  1. Akbar Nama

  2. Akbar The Great Mogul by Vincent Smith

  3. Tuzk E Jahangiri

  4. Short History of Aurangzeb by Jadunath Sircar

  5. Mughal Empire by R.C. Majumder

  6. Medieval India by Satish Chandra

  7. Empress by Ruby Lal

  8. Daughters of the Sun by Ira Mukhoty

  9. Mahal by Subhadra Sengupta

  10. Royal Rajputs by Manoshi Bhattacharya


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