Saturday, October 08, 2005

The relationship between Jahangir and Shah Jahan

Jahangir's eldest son, Prince Khurram, was given the title Shah Jahan ("Sovereign of the World") by his admiring father, who also poured trays of gold coins and jewels over his head in honor of the young man's successful campaigns against the rival rulers of the Deccan. Some years later, angered by the prince's seeming disloyalty, Jahangir referred to him only as Bi-daulat, "Wretch."

From A Second Paradise by Navin Patnaik. This certainly damns my uneducated speculations, but raises an intriguing possibility. Could the presence of that verse on the Diwan-e-Khaas have been the result of father-son rivalry and oneupmanship?