Jahangir Facts - 2

Anxious For The Throne

In compliance with the time, the prince was also given training in civil and military administration. During the Kabul expedition of 1581, he was placed in charge of a regiment of troops and subsequently conducted independent military expeditions. In 1585, he was elevated to the rank of an army officer, commanding 12,000 men. Unfortunately, he was familiar with wine at an early age and became addicted to the good life. He was also impatient. An estrangement developed between father and son due to the prince's scheming ambition to succeed to his father's throne without the customary death of his father. When Akbar was persuaded by his favorite courtier Abul Fazl to develop a brotherhood of "seekers" who viewed the emperor as divinely inspired and hailed him with the phrase allahu akbar, in 1602 the prince had Abul Fazl murdered. Akbar was so depressed by the death of his friend that he did not appear in public for three days. But there was no other reliable successor. Desperate to keep the dynasty alive, in 1605, a dying Akbar (from poisoning traceable to the prince) reluctantly had his imperial turban placed on the head of his eldest son.

A week later, Salim succeeded to the throne at Agra at the age of 36, assuming the name Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir. But he was soon disturbed by the impatience of his own eldest son, Khusrau. When Prince Khusrau's troops were defeated by the imperial forces near Jullunder, the captive prince suffered total humiliation; Janhagir had his son ride along a street lined with the impaled bodies of his recent supporters. Khusrau had neither the capacity to organize a successful revolt nor moral and material support of any influential party in the state, and the people had no desire to have him as their ruler. Jahangir then turned to Sikh Guru Arjun, who had given money to the rebellious Khusrau, and fined him for his offence. But Guru Arjun refused to pay. Though the Sikh was subjected to torture until he died, evidence shows that the Sikh religious leaders suffered only when they interfered in politics. Jahangir did not persecute the Sikhs out of hand.

In fact, Jahangir was determined to dispense justice fairly. One of his earliest orders was the setting up of a "chain of justice" made of gold. Anyone who failed to secure justice might pull the end outside the Agra fort in order to draw the attention of the emperor so that the latter might redress his grievances.

Internal disturbances in India prompted the Shah of Persia to make a bid for the fortress of Kandahar. Owing to its strategic and commercial importance, the fort was a bone of contention between Persia and India during the middle ages. After the death of the second Mughal ruler Humayun, it was given to Shah Husain Mirza by the Persian emperor. Though Akbar had recovered it in 1594, it had again passed into Persian hands. Three attempts were made to recapture the fortress, but the Mughal armies were unsuccessful. These repeated failures had diminished the prestige of the Empire.