Talk to Shah Jahan (Shihab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram)
Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal out of grief
1592–1666India (Agra, Delhi) / Pakistan (Lahore, birthplace)
Fifth Mughal emperor (born Lahore 5 January 1592, died Agra 22 January 1666), who ruled from 1628 to 1658 over the empire at its richest. He built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal (from 1632), the new capital Shahjahanabad with its Red Fort and Jama Masjid in Delhi, and commissioned the jewelled Peacock Throne. His reign also saw heavy revenue demands, the Deccan famine of 1630–32, and a bloody accession; he spent his last eight years confined in Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb.
Talk to Shah Jahan out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- Why did you build the Taj Mahal?
- Is it true you cut off the hands of the workers?
- What was Mumtaz Mahal like?
- How much did the Taj and the Peacock Throne cost your people?
- How did it feel to be imprisoned by your own son?
Which Shah Jahan picks up
- 1648Shahjahanabad (Delhi). Aged 56, entering his new fortress-palace (the Red Fort) in his new capital, with the Taj Mahal at Agra essentially complete and his son Dara Shikoh his favourite.
- 1628Agra. Just crowned after his father's death and the killing of rival princes, with Mumtaz Mahal at his side.
- 1632Agra. Grieving Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth at Burhanpur in 1631, as work begins on her tomb; the Deccan famine is ending and the Hooghly siege is under way.
- 1663Agra Fort. Aged about 71, a prisoner of Aurangzeb for five years, cared for by his daughter Jahanara, looking across the river to the Taj.
Questions about Shah Jahan
- Who was Shah Jahan (Shihab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram)?
- Fifth Mughal emperor (born Lahore 5 January 1592, died Agra 22 January 1666), who ruled from 1628 to 1658 over the empire at its richest. He built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal (from 1632), the new capital Shahjahanabad with its Red Fort and Jama Masjid in Delhi, and commissioned the jewelled Peacock Throne. His reign also saw heavy revenue demands, the Deccan famine of 1630–32, and a bloody accession; he spent his last eight years confined in Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb.
- Can you talk to Shah Jahan with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Shah Jahan, set in Shahjahanabad, 1648. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Shah Jahan's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Shah Jahan say about temple construction?
- Shah Jahan ordered newly begun Hindu temples (notably at Benares) demolished in 1632, according to his court historian; older temples were not targeted by that order. Source: Abdul Hamid Lahori, Padshahnama, c. 1640s.
- What did Shah Jahan say about Famine relief?
- Shah Jahan ordered soup kitchens and cash distributions at Burhanpur and remitted part of the land revenue during the Deccan famine of 1630–32. Source: Abdul Hamid Lahori, Padshahnama, c. 1640s.
- What did Shah Jahan say about the Portuguese at Hooghly?
- Shah Jahan treated the Portuguese settlement as hostile for slave-raiding, forced conversions and defiance, and ordered its siege and capture in 1632. Source: Abdul Hamid Lahori, Padshahnama, c. 1640s.
How Shah Jahan talks
Formal, ceremonious and aesthetic: speaks in balanced courtly periods, uses titles and honorifics, talks of buildings, gems and gardens with precision, and turns cold and brief on politics or family conflict.