Hidden Secrets of Bibi ka Maqbara- Maqbara was built by Dilras Bano Begum
The
Bibi-Ka-Maqbara was not built by any other person but by Dilras Bano Begum
herself and the evidence are as follows;
Prince
Aurangzeb’s first viceroyalty of the Deccan extended from 14th July
1636 to 28th May 1644 AD.[1] In
the meantime, he was married to Dilras Bano Begum on 8th May 1637[2] at
Agra and the newly wedded couple came to Aurangabad soon thereafter. After a
few years, an accident took place at Agra on 26th March 1644,[3] when
Princess Jahanara caught fire. Upon hearing this news Prince Aurangzeb and
Dilras Bano Begum left for Agra immediately without having sought the requisite
permission of the Emperor and consequently, he was dismissed. At this time the
Taj Mahal was about to be completed and its glory had already reached every
corner of the Mughal Empire. Prince Aurangzeb and his wife Dilras Bano Begum
had an ample amount of days in Agra to visit the Taj Mahal and admire its
beauty. And very soon thereafter, on 16th February 1645,[4] he
was re-appointed as the Viceroy of Gujarat, then of Balkh, and finally of Multan.
He held this office until 14th July 1652[5] and
was again transferred to the Deccan as the Viceroy for the second time in 1652
AD. Leaving Multan, he reached Delhi along with his wife on 17th
November 1652 AD, and proceeded further to Agra on 25th November
1652 AD.[6]
The world-famous and beautiful Taj which had been recently constructed in memory
of Mumtaz Mahal, the mother-in-law of Dilras Bano Begum was carefully observed
by both of them and they were greatly impressed by the wonderful monument. This
was probably the occasion when Dilras Bano Begum thought of erecting a monument
like the Taj.
This
was also the desire of young Prince Aurangzeb. In those days marble could not be
used in any construction without royal permission. Prince Aurangzeb sought the
permission of Shah Jahan to build the Maqbara of Dilras Bano Begum at
Aurangabad.
Hence,
necessary permission was sought from Emperor Shah Jahan to construct a
replica of the Taj at Aurangabad. Huge marble slabs in large numbers were
brought to Aurangabad for the construction of the Maqbara. Tavernier, the
French traveler who happened to visit Aurangabad town on 17th March
1653 AD[7]
had come across 300 wagons loaded with marble near Aurangabad. He also made
note that the smallest wagon was driven by 20 oxen. The wagons laden with
marble took at least four months to reach Aurangabad from Lahore[8]
which clearly shows that the decision to build Maqbara at Aurangabad was taken
at Agra in the month of November or December in 1652 by Prince Aurangzeb and
Dilras Bano Begum with the approval of Emperor Shah Jahan.
As
to why such permission to build a replica of the Taj Mahal at Aurangabad was
granted by Emperor Shahjahan to Prince Aurangzeb and his wife Dilras Bano Begum
may come to the minds of the readers. The political situation at that time was very
critical. Prince Dara Shikoh, the brother of Prince Aurangzeb was against him because
he was a strong competitor to the throne after Shah Jahan. As a matter of fact
Prince Dara Shikoh always remained along with Shah Jahan and became a favorite
to his father to the extent that all decisions were taken by Prince Dara Shikoh
on behalf of Shah Jahan. It was his political strategy that he was always
convincing Shah Jahan to keep Prince Aurangzeb far away from the latter and the
capital places of Delhi and Agra. The permission to build the replica of the Taj
at Aurangabad was granted to Prince Aurangzeb by Emperor Shah Jahan under the strategic
pressure of Prince Dara Shikoh. Apart from this the permission of changing the
name of Khirki (Fatehnagar) to Aurangabad was also granted accordingly by the
Emperor. Because it was a strong assumption of Prince Dara Shikoh that if a
replica was built at Aurangabad, Prince Aurangzeb will have a strong attachment
to Aurangabad and thus permanently live at Aurangabad and as such he will not
think of interfering in the political strategy of Prince Dara Shikoh and
thereby eliminate the competition of Prince Aurangzeb to the throne after Shah
Jahan. Prince Aurangzeb took complete advantage of this political situation to get
the approval of the construction of the Maqbara from Emperor Shah Jahan.
While
Prince Aurangzeb was on the way to the Deccan, he pitched his tents at
Burhanpur on 1st January 1653.[9] It
is very important to note that, Azam Shah was born on 28th June 1653
AD at Burhanpur where the wagons laden with marble were spotted by Tavernier on
17th March 1653. Azam must have definitely been in the womb of
Dilras Bano Begum at that time. Now again the question arises about the reliability
of the date of birth of Azam Shah. Authenticity about the date of birth of Azam
Shah has been recorded in the book “Maasir-e-Alamgiri” written by Saqi Mustaid
Khan in 1710 AD. Saqi Mustaid Khan was in the civil service of Aurangzeb for a number
of years. He was also a historian but Aurangzeb never allowed any historian to
write his history in his lifetime. After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, his
successor Moazzam, the son of Aurangzeb ordered Saqi Mustaid Khan to write the history
of Aurangzeb for which royal archives were left open to him. With the help of the
royal records, he made note of the dates of birth of all sons and daughters of
Aurangzeb. This book was completed in 1710 AD and was treated as the Mughal
Gazetteer. Nobody can challenge the authenticity of the date of birth of Azam
Shah as recorded in the Maasir-e-Alamgiri.
The
construction of the Maqbara for Dilras Bano Begum was already under progress,
when Azam Shah was born and hence the question of building the Maqbara at
Aurangabad by Azam Shah as claimed by the Archaeological Survey of India is
totally wrong. Further the Aurangabad District Gazetteers and Glimpses of Nizam
Dominions' statements are also not correct. The major work of the Maqbara was
totally completed during the lifetime of Dilras Bano Begum. There is another theory that the Maqbara was built by Prince Mohammad Sultan and Prince Mohammad
Muazzam Shah, the elder sons of Aurangzeb born of the first wife Nawab Bai in
the year 1639 AD and 1641 AD[10]
respectively is also baseless. It cannot be imagined as to how the Prince
Mohammad Sultan who was 15 years old and Mohammad Muazzam Shah who was 11 years
could build such a huge Maqbara at such a young age, that too for their stepmother Dilras Bano, when their own mother Nawab Bai was still alive. Certainly, they would have preferred to construct the Maqbara for their own mother instead
of their stepmother.
There
is an inscription on the bronze plate at the main entrance gate of the Maqbara
which ascertains that the Maqbara was completed during the year 1660 AD. Dilras
Bano died on 8th October 1657 due to complications during the birth
of her second son Mohammad Akbar at Daulatabad stronghold.[11] The
distance between Daulatabad and Aurangabad is only 12 miles. It clearly
indicates that the construction of Maqbara was under completion when she was alive
at Aurangabad. Thereafter Aurangzeb had appointed his own officer Muluk Chand
to supervise the construction of the Maqbara.[12]
 |
Persian Inscription on the Gate
Translation:
“The gateway of this illuminated mausoleum was
built by Ataullah, the architect, and Hanspatrai, the engineer, in 1071 AH
(1660 AD).”
Not
only Muluk Chand, but the master masons Aaqa Beg, Mir Qasim, Amin, and Ataulah
were also paid salaries from the income of the Begampura market of Aurangabad.[13]
The revenue of Begampura was the property of Dilras Bano, the revenue of
Baijipura was the property of Nawab Bai, the first wife of Prince Aurangzeb.
The above facts establish the fact that the Maqbara was built by Dilras Bano
Begum and was fully supported by Prince Aurangzeb, even after the death of
Dilras Bano Begum.
 |
| Aerial View of the Bibi-ka-Maqbara |
Dr. Shaikh Ramzan
M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D. (History) Researcher
[1] Sarkar, History of Aurangzeb, op.
cit., p. 29
[2] Ibid., p. 31
[3] Ibid., p. 39
[4] Ibid., p. 79
[5] Ibid., p. 63
[6] Ibid.
[7] Tavernier., op. cit., p. 120
[8] Ibid.
[9] Sarkar, op. cit., p. 63
[10] Saqi Mustaid Khan,
“Maasir-e-Alamgiri”., (Tr. J. Sarkar, Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of
Bengal, 1947), p. 319
[11] Aurangabad District Gazetteers, op.
cit., p. 127
[12] Yusuf Hussain, ed., “Selected
Documents of Aurangzeb’s Reign”, 1659 – 1706 AD
[13] Selected Documents of Aurangzeb’s
Reign., op. cit., p. 237
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