Sipihr Shikoh

Background

Sipihr Shikoh was born in Agra on October 13, 1644, to Crown Prince Dara Shikoh and Nadira Banu Begum. He was a grandson of Emperor Shah Jahan and a descendant of the Mughal imperial family through both parents. His birth took place during the mature phase of Shah Jahan's reign, when Agra remained one of the principal political and cultural centers of the Mughal Empire.

He grew up within the dynastic household of Dara Shikoh, the eldest son and heir apparent of Shah Jahan. The succession crisis that followed Shah Jahan's illness in 1657 transformed Sipihr's position from that of an imperial child into that of a participant in a struggle for the Mughal throne. After Dara's defeat by Aurangzeb, Sipihr shared the family's flight through northern and western India and was eventually taken into custody.

Career

Sipihr Shikoh entered public life during the Mughal war of succession. In the Battle of Samugarh on May 29, 1658, he took part in a cavalry charge on the side of Dara Shikoh's forces. He later accompanied Dara during the retreat toward Gujarat and Rajasthan and was sent to Jodhpur as Dara's representative in an unsuccessful effort to obtain support from Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Marwar. At the Battle of Deorai in April 1659, he commanded a section of Dara's army before the defeat of Dara's cause.

After Dara's capture and execution, Sipihr was held in Gwalior Fort along with other princes connected with the defeated branch of the imperial family. He was brought to Delhi in 1672 and received renewed recognition at Aurangzeb's court. On January 30, 1673, he married Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum, Aurangzeb's daughter and his first cousin, in a marriage that linked the two rival branches of the Mughal dynasty.

Sipihr later held administrative office under the Mughal emperor. He served as governor of Orissa from 1680 to 1696, when Orissa was an important eastern province of the empire with its administrative center at Cuttack and a strategic connection to Bengal and the Bay of Bengal. From 1701 to 1708 he served as qiledar, or commander-governor, of the Red Fort in Delhi, the principal imperial residence and a major center of Mughal administration. He died in 1708.

Achievements

• Sipihr Shikoh participated in the Mughal war of succession, including the Battle of Samugarh in 1658 and the Battle of Deorai in 1659, before the defeat of his father's faction.

• After years of captivity, Sipihr was restored to the Mughal court and developed an administrative career as governor of Orissa and qiledar of the Red Fort.

Religion

Sipihr Shikoh was a Sunni Muslim prince of the Mughal dynasty. Sunni Islam was the dominant religious tradition of the Mughal court, whose institutions combined Islamic law and Persianate political culture with the varied religious communities of the Indian subcontinent.

His family belonged to the Mughal ruling house established by Babur and consolidated in northern India by Akbar and his successors. His father, Dara Shikoh, was known for his engagement with Islamic mysticism and comparative religious thought, while Sipihr's documented public life was principally dynastic and administrative.

Connections

Sipihr Shikoh was the son of Crown Prince Dara Shikoh and Nadira Banu Begum, and the grandson of Emperor Shah Jahan. He was the nephew of Emperor Aurangzeb, who later became his father-in-law through Sipihr's marriage to Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum.

Sipihr and Zubdat-un-Nissa had a son, Ali Tabar Mirza, who was born in 1676 and died later that year. Sipihr's surviving dynastic connections placed him within the Mughal succession struggles and the later effort to reconcile branches of the imperial family through marriage.

Father:

Dara Shikoh

Crown Prince of the Mughal Empire and eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan.

Mother:

Nadira Banu Begum

Mughal princess and consort of Dara Shikoh.

Uncle:

Aurangzeb

Mughal emperor who defeated Dara Shikoh in the war of succession and later married his daughter to Sipihr.

Grandfather:

Shah Jahan

Fifth Mughal emperor and Sipihr's paternal grandfather.

Wife:

Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum

Daughter of Aurangzeb; she married Sipihr in 1673.

Son:

Ali Tabar Mirza

Born in 1676 and died later that year.

References

• Sipihr Shikoh Biographical reference describing Sipihr Shikoh's parentage, participation in the Mughal war of succession, captivity, marriage to Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum, and administrative offices.
• A Pepys of Mongul India, 1653–1708 English translation and abridgment of Niccolao Manucci's account of Mughal India, including contemporary descriptions of Dara Shikoh's flight with the young Sipihr Shukoh.
  1913
• The History of India, Volume 7 Digitized historical source containing an account of Sipihr Shukoh's imprisonment in Gwalior Fort after the defeat of Dara Shikoh.