| Shāh Shujā | |
|---|---|
| Mughal Prince | |
| A painting from circa 1637 shows the brothers (left to right) Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh in their younger years | |
| House | Timurid |
| Father | Shah Jahan |
| Mother | Mumtaz Mahal |
| Born | June 23, 1616 |
| Died | 1660 (age 43-44) |
| Religion | Islam |
Shāh Shujā (June 23, 1616–1660) was the second son of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and empress Mumtaz Mahal.
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Emperor Shah Jahan appointed Shah Shuja as the Subahdar or governor of Bengal in 1639. In 1642, Shuja was also given the charge of the province of Orissa. He ruled the provinces for more than twenty years, from 1639 to 1660. During the period there were two short breaks: first in 1647-1648, when he was with the emperor on his campaigns against rebels in the Afghan passes; and the second in 1652, when he was at Kabul for about four months from April to July. During the later part of his duty as a Subedar, from 1658 he twice proceeded towards the capital in his bid to contest for the throne.
Shāh Shujā built the Bara Katra (Bengali: বড় কাটরা) between 1644 and 1646 in Dhaka to serve as his official residence.
When Shah Jahan fell ill, a struggle for the throne started between his four sons - Dara Shikoh, Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh. Shuja immediately crowned himself the emperor and took imperial titles. He marched with a large army, backed by a good number of war-boats in the river Ganges. However, he was beaten by Dara's army in a hotly contested Battle of Bahadurpur (in modern Uttar Pradesh, India). Shuja turned back to Rajmahal to make further preparations. In the meantime, Aurangzeb defeated Dara twice (at Dharmat and Samugarh), caught him, executed him on a charge of heresy and ascended the throne. Shuja marched again to the capital, this time against Aurangzeb. A battle took place on 5 January 1658 at the Battle of Khajwa (Fatehpur district, Uttar Pradesh, India) where Shuja was defeated.[1]
After his defeat, Shuja retreated towards Bengal. He was pursued by the imperial army under Mir Jumla. Shuja put up a good fight against them. However, he was finally defeated in the last battle in April 1660. After each defeat he had to face desertions in his own army, but he did not lose heart. He, rather, reorganised the army with renewed vigor. But when he was going to be surrounded at Tandah, and when he found that reorganisation of the army was no longer possible, he decided to leave Bengal for good and take shelter in Arakan.
Shuja left Tandah with his family and retinue in the afternoon of 6 April 1660 and reached Dhaka on 12 April. He left Dhaka on 6 May and boarded the Arakanese ships on 12 May at Bhulua (near present-day Noakhali, Bangladesh). He carried two vessels of gold and silver, jewel, treasures and other royal appendages to Arakan. Shuja first arrived at Chittagong and stayed for some time, from where he took the land route to Arakan which is still called Shuja Road. Thousand palanquins (carriers) carried the harem ladies and Shuja prayed Eid prayer at a place Edgoung (Eidgah) in Dulahzara which is still in Chittagong on the way to Arakan. Shuja undertook the land journey for 13 days and 13 nights with a troubled mind on the eastern bank of Naf River, half a mile north of Maungdaw town which is still known as Shuja village. Some of Shuja’s retinues there were later retained by the British army as archers army since 1826.
The final day on sea route took Shuja to Arakan where he was received by an envoy of Arakan king Sanda Thudhamma and escorted to a separate quarter for the Mughal prince. Niccolai Manucci wrote: “The date of flight (of Shuja from Dacca) was June 5, 1660 and arrived in Arakan on August 26, 1660.”[2] Harvey noted that Shuja came to Arakan as Sanda Thudhamma promised to provide him some of his famous ships to take him to Mecca for pilgrimage. He broke the promise. When Shuja arrived in Arakan with half a dozen camel loads of gold and jewelry, the temptation was too great for the Arakan king. Prince Shah Shuja's daughter Princess Gulrukh Banu was raped by Arakan king Sanda Thudhamma and she committed suicide,[3] while Sultan Bang and another brother died fighting. They ran amok, nearly succeeded in firing the royal palace of Sanda Thudhamma in December 1660, while many Mughals were massacred.
The Portuguese who were famous there as pirates did save Shuja while robbed him of gold and jewels, these misfortunate events had a very profound critical breakdown effect on Shah Shuja. The surviving Mughals with Shuja escaped back to Tripura on 16 May 1661 with much difficulty[2] and arrived in Manipur in December 1661.[4] While Aurangzeb’s reconnaissance men were on the hunt for Shuja and for every bit of news.[5] Conscious of this, Shuja’s men spread false news that Shuja died fighting in Arakan, while others rumoured he shipped to Mecca. There were a thousand different tales about Shuja’s fate and nothing could be conclusive.[2]
On the breach of trust by Arakan king Sanda Thudhamma, Shuja fled back to Tripura whose king quickly dispatched Shuja to Manipur in 1661 so that it might not antagonize the military force of Aurangzeb led by Mir Jumla II. The Mughals lately came to know of the situation but Shuja was already gone. Shah Shuja reached Manipur in December 1661 according to Cheitharol Kumbaba.[6] The Mughals sent a three men embassy to Manipur in late December 1661, this time to retrieve the aggrieved family of Shuja.[7] At that time Shuja was taking shelter in at Haignang of Kairang (east of Imphal), now known as Shuja-lok (Shuja cave).[5]
Mughals enthroned Chhatra Manikya (ruling 1661-66) in Tripura while Govinda Manikya too fled to Arakan where he again met Shuja.[8] In the meantime in Tripura, Chhatra Manikya was too dethroned and Govinda Manikya came back from Arakan to claim the throne and ruled Tripura again from 1667 to 1675.[9] The Manipur king Khunjaoba sent back a three man embassy to the court of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1662.[10] A Mughal ambassador, Nur Beg, was held back in Manipur by the Qazi of Manipur, Muhammad Sani. It was done so that the retreating two Mughal commanders named Dur Beg and Rustam Beg should tell about Shuja’s existence in Manipur.[11] Yet, Shuja was sent up to Ukhrul hill with some Muslims (already settled in Manipur) as precautionary measure from Mughal informers. Thus Tripura and Manipur kings played crucial roles in saving the life of Shah Shuja.
Prince Shah Shuja had a wife named Praveen Banu (Piara Banu, Pai Ribanu) and a sister namely Sabe Banu. He had three sons - Sultan Ain-ul-Din (Bon Sultan or Sultan Bang), Buland Akhtar and Zainul Abedin and three daughters - Gulrukh Banu, Roshanara Begum and Amina Begum.[12]
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{{Persondata | NAME = Shuja, Shah | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = Prince of the [[Mughal EmpireGovernor of Bengal | DATE OF BIRTH = June 23, 1616 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = 1660 | PLACE OF DEATH = }}