ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KHUSRAU PRINCE (1587-1622)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279<u>KH</u>USRAU, PRINCE (1587-1622), the eldest son of Prince Sal&#299m (later Emperor Jah&#257&#7749g&#299r) from M&#257n B&#257&#299 (later Sh&#257h Begam), daughter of R&#257j&#257 Bhagv&#257n D&#257s of &#256mber, was born at Lahore on 6 August 1587. His grandfather, Emperor Akbar, had him brought up in the liberal tradition, entrusting his education to teachers, such as Abu'l-Fazl and Abu'l-<u>Kh</u>air. Sheo Datt, a scholar of distinction, instructed him in Hindu religious thought and philosophy. Under the influence of these teachers and of his mother and R&#257j&#257 M&#257n Si&#7749gh who acted as his guardian for some time, <u>Kh</u>usrau developed an eclectic interest in religion. His amiable disposition won him the favour of his grandfather and the goodwill of the liberal party at the court. But as relations between the Emperor and Prince, Sal&#299m became strained, <u>Kh</u>usrau was driven into an unseemly conflict with his father as a rival for succession to the throne. During Akbar's absence in the South in 1599-1601, Sal&#299m openly rebelled and started holding court at All&#257h&#257b&#257d. In August 1602, he had Abu'l-Fazl, his father's trusted friend and counsellor, killed through a hired assassin. Sal&#299m's excessive indulgence in wine was also a cause of distress to his father, especially after the death from the effects of alcohol of his second son, D&#257n&#299y&#257l, in April 1604. His third son, Mur&#257d, had met with a similar fate in May 1599. In this situation, <u>Kh</u>usrau came to be considered by a section of the nobles headed by R&#257j&#257 M&#257n Si&#7749gh and Mirz&#257 'Az&#299z Kok&#257, to whose daughter the young prince had been married, as a natural successor to Akbar. Distressed at the tension that had developed between the father and the son, <u>Kh</u>usrau's mother, Sh&#257h Begam, committed suicide on 16 May 1604. Sal&#299m, recalled to the court in November 1604, was reconciled to his father who, shortly before his death on 17 October 1605, appointed him his successor. Sal&#299m, now Emperor Jah&#257&#7749g&#299r, placed <u>Kh</u>usrau under strict surveillance at &#256gr&#257 from where the latter escaped on 6 April 1606 and hurried towards the Punjab with only 350 horsemen, augmented at Mathur&#257 by another contingent of 300 horse. The fugitive prince during his flight from &#256gr&#257 to Lahore, in April 1606, met Gur&#363 Arjan, probably at Tarn T&#257ran. According to Sar&#363p Das Bhall&#257, <i>Mahim&#257 Prak&#257sh</i>, "He was in serious trouble. The Gur&#363 extended to him hospitality of Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar. Spending the night there, he resumed his journey." The Gur&#363's detractors headed by Chand&#363 Sh&#257h, a revenue official at the court, incited the Emperor, while he was still in Lahore, against him (the Gur&#363) alleging that he had given help to the rebel prince and blessed him putting a mark of royalty on his forehead. Jah&#257&#7749g&#299r, who, according to what he records in his autobiography, resolved "to put an end to his preachings or bring him to the fold of Islam," summoned Gur&#363 Arjan to his court and ordered his execution with confiscation of his property. The Gur&#363 was consequently tortured to death.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <u>Kh</u>usrau himself was captured on 27 April 1606 at Sh&#257hpur ferry on the River Chen&#257b. Following an abortive attempt to escape, he was blinded. In October 1616, he was transferred from the custody of An&#299 R&#257i Si&#7749gh, a R&#257jp&#363t noble sympathetic to the prisoner, to that of &#256saf <u>Kh</u>&#257n, brother of N&#363r Jah&#257&#7749 and father-in-law of Prince <u>Kh</u>urram (later Emperor Sh&#257h Jah&#257&#7749), the ambitious third son of Jah&#257&#7749g&#299r. In November 1620, <u>Kh</u>urram secured the possession of the person of <u>Kh</u>usrau, and had him done to death on 29 January 1622.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bhall&#257, Sar&#363p D&#257s, <i>Mahim&#257 Prak&#257sh</i>. Patiala, 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> Smith, Vincent, <i>The Oxford History of India</i>. Oxford, 1958<BR> <li class="C1"> Latif, Syad Muhammad, <i>History of the Panjab</i>. Delhi, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. I, Princeton, 1963<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">K. A. Niz&#257m&#299<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>