Parhez Banu Begum


Parhez Banu Begum was a Mughal princess, the first child and eldest daughter of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan from his first wife, Kandahari Begum. She was also the older half-sister of her father's successor, the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Life

Parhez was born on 21 August 1611 in Agra to Prince Khurram and his first wife Kandahari Begum. She was named 'Parhez Banu Begum' by her paternal grandfather, Emperor Jahangir. However, in the Maasir-i-Alamgiri, she is referred to as Purhunar Banu Begum. Her father, Prince Khurram, was the third son of Emperor Jahangir, while her mother, Kandahari Begum, was a princess of the prominent Safavid dynasty of Iran and was a daughter of Sultan Muzaffar Husain Mirza Safavi.
Parhez was Shah Jahan's first child and his eldest daughter and was brought up by her step-great-grandmother, the dowager empress Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, who had been Emperor Akbar's first and chief wife, and who had also brought up her father, Shah Jahan.
Although her mother was not Shah Jahan's favourite wife, nonetheless, she was loved by her father; who had earnestly requested his daughter, Jahanara Begum on his deathbed, to look after Parhez. She was also loved and well-cared for by her younger half-brother, Aurangzeb.

Ancestry