Shah Jahan was too ill to leave his bedchamber in the Red Fort – an inlaid and gilded marble structure where carved lattices filtered light...
Shah Jahan was too ill to leave his bedchamber in the Red Fort – an inlaid and gilded marble structure where carved lattices filtered light and air and hanging blinds sealed the open archways. While the emperor ailed, Dara Shukoh guarded him fiercely. Shah Jahan’s condition worsened day by day, relates the chronicler Muhammad Salih Kamboh, who lived through this period.
The emperor was afflicted with strangury, or urination that was both excruciating and incomplete. Along with this, he suffered dehydration, swelling below the navel, and fever. In modern medical terminology, he would likely have had an acute bacterial prostate infection. Such illnesses could be especially serious in an age before antibiotics. Medical doctors including the renowned Hakim Daud, known by the title Muqarrab Khan, as well as other unnamed “Christian physicians,” strove to cure the emperor. Dara Shukoh tended to his father constantly, staying with him in his private apartments.
Rumours surged out of Shahjahanabad to the rest of the empire. Many people thought that the emperor was dead and that Dara was keeping the news a secret.
In truth, there was not much he could have done to avert the gossip. An emperor’s illness was a calamity, toppling the equilibrium of humors...
