In 1614, Jahangir had a dream. “I dreamed that His Majesty who dwells in Heaven was saying to me, ‘Baba, for my sake forgive Aziz,’” Jahang...
In 1614, Jahangir had a dream. “I dreamed that His Majesty who dwells in Heaven was saying to me, ‘Baba, for my sake forgive Aziz,’” Jahangir recounts in his memoirs. “After the dream I decided to summon Aziz from the fortress [in which he was imprisoned],” Jahangir says. In the months that followed, the emperor freed Aziz, gifted him elephants and shawls, awarded him jagirs and gave him military responsibilities, thus rehabilitating him within the ranks of the Mughal nobility.
The “Aziz” in question was Mirza Aziz Kokaltash. The son of Akbar’s wet nurse Jiji Anaga and his vakil, Ataga Khan, Aziz had been Akbar’s childhood companion and had risen to high rank in his reign. Unfortunately for Aziz, he had risen so high that his family intermarried with the emperor’s. Aziz’s daughter was married to Khusrau, Jahangir’s eldest son.
After Jahangir rebelled against his father and set up a splinter court in Allahabad, a powerful faction at the imperial court urged Akbar to pass over Jahangir and anoint Khusrau as his heir. This faction included Khusrau’s father-in-law Aziz.
When Jahangir eventually inherited the throne, his own son Khusrau mounted a rebellion that was quickly put down. Jahangir had his son blinded and kept in...
