History

4.1 Shah Jahan

 Who was Shah Jahan?
• His name means “King of the
world”
• He was the Mughal ruler of India in
1628
• He ruled 150 million people

Vocab
Mughal: A person who was part of
the Mughal Empire (which was
India)
 How did he become the ruler?

• When his father died, he killed his

four brothers so he could become
ruler.
 Who was his favorite wife?
• He had many wives, marrying a
princess from each land he
conquered to help keep the peace.
• His favorite wife was Mumtaz
Mahal (her name means “Jewel of
the palace”)
 Mumtaz Mahal

• They had 14 children together, but

only 7 survived.
• Mumtaz died in 1631 while having a
baby, and Shah Jahan was
devastated.

Vocab

Devastated: very upset

• Shah Jahan lost the love of his life.
So he built her a monument to be
buried in, and called it the “Taj
Mahal”.

• He built it in front of his palace to

look at it everyday.
 The Taj Mahal
It was built from:
• Red stone then covered with white marble
• The white marble was decorated with semi-
precious stones like:
1. Jade (from China)

2. Lapis Lazuli (from Afghanistan) it is a deep

blue in color.
This made it sparkle in the sun.
• It took:
20,000 workers
1,000 elephants
20 years to build it.

• The tallest dome was 73 meters tall

• It was surrounded by gardens, water, and a wall of
red stone.

• The Taj Mahal shows how rich Shah Jahan was.

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