Nur Jahan's heroic role in the rebellion of Mahabat Khan was short-lived. Having come out of seclusion for the climactic episode of her political life and having maneuvered her husband out from the hands of his abductor, she had proven herself capable of an exquisitely executed victory. She had not become victorious, however, by fighting in battle but by the means she had always used best: strategy measured out from behind the palace walls. Her skills at duplicity, her easy use of charm at all levels of government, and most of all her tenacious powers of endurance had proved their mettle. But with the close of the rebellion of Mahabat Khan, Nur Jahan's role as manager of political events came to an end. She would now be forced, most reluctantly, to pass the brokering of power over to her brother, Asaf Khan, and, more particularly, to his protege the future king, Shah Jahan.
Shah Jahan had not been well-off in the last two years of Jahangir's reign. Back in the Deccan after his unsuccessful revolt against his father, he had fallen ill and had found few followers for support or security. Hearing the news of Mahabat Khan's coup, however, Shah Jahan left Ahmadnagar on June 7, 1626, and marched north through the pass of Nasik Trimbak. Although Kamgar Khan stated that Shah Jahan "resolved that he would hasten immediately to the Emperor his father" in order to save him from his abductor, most believe that the prince wanted to gain whatever advantage he could for himself out of the unsettled situation.
Although Shah Jahan had not yet chosen sides, it would eventually become clear to him that his best chances lay in an alliance with Mahabat Khan. The two were not friends—in fact, they had most recently been on either ends of a pursuit that had veered all over India—but Mahabat Khan was now a fugitive and his natural animosity toward the imperial court would be an especially beneficial factor to the exiled prince. Eventually, Shah Jahan would see such an alliance as eminently agreeable to both the failed minister and to himself: Mahabat Khan was an excellent soldier and an experienced courtier who, only because of circumstances, had been unable recently to exhibit the loyal qualities for which he was best known.
On the way north, Shah Jahan found it difficult to get troops together. Both Khan Jahan and Raja Nar Singh Deo made excuses when asked to join the prince and after reaching Ajmer, where Raja Kishan Singh died, Shah Jahan saw that his men had dwindled to only about four or five hundred in number. Because "it was impossible for him to carry out his design of going to the Emperor" with so small an army, Shah Jahan resolved to go to Tatta, where he would "wait patiently for a while" in the hopes of recruiting more troops. But the route was unusually dry and barren and "his journey was attended with great hardship," and when he reached Tatta in October of 1626, he found that patient waiting was impossible. Under Sharifulmulk, the governor of the district and a devoted supporter of Shahryar's through Nur Jahan, three to four thousand cavalry and ten thousand infantry stopped Shah Jahan's progress at the gate. Though overpowering, Shahryar's forces were afraid to strike and retreated to within the city, thus encouraging some of Shah Jahan's men to attack anyway despite their prince's insistent instructions not to. Many men died in the attack, and although he knew beforehand that it was a futile seige, Shah Jahan was nevertheless "greatly affected by his ill-success."
Spurned at Tatta, Shah Jahan now thought to enlist the aid of his old friend, Shah Abbas of Persia. He wrote several letters to the shah, but none of them received a promising response; the second of the replies, in fact, made quite clear to Shah Jahan that Abbas thought the prince should lay low and submit to his father. With Persia no longer an obvious source of support, then, and still so weak and ill that "he was obliged to travel in a palki," Shah Jahan now turned around and went back through Gujarat to the Deccan. There he was warmly greeted by the son of Malik Ambar, who had taken over the government after his father died. The new ruler "received Khurram with honor and helped him with whatever he required," and in the time that followed, Shah Jahan was able to strengthen further his alliances with the noble families of the Deccan. On his way back to the Deccan, Shah Jahan received the news that his older brother Parviz had died. Suffering from intemperance, the family affliction, Parviz had succumbed "after a long illness" on October 28, 1626, at the age of thirty-eight. Jahangir's grief had been "immeasurable," for he loved deeply this son, who "was more gentle and obedient than the other sons . . . [and who had] always submissively obeyed the King's commands." Rumors persisted that Shah Jahan had had a hand in his brother's death, that "he [had] caused his second brother, Sultan Parveen, to be poisoned," but such stories by all accounts were illfounded. Parviz's body was taken back to Agra, where it was eventually entombed in his own garden.
Parviz's death raised new questions about the future of the crown, and Nur Jahan watched as Jahangir grew increasingly "anxious as to who should succeed to the throne after his death." Shah Jahan was heartened by the news of Parviz, however, for it reduced his competition by one and left him with only Shahryar and Dawar Bakhsh, a son of Khusrau nicknamed Bulaqi, with whom to contend. About this time, as Shah Jahan proceeded toward the Deccan, Mahabat Khan began to make overtures of alliance to him. Mahabat Khan had been forced into hiding by Nur Jahan's seizure of his Bengal treasure outside of Delhi, and, as a result, had taken refuge in the forests of Mewar and had sought asylum, said De Laet, with the Rana of Udaipur. Exceedingly depressed over the death of his protege Parviz, however, and having been in the Rana's district for a while, Mahabat Khan now sought to reverse the infamy by which "his very name . . . seemed to have ceased to exist."
Furious that Nur Jahan was still harassing his nobles and taking money from them, and knowing that her pursuit of him would not abate quickly, Mahabat Khan came out of hiding and approached Shah Jahan. Sending messengers to the prince "to express his contrition," Mahabat Khan's gamble was successful; the "Prince received his apologies kindly, called him to his presence, and treated him with great favour and kindness." After submitting to Shah Jahan—all "that I have, my treasure and my person, till I die, will be employed in your service" — Mahabat Khan was pardoned and the alliance between the two confirmed. Gifts were exchanged, and both men vowed to work companionably together from this point on to secure Shah Jahan's accession. Said Mundy: Mahabat Khan "never left him [Shah Jahan] till hee brought him to Agra where hee became King by Asaph Ckauns and this mans helpe."
~~Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India -by- Ellison Banks Findly
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