The legend, as India loves to tell it
The romance: a proud Rajput princess is married to the young Mughal emperor for reasons of state, resists him, and slowly wins his love and respect.
Her faith: in the story she keeps her Hindu worship inside the Mughal palace, and the emperor comes to honour it.
- His change: her influence is said to make Akbar the tolerant ruler history remembers.
- The film: a big Hindi film of 2008, Jodhaa Akbar, made the story famous across India and beyond.
- The television serial: a long-running drama in the 2010s carried it into millions of homes.
- Our view: it is a lovely story, and like most lovely stories it is built partly on fact and partly on wishes. We enjoy it, and then we tell the history.
What history actually records
The marriage: in early 1562, Raja Bharmal of Amer gave his daughter in marriage to Akbar at the imperial camp at Sambhar, near the salt lake west of Jaipur.
The emperor's journey: Akbar was travelling to the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, and the alliance was made on the road.
- Her family
- The Kachwahas of Amer
- Her brother
- Raja Bhagwant Das
- Her nephew
- Raja Man Singh I, Akbar's great general
- Title meaning
- Mary of the Age, roughly
- Tomb
- Sikandra, near Agra
- Her son: in 1569 she gave birth to Prince Salim at Sikri, the boy who became the emperor Jahangir in 1605.
- Her title: in Mughal sources she is Mariam-uz-Zamani, an honour that means something like the Mary of the age.
- Her personal name: it is not recorded in the Mughal sources of her time.
- Her death: she died at Agra in 1623, during her son's reign.
- Her tomb: Jahangir built it at Sikandra, near Akbar's own great tomb outside Agra.
Akbar, the emperor she married
Born in the desert: his father Humayun had lost his throne, and Akbar was born in 1542 at Umarkot, a desert fort now in Sindh.
Emperor at thirteen: he came to the throne in 1556, guided at first by his regent.
- Born
- 1542, at Umarkot in the Thar
- Reigned
- 1556 to 1605
- New capital
- Fatehpur Sikri, from about 1571
- Tomb
- Sikandra, near Agra
- A ruler who could not read: he is generally believed to have been unable to read, yet he gathered one of the great libraries and painting workshops of the age.
- A curious mind: at Fatehpur Sikri he built a hall where scholars of many faiths debated before him.
- His Rajput policy: alliances by marriage and rank, beginning with Amer, which made Rajput princes partners in the empire.
- His end: he died in 1605 and lies in his great tomb at Sikandra, near the tomb of his Amer queen.
Why Amer made the alliance in 1562
A small kingdom: Amer held the hills and valleys around our future city, but it was not yet a rival to Mewar or Marwar.
Under pressure: Raja Bharmal faced trouble from rivals within his family and from the Mughal governor of the region.
- A young emperor: Akbar, not yet twenty, was looking for allies who would make his rule in India secure.
- What Amer gained: protection, high rank at court, and a place at the heart of the most powerful empire in the world.
- What Akbar gained: loyal Rajput cavalry, commanders who knew the land, and a bridge to the other Rajput houses.
- What followed: the Kachwahas rose to become the closest allies of the empire. Our Rajput dynasties guide tells the family story.
Mariam-uz-Zamani, the queen behind the legend
Mother of an emperor
The prayer: Akbar had longed for an heir, and tradition says he visited the Sufi saint Shaikh Salim Chishti at Sikri to pray for a son.
- The birth: Prince Salim was born at Sikri in 1569 and named after the saint.
- Her standing: as mother of the heir, and then of the emperor, she held one of the highest ranks of any woman at the Mughal court.
A queen at Fatehpur Sikri
The new capital: Akbar built his city at Sikri in thanks for his son's birth, from about 1571.
- Her palace: the largest palace in the women's quarters is still popularly called Jodha Bai's Mahal, built around a courtyard in a style that recalls Rajput and Gujarati houses.
- Read more: our Fatehpur Sikri guide.
A trader with her own ships
Her wealth: she owned ships that traded and carried pilgrims from the western ports.
- The Rahimi: her great ship was seized by the Portuguese in 1613, an incident that caused a serious quarrel with them.
- What it tells you: the women of the Mughal court could be rich, independent and active in the world beyond the palace.
Honoured by her son
- A mosque in Lahore: Jahangir had a mosque built in her honour, dated to 1614 by its inscription.
- Her tomb at Sikandra: built after her death in 1623, close to Akbar's mausoleum.
Her family, at the heart of two courts
Raja Bharmal, her father
- His choice: to ally with the young emperor rather than fight him, the turning point for Amer.
Raja Bhagwant Das, her brother
- His career: a high noble and general in Akbar's service.
- His daughter: Man Bai, who married Prince Salim, her aunt's son, in 1585.
Man Bai, her niece and daughter-in-law
- Her marriage: to Salim, the future Jahangir, son of her aunt.
- Her son: Prince Khusrau, Jahangir's eldest son.
Raja Man Singh I, her nephew
- His career: Akbar's great general, governor of Kabul and Bengal, and builder at Amber, Varanasi and Vrindavan.
- Read more: Mughal and Rajput history.
Where the name Jodha came from
Not in the chronicles: the court histories of Akbar's reign, including Abul Fazl's Akbarnama, do not call her Jodha.
A nineteenth-century link: the name's earliest known association with her appears in British writing of the nineteenth century, including James Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan.
- In Mughal records
- Not found as her name
- Early link
- Nineteenth-century writing, including James Tod
- Palace nickname
- Jodha Bai's Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri
- Jodh Bai
- Also used for Jahangir's Rathore wife
- Made famous
- A Hindi film of 2008
- A likely confusion: Jahangir married a Rathore princess of Marwar, Jagat Gosain, the mother of Shah Jahan. Some historians note that the name Jodh Bai, after Jodhpur, properly belongs to her.
- A name that fits Jodhpur, not Amer: Jodha recalls Rao Jodha, founder of Jodhpur. An Amer princess was a Kachwaha, not a Rathore, which is one reason historians doubt it.
- Other names: later Rajasthani genealogies give her other personal names, such as Harkha. These too come long after her lifetime.
- The guides' habit: at Fatehpur Sikri the great palace of the women's quarters was long called Jodha Bai's Mahal, and the label stuck to her.
- Then the cinema: the film of 2008 and later television made Jodha the only name most people know.
Five things the films get wrong
She was not from Jodhpur: she was a Kachwaha of Amer, near Jaipur, not a Rathore of Jodhpur.
She was not Akbar's first wife: he had married before 1562, and his senior queen was a Mughal princess.
- Her name is not known as Jodha: the chronicles call her by her title, Mariam-uz-Zamani.
- Akbar's tolerance had many sources: his own curiosity, his advisers and the politics of empire all shaped it, not one queen alone.
- The romance is imagined: the sources record the marriage, her rank and her son, not her feelings.
Why the story still stirs feeling
Pride and pain: for some Rajput families, a princess married into the Mughal house is a story of statecraft. For others it is a painful memory.
The film's reception: the 2008 film drew protests in Rajasthan, partly over the name and the portrayal.
- Historians' caution: most scholars stress that we know little of her private life, her feelings or her faith beyond what the court records suggest.
- Her faith: accounts suggest Hindu worship continued in the imperial women's quarters, but the details of her own beliefs are not clearly recorded. We do not claim more than the sources say.
- Our approach: we tell the legend as legend and the record as record, and we never mock either side of the argument.
- Respect at the sites: guides in Amber and Fatehpur Sikri may tell the story differently. Listen to both with a smile.
Jahangir, the son she gave the empire
Prince Salim: born in 1569, named after the saint his father had prayed to.
A rebellious heir: in his father's last years he rebelled, and his ally Bir Singh Deo of Orchha had Akbar's minister Abul Fazl killed in 1602. Read Orchha, the forgotten capital.
- Emperor in 1605: he took the name Jahangir, seizer of the world.
- A Rajput peace: in 1615 he made the honourable peace with Mewar that ended its long war with the empire.
- A patron of art: his painters produced some of the finest Mughal portraits and studies of birds and animals.
- A dutiful son: he honoured his mother with a mosque in Lahore and her tomb at Sikandra.
What the marriage changed
A Rajput policy: after Amer, Akbar made alliances with other Rajput houses, and Rajput princes served as his generals and governors.
A nephew who led armies: her nephew Raja Man Singh I became one of Akbar's greatest commanders, and he led the Mughal army at Haldighati in 1576. Read Maharana Pratap and Haldighati.
- Tolerance as policy: early in his reign Akbar abolished the tax on Hindu pilgrims and the jizya, the poll tax on non-Muslims.
- Wealth for Amer: the money of imperial service built the palaces of Amber Fort.
- A Rajput emperor in part: her son Jahangir, and his son Shah Jahan, born to a Rathore mother, had Rajput blood. The builder of the Taj Mahal was the son of a Rajput princess.
- A city in time: a century later the Kachwahas were strong enough to build Jaipur in 1727. Read our essay on Mughal and Rajput history.
Where her story stands in stone
Amber Fort, her family's home
- Why go: the fortress-palace of the Kachwahas above Maota Lake, enlarged by her nephew Man Singh with the wealth of the empire.
- Look for: the women's quarters, the zenana, with their screened windows and courtyards, and the mirrored Sheesh Mahal.
Sambhar, where she was married
- Why go: the great salt lake west of Jaipur, where Akbar's camp stood in 1562, now known for flamingos in winter.
Ajmer, the shrine on the emperor's road
- Why go: the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, which Akbar visited often, sometimes on foot.
Fatehpur Sikri, her palace
- Why go: the palace popularly called Jodha Bai's Mahal, and the white marble tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti, where women still tie threads for a child.
Agra Fort and Sikandra, the end of the story
- Why go: the fort where she lived in her son's reign, and her tomb at Sikandra, near Akbar's mausoleum.
- Read more: our Agra Fort guide.
An Akbar day between Jaipur and Agra
Before you leave Jaipur: Amber at opening time the day before, with the women's quarters in the morning light.
Early start: leave Jaipur after breakfast for the stepwell at Abhaneri, about an hour and a half away.
- Midday: Fatehpur Sikri, with a guide, giving an hour to the palace known as Jodha Bai's Mahal and the courtyards around it.
- The saint's tomb: the marble shrine of Salim Chishti, where Akbar prayed for the son she bore.
- Evening: on to Agra, and the Taj at sunrise the next day. It is closed on Fridays.
- The journey: our Delhi, Jaipur and Agra in luxury route includes this day.
How we tell the story to our guests
Legend first: we let the guide at Amber or Fatehpur Sikri tell it with all its colour.
Then the record: in the car afterwards, we tell you what the chronicles say, and what they do not.
- No mockery: the story matters to people, and so does the history.
- Room for doubt: there is much we simply do not know about her life, and we say so.
- The same method elsewhere: we tell the story of Padmini and the curse of Bhangarh the same way, side by side with history.
Before you go
Watch the film, if you like: it is entertaining, and you will recognise the costumes, the courtyards and the songs.
Then read a little history: our short history of Rajasthan has the dates.
- Hire a good guide: at Fatehpur Sikri especially, the difference between a guide who knows the record and one who repeats the film is enormous.
- Dress for the shrines: cover your head and shoulders at Salim Chishti's tomb and at Ajmer Sharif.
- Go early: Fatehpur Sikri's sandstone is fierce at midday, and Amber is calmer at opening time.