Shah Shuja (Mughal prince)

Shah Shuja
Mughal Prince
Portrait of Shah Shuja
Born	(1616-06-23)23 June 1616 Ajmer
Died	unknown
Spouse	Bilqis Banu Begum Piari Banu Begum One another wife
Issue	Zain-ud-Din Mirza Zain-ul-Abidin Mirza Buland Akhtar Mirza Dilpazir Banu Begum Gulrukh Banu Begum Roshan Ara Begum Amina Banu Begum
House	Timurid
Father	Shah Jahan
Mother	Mumtaz Mahal
Religion	Islam

Shah Shuja (23 June 1616 – unknown) was the second son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Empress Mumtaz Mahal. He was the governor of Bengal and Odissa and had his capital at Dhaka, presently Bangladesh.

Shah Shuja was born on 23 June 1616, in Ajmer. He was the second son and child of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his queen Mumtaz Mahal.

Shuja's siblings were Jahanara Begum, Dara Shikoh, Roshanara Begum, Aurangzeb, Murad Baksh, Gauhara Begum and others. He had three sons - Sultan Zain-ul-Din (Bon Sultan or Sultan Bang), Buland Akhtar and Zainul Abidin and four daughters - Gulrukh Banu, Roshanara Begum and Amina Begum.

Shah Shuja married firstly Bilqis Banu Begum, the daughter of Rustam Mirza, on the night of Saturday, 5 March 1633. The marriage was arranged by Princess Jahanara Begum. Rupees 1,60,000 in cash and one lakh worth lakh of goods were sent as sachak to the mansion of Mirza Rustam. On 23 February 1633, the wedding presents worth Rupees 10 lakhs were displayed by Jahanara Begum and Sati-un-nissa Khanum. The following year she gave birth to a daughter, and died in childbirth. She was buried in a separate mausoleum named Kharbuza Mahal, at Burhanpur. Her daughter was named Dipazir Banu Begum by Shah Jahan, and who died as an infant.

On the death of his first wife, he married Piari Banu Begum, daughter of Azam Khan, second governor of Bengal during Shah Jahan's reign. She was the mother of two sons, and three daughters, namely, Prince Zain-ud-din Mirza born on 28 October 1639, Prince Zain-ul-Abidin Mirza born on 20 December 1645, Gulrukh Banu Begum (wife of Prince Muhammad Sultan), Raushan Ara Begum, and Amina Banu Begum. In 1660, she fled to Arakan with her husband, sons, and three daughters. Shuja was murdered in 1661. His sons were put to death. Piari Banu Begum, and her two daughters committed suicide. The remaining daughter, Amina Banu Begum, was brought into the palace, where from grief she died an early death. According to another source, one of Shuja's daughters was married to King Sanda Thudhamma. A year later he scented a plot and starved all of them to death, while his wife was in an advanced stage of pregnancy by himself.