NOOR JEHAN. 
85 
CHAPTER VII. 
NOOR JEHAN. — CHAJA AIASS. — SHERE AFKUN. 
It was from the seraglio that the celebrated Noor 
Jehan, Jehangire’s favourite empress,, fulminated those 
decrees — for though they passed in her husband’s name,, 
it is creditably attested that they emanated from her — 
which rendered the reign of Jehangire one of the most 
politically prosperous in the annals of Mahomedan 
history. This remarkable woman was as extraordinary 
in her birth as in her life,, in her obscurity as in her 
exaltation. The whole period of her existence,, though 
so long confined within the walls of a seraglio,, was 
one signal display of intellectual energy, marvellous 
enterprise, and boundless ambition. She had not 
only the mind to conceive, but the resolution to act ; 
not only the spirit to undertake, but the fortitude to 
endure. The peculiar circumstances of her birth form 
one of the finest episodes in Farishta’s history. 
This celebrated woman was the daughter of Chaja 
Aiass, a native of Western Tartary, who was of an 
ancient and noble race, though under the various vi- 
cissitudes of “ time and circumstance” his family 
had sunk into comparative destitution. He there- 
fore quitted his country for Hindostan, hoping under 
the Mogul emperor to repair the loss of fortune. 
