62 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
orders to erect a monument of solid silver over his 
remains; but the imperial architect shrewdly re- 
marked, that so precious a material would in all 
probability be the least enduring of all, as a means 
of transmitting the vizier’s fame to posterity . — 66 All 
ages,” said he, “ are full of avarice ; and even the 
empire of the house of Taimour, like all things 
mundane, will be subject to revolution and change.” 
She altered her purpose, and built a magnificent 
fabric of stone at Agra, which remains to this day, 
and appears likely to transmit to many generations 
yet to come the illustrious name of Etimaun-ud- 
Dowla. 
The name Neur-Mahal, which had been recently 
bestowed on Mher-ul-Nissa, was afterwards changed 
to Neur-Jehan, Light of the World ; and in distinc- 
tion from the other Sultanas, she was styled Shahi, 
Empress. Her talents were equal even to her 
beauty ; and by her influence over Jehanghir, she 
became, to all intents and purposes, absolute sove- 
reign of the empire during his life. She survived 
him about twenty years, and died in a. d. 1646, 
having spent her second widowdiood in retirement 
and study. That far-famed work of art, the Tajh 
Mahal, at Agra, was erected to her memory by 
Shah Jehan, the son and successor of Jehanghir. 
