[INDOLOGY] Dates of Shāh Shujāʿ

[Martin Gansten]

I am trying to establish some dates in the life of Shāh Shujāʿ, second 
son of Shāh Jahān -- in particular, his precise date of birth and the 
year in which he became governor (subahdār) of Bengal. For the former, 
the dates given typically given vary between 21 and 23 June, 1616 CE, 
but I am not clear whether this is in the Julian or the Gregorian 
calendar. For the latter, I have seen a range of years around 1640 CE.

Shāh Shujāʿ was the patron of the astrologer Balabhadra, who gives the 
Shāh's date of birth as śrāvaṇa-kṛṣṇa-tṛtīyā, saṃvat 1673/śaka 1538, a 
Saturday, in Ajameru (Ajmer). Using *pūrṇimānta* months, this 
corresponds to a *Julian* date of 22 June, 1616 CE (= 2 July in the 
Gregorian calendar). But if this is the correct date, then Balabhadra 
may have been working from an erroneous one: his discussion of Shāh 
Shujāʿ's annual horoscope indicates a longitude of the sun in the 
nativity some 15 degrees too great, suggesting that Balabhadra took the 
month to be amānta (and indeed, he demonstrably uses the amānta system 
elsewhere).

Any sort of rock in this morass would be greatly appreciated!

Martin Gansten



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