Mumtaz Mahal

June 17, 1631 - It was on this day that Mumtaz Mahal, the beloved Empress of India, died while giving birth to her fourteenth child. The baby survived.

Mumtaz's husband was Emperor Shah Jahan, who fell into a deep depression after the loss of his wife. He mourned in seclusion for a year, and when he reappeared his hair had turned white.

For the next 22 years, Shah Jahan devoted himself to the design and construction of his wife's mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.