Raja Jagat Singh

Raja Jagat Singh, also known as Jagat Singh Pathania, was the Raja of Nurpur from 1618 to 1646. He also served in the Mughal Central Asia campaign. He is the first known Pahari ruler whose portrait exists. While people in the entire province were dying due to famine caused by his own army, Shah Jahan was collecting money to build the Taj Mahal, the construction of which began on 1632. Taxes in the Mughal Empire were among the highest in the world; according to the estimates of J.N.U scholar Shireen Moosvi, Mughals took 56.7% of total produce from peasants. Where the state's revenue needed to be used to quell the famine, Shah Jahan used it to build the Taj Mahal. According to contemporary sources like the letter written by a Dutch East India Company lawyer, the famine led to 7.4 million deaths.