Jahangir was the fourth Moghul emperor of India. His empress Nur Jahan literally ruled the empire. Most of the gardens still intact in Kashmir were designed by her and built by her orders. Kashmir's beautiful palaces and gardens became a haven for the royal couple away from court intrigues in India. Before his death Jahangir wrote in his journal:

'All is vain, fleeting and perishable. In the twinkling of an eye we shall see the enchantress fate who enslaves the world and its votaries. Seizes the throat of another and another victim. And so exposed is man to be trodden down by the calamities of life that one can almost be persuaded to affirm that he never had existed. This world the end of which is destined to be miserable can scarcely be worth the risk of so much useless violence.'