The “poison test dish” plate used to break into pieces as soon as poisonous food was put in it, this plate is kept in the Taj Museum.

You must also be using utensils that keep hot food hot or cold drinks cold, but you might not have heard about such a feature of a utensil before. A very special plate of food is kept in the Taj Museum of Agra. This plate secured in a glass frame is monitored by CCTV cameras. Many security forces are engaged there to protect this plate and other stored items. The name of this plate is Jahar Parakh Rakabi, that is, the plate that identifies poison. It is written in detail above the plate that this utensil made of porcelain changes color or breaks when poisonous food is served. This plate kept in the Taj Museum belongs to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

So as not to fall prey to a murderous plot

The world of Mughal rulers also used to be strange. full of conspiracies. He did not shy away from getting his own relatives killed for the throne. Aurangzeb had beheaded his brother Dara Shikoh for the throne, while keeping his father Shah Jahan in prison. The Mughal rulers used to be very careful on the apprehension of danger to their own lives.

There is a book by Salma Yusuf Hussain – ‘The Mughal Feast: Recipes from the Kitchen of Emperor Shah Jahan’. In this, he has told that the Mughal emperor usually used to have food with his queens and women living in the harem. At the same time, except on festive occasions, he used to dine with nobles and special courtiers. Food was usually served to them by eunuchs.

A lot of care was taken that poison should not be mixed in the food. Shah Jahan had such a plate, in which either its color would change or it would break as soon as poisonous food was put in it. This dish used to identify poisonous food was very special, which is still kept in the Taj Museum of Agra.

Silver coating on rice grains to increase sexual arousal

The royal doctors used to decide the food menu for Shahjahan. According to the same menu, he used to cook food in the royal kitchen. Silver work was coated on each grain of rice of Pulav. Hakim’s reasoning behind deciding such a menu was that silver-coated rice improves digestion and dishes made from such rice are effective in increasing sexual arousal. However, there is no proof of how much truth is there in this matter.

Stayed in jail for 8 years, Favorite dish – Chickpeas

Shah Jahan was very fond of food. Although this Mughal emperor spent the last few years of his life in a lot of trouble. For the sake of the throne, son Aurangzeb had imprisoned him in the fort of Agra. He remained in jail for the whole eight years. Shah Jahan died in 1666. Aurangzeb is said to have ordered that his father Shah Jahan be given only one dish of his choice in prison. In such a situation, Shahjahan had chosen chickpeas.

There was a special reason behind the selection of chickpeas. It is said that Shah Jahan chose chickpeas because it can be cooked in many different ways. Due to this, he used to get many types of flavors in a single dish. In North India, a special chickpea dish named after Shahjahan is also famous – Shahjahani Dal. It is prepared after preparing a gravy rich in cream and cooking it after adding chickpeas.