built under Akbar, was closed, and all allowances to Portuguese priests in Mughal India were suspended. The entire Mughal court, as well as the city of Surat, is in an uproar, and the tumult and outcry at the Mughal court were unprecedented. The incident eventually led to a reduction of Portuguese influence: Post Rahimi Business Activities Mariam-uz-Zamani carried on with her commercial and pilgrimage ships despite losing her greatest pilgrimage ship, the Rahimi. She was in command of a fleet of ships. In 1617, two English pirates tried to seize Mariam-uz-Zamani's ship, which was returning from the Red Sea with numerous hajjis and valuable cargo, but in the nick of time, the ship was rescued. If it had not been for the fortunate interposition of the fleet of the East India Company, which came up before the contest was decided, the result of Englishmen's selfish enterprise would have been the closing of the busiest markets in India to English commerce. After the loss of her ship Rahimi, the Dowager Empress then ordered the build of an even larger ship with 62 guns and the placement of over 400 musket men. It was named 'Ganj-I-Sawai' and in its day was the most fearsome ship in the sea with the objective of trade and taking pilgrims to Mecca and on the way back converting all the goods into gold, and silver, and bringing back the pilgrims. Patron of Art and Architecture Mariam-uz-Zamani was one of the great female patrons of the architecture of her time. She constructed one of the earliest built mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, as per Mughal architecture, known as the Begum Shahi Mosque. She sponsored a remarkable public work, a baoli (step-well) along with a garden near the old district at Brahambad, Bayana. However, only the baoli remains. She laid a large garden around the tomb of her deceased Emperor husband, Akbar and was also later buried there. She also commissioned the entrance to the Lahore fort, known as Masjidi Darwaza, now corrupted into Masti Darwaja (Masti Gate). Both Mariam-uz-Zamani's mosque and baoli (step-well) had an inscription attesting to her role in the construction of these historical monuments. The mosque was constructed during the early period of Jahangir, in 1023 A.H./1614 A.D., as recorded in a Persian inscription fixed on the facade of the northern gate. A marble inscription on the gate of the baoli (step-well) dates it to