Marriage to Aurangzeb
In February 1637, Dilras was betrothed to Prince Muhi-ud-din (later known as Aurangzeb), the third son of the reigning Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. The marriage proposal was put forth by Shah Jahan and was accepted by Dilras' father which led to their betrothal. Aurangzeb was lovingly called by the Emperor from the Deccan, where he was campaigning, and arrived at Agra on 15 April 1637 for his wedding. The marriage took place a few weeks later on 8 May 1637 at Agra amidst great rejoicings.
As decided by the imperial court astrologers, their marriage ceremony was held four hours before dawn, amid lavish and grand celebrations and took place at Shahnawaz Khan's mansion. The grandeur of the celebrations are described by chronicler Khafi Khan, "The burst of fireworks transformed the earth into another sky," and the charms of the singers and dancers would've been the envy "even of Venus." The qazi married the couple in the Emperor's presence, and the mehr was fixed at 400,000 rupees. After the wedding, a reception (walima) was held on 14 May at Aurangzeb's mansion, where Emperor Shah Jahan gave wedding gifts to amirs.
The newly married couple spent more than three happy months at Agra with the Emperor before taking their leave for the Deccan on 4 September 1637, where Aurangzeb was serving as viceroy. During their stay at Agra, Dilras had become pregnant with Aurangzeb's first child: the gifted poet Princess Zeb-un-Nissa. She was born nine months after their marriage on 15 February 1638 at Daulatabad, Deccan, and was her father's favourite daughter. Over the next nineteen years, the imperial couple would have four more children, all of whom were favoured by Aurangzeb above the rest of his children from his secondary wives. As Aurangzeb's chief consort, Dilras wielded considerable influence over him and ruled his harem. She was amongst the highest ranked figures at the Mughal court unlike her husband's secondary wives, who were very unpopular at court. However, Dilras did not take part in court politics and in administrative affairs as her husband did not seem to have allowed his wives to interfere in such matters. But, it is said that it is true that Muhi-ud-din rules over the provinces where he was acting as Na'ib (viceroy), but in the house of this Dilras Banu who rules over him.
Dilras' known physical and personal attributes describe her as being beautiful, vivacious and charming. Pertaining to her character, she seems to have been a proud and self-willed woman and her husband stood in some awe of her. She was reputed to have been short-tempered, and was, says Aurangzeb, a woman of "extreme imperiousness, but to the end of her life I continued to love her and never once did I wound her feelings." Dilras' proud nature did not create problems in her marriage as Aurangzeb always acted humbly with his haughty and imperious wife. From all accounts it appears that Dilras shared several character traits with her husband. Both of them were strong-willed, pious and comparatively indifferent to the normal scheme of material values.
However, whereas Aurangzeb was a staunch Sunni, Dilras Begum was a devout Shia. Safavid Shias grew in Aurangzeb's reign became even more influential than ever in the Mughal empire and their military leaders led almost all of Aurangzeb's successful military campaigns.
Aurangzeb's other marriages to his two secondary wives were meaningless. As a result, these two inferior wives, though they produced four more children for him, remained isolated from their husband. The status and authority of being the imperial consort was reserved for Dilras only. She retained her influence over her husband till the end of her life and always remained his favourite as well as his chief consort. Even after her untimely death, her position at court, in the palace, and in her husband's life was not taken by either of his secondary wives. Thus, Dilras was never replaced and no empress ruled Aurangzeb's palace.