Mah Chuchak Begum

Mah Chuchak Begum (Persian: ماہ چوچک بیگم‎;^[1] Hindi: माह चूचक बेग़म; died 1563;^[2] meaning "Moon flower") was a Mughal empress as the wife of the second Mughal Emperor, Humayun. She was an ambitious lady who threw out the Naib Subadar and ruled Kabul on her own, once leading her army in person and defeating Munim Khan at Jalalabad. She was the sister of Bairam Oghlan of Arghun and Faridun Khan Kabuli.

Marriage

In 1546 Humayun met her and asked her name. She did not reply and was down in reply He repeated the question. "Mah-Chuchak," she replied, but did not look up. Gulbadan quickly came to her rescue, and told the Emperor that she was a sister of Bairam. Impetuous as ever, Humayun asked his aunt if the girl was betrothed. Without waiting for a reply, he added that he would marry her. This tantamounted to a command. The wedding took place seven days later. Costly gifts were given to her brother. To Mah Chuchak, besides traysful of lustrous precious stones, Humayun presented a diamond that emitted rays of light more brilliant than those of the sun. In Badakhshan Mah Chuchak had a daughter born. On the same night the Emperor had this dream: "Fakhrun Nissa, my mama? and Daulat Bakht came in by the door, and brought something or other, and then left me alone," Consider it as he might, he could only ask: " What does this dream mean?" Then it occurred to him that, as a daughter had just been born, he would call her after the two, and taking nisa from one, and lakht from the other, would run them together into Bakht Nissa.

Mah Chuchak had four daughters and two sons, Bakht Nissa Begum, and Sakina Banu Begum, and Amina Banu Begum, and Muhammad Hakim Mirza, and Farrukh-fal Mirza. She was with child when the Emperor went to Hindustan in 1554, and bore a son, in Kabul, whom they named Farrukh Fal Mirza.

Political influence

She was one of the Mughal ladies who gave a lot of trouble to Akbar in the initial days of his reign. Her son was Mirza Muhammad Hakim. In 1544 Humayun nominated this boy, then three years old, as the governor of Kabul under the charge of Munim Khan. In 1566 Akbar confirmed the appointment. Munim Khan came to the court in 1561 and his son Ghani took his place. Mah Chuchak was politically ambitious. One fine day she threw Ghani out from Kabul and took upon herself the task of directly ruling Kabul. Ghani came back to India. When Akbar heard all of this, he sent Munim Khan with an army against Mah Chuchak. Mah Chuchak met him and defeated Munim khan at Jalalabad. Mah Chuchak ruled Kabul with the help of three advisers, two of whom were killed earlier. Now, even the third one was killed. In their place came Haidar Qasim Kohbur.

Death and aftermath

Around this time a certain Shah Abdul Maali, who belonged to the family of the great Sayyids of Termez, who had escaped from the prison at Lahore, arrived at Kabul and approached Mah Chuchak Begum for refuge. The Begum welcomed him, was generous to him and gave her daughter Fakhr-un-nisa Begum in marriage with him. Shah Abdul Maali soon grew tired of the dominating and interfering ways of Mah Chuchak Begum. He wanted Kabul for himself. So he killed the Begum and Haidar Qasim in 1564.

Akbar's half brother and Mah Chuchak's son was luckily rescued by Mirza Sulaiman of Badakshan, who defeated Abdul Maali and helped Mirza Hakim to keep his hold over Kabul. The activities of Mah Chuchak Begum and her political ambitions certainly proved to be headache for Akbar and troubled him like a sore thumb, just when he was crying to consolidate his father's inherited, lost and finally gained empire in India. But he was soon freed of Mah Chuchak Begum and her ambitious ways.

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