Mihr Nigar Khanum
| Mihr Nigar Khanum | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Empress consort of the Shaybanid Empire Princess of Moghulistan | |||||
| Spouse | Muhammad Shaybani | ||||
| |||||
| House |
House of Borjigin House of Shaybanid (by marriage) | ||||
| Father | Yunus Khan | ||||
| Mother | Aisan Daulat Begum | ||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||
Mihr Nigar Khanum was the Empress consort of the Shaybanid Empire as the fist wife of Muhammad Shaybani. She was born as a princess of the Chagatai Khanate as a daughter of Yunus Khan, the Great Khan of Moghulistan and his second wife Aisan Daulat Begum. She was also the aunt of Emperor Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire of India as well as its first Emperor.[1][2]
Biography
Mihr Nigar Khanum was born a princess of the Chagatai Khanate as the second daughter of Yunus Khan, the Great Khan of Moghulistan and his chief consort Aisan Daulat Begum. Her paternal grandfather was Uwais Khan, the Moghul Khan of Mughalistan and her father's predecessor. Daulat Sultan was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, the founder and Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire through her father's side. Being the daughter of a Khan, Mihr Nigar held the title of "Khanum" ("daughter of a Khan or princess") by birth.
In early of July, 1500, she was captured by Shaibani and married by him. In 1500-1 she was divorced when he wished to marry Khanzada Begum, her niece. She then stayed awhile in Samarkand. In 1501-2 she went to Tashkand and joined the large family party which assembled there. In the middle of 1505, she came to Kabul with other kinsfolk, soon after the death of her mother and of her father, and during the ceremonial mourning of Babur for his mother. "Our grief broke out afresh," he writes.
Mirza Haidar gives a pleasant account of the welcome she accorded her generous and kindly nephew Babur in 1506-7, when he put down Khan Mirza Wais's rebellion in Kabul: "The Emperor leapt up and embraced his beloved aunt with every manifestation of affection. The khanum said to him: " Your children, wives, and household are longing to see you. I give thanks that I have been permitted to see you again. Rise up and go to your family in the castle. I too am going thither."
In 1507, when Khan Mirza set out for Badakhshan with his mother, Shah Begum, to try his fortunes in her father's ancient lands, "Mihr nigar also took a fancy to go. It would have been better and more becoming," writes Babar, "for her to remain with me. I was her nearest relation. But however much I dissuaded her, she continued obstinate and .also set out for Badakhshan.
Mihr Nigar rued her self will. She and Shah Begam were captured on their way to Qila' Zafar by one of Abubakr Dughlat's ' marauding bands,' and in the prisons of that wretched miscreant they departed from this perishable world.[3]
References
- ↑ Bābur (Mogulreich, Kaiser), John Leyden, William Erskine (1826). Memoirs of Zehir-ed-Din Muhammed Baber, Emperor of Hindustan. Longman.
- ↑ Babur (Emperor of Hindustan) (2006). Babur Nama: Journal of Emperor Babur. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-144-00149-1.
- ↑ Begum, Gulbadan (1902). The History of Humayun (Humayun-Nama). Royal Asiatic Society. ISBN 8187570997.