Khanum Sultan Begum
Khanum Sultan Begum | |
---|---|
Shahzadi of the Mughal Empire | |
Born |
November 1569 Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, India |
Died | c. 1603 (aged 33–34) |
Burial | Sikandra, Agra |
Spouse | Mirza Muzaffar Husain |
House |
Timurid (by birth) Safavid (by marriage) |
Father | Akbar |
Mother | Bibi Salima |
Religion | Islam |
Khanum Sultan Begum (1569 – 1603) was a Mughal princess and the eldest daughter of Emperor Akbar. She was also the younger half-sister of Emperor Jahangir. In the Akbarnama, she is variously mentioned as Khanam, Khanim Sultan and Shahzada Khanam. However, she is most popularly known as Shahzada Khanum.[1]
Birth
Khanum Sultan Begum was born three months after the birth of her older brother, Prince Salim (the future emperor Jahangir), in November 1569.[1][2] According to the Jahangirnama, her mother was a royal concubine called Bibi Salima (not to be confused with Akbar's wife Salima Sultan Begum).[3]
Akbar handed over the charge of the baby girl to his mother Hamida Banu Begum,[4] who brought her up. Jahangir's remarks about Khanum Sultan is worth noting: "Among all my sisters, in integrity, truth and zeal for my welfare, she is without her equal; but her time is principally devoted to the worship of her Creator."[2]
Marriage
Khanum Sultan was married at the age of 25 to Safavid prince Mirza Muzaffar Husain Safavi sometime in September 1594.[2] Muzaffar was the son of Ibrahim Husain, who was a descendant of Shah Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Persia. Muzaffar was at one time the governor of Gujarat.[5] His sister, Nur-un-nissa Begum, later married Khanum's older half-brother, Jahangir. In 1609, Khanum Sultan's step-daughter, Kandahari Begum, married her nephew, Prince Khurram (the future emperor Shah Jahan), and became his first wife.[5]
Death
Khanum Sultan Begum died in 1603 and was buried in her father's mausoleum at Sikandra, Agra.[6]
References
- 1 2 Rap;son, Edward James; Burn, Sir Richard. The Cambridge History of India. CUP Archive. p. 102.
- 1 2 3 Sarker, Kobita (2007). Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth : the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals (1. publ. ed.). Kolkata: K.P. Bagchi & Co. p. 43. ISBN 9788170743002.
- ↑ Lal, K.S. (1988). The Mughal harem. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. p. 30. ISBN 9788185179032.
- ↑ Hindustan), Jahangir (Emperor of (1968). Beveridge, Henry, ed. The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī: or, Memoirs of Jāhāngīr. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 34.
- 1 2 Findly, Ellison Banks (1993). Nur Jahan, empress of Mughal India. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 91, 308. ISBN 9780195360608.
- ↑ Bhopal), Shāh Jahān̲ Begam (Nawab of (1876). The Táj-ul Ikbál Tárikh Bhopal, Or, The History of Bhopal. Thacker, Spink. p. 90.