Salima Sultan Begum

Salima Sultan Begum
Empress consort of the Mughal Empire
Salima Begum and Abdul Rahim being escorted to Ahmedabad after Bairam Khan's assassination in 1561
Born23 February 1539
Died2 January 1613(1613-01-02) (aged 73)
Agra, Mughal Empire
Burial
Mandarkar Garden, Agra
Spouse
  • (m. 1557; d. 1561)
  • (m. 1561; d. 1605)
HouseTimurid (by marriage)
FatherNuruddin Muhammad Mirza of Naqshbandi Khawajas
MotherGulrukh Begum
ReligionIslam

Salima Sultan Begum (23 February 1539 – 2 January 1613)[1] was the third wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Akbar,[2] and the granddaughter of Babur.

Salima was the daughter of Akbar's paternal aunt, Gulrukh Begum, and her husband, the Viceroy of Kannauj, Nuruddin Muhammad Mirza. She was initially betrothed to Akbar's regent, Bairam Khan, by her maternal uncle, Humayun. The bride was probably a reward for the surpassing services done by Bairam for Humayun. The couple, who had a considerable age difference of approximately forty years, were married in 1557 after Akbar had succeeded Humayun as the third Mughal emperor. However, this brief union, which did not produce any children, lasted for only three years since Bairam Khan was assassinated by a band of Afghans in 1561. After his death, Salima was subsequently married to her first cousin, Akbar. She however remained childless in both her marriages, but she raised the second son of Akbar, Murad Mirza for the first few years.

Salima was a senior-ranking wife of Akbar and had much influence over her husband and his son, Jahangir.[3] As stated by Henry Beveridge, she was entrusted with the charge of the Muslim harem of Akbar. She wielded major political influence in the Mughal court during her husband's reign as well as during his successor's (Jahangir) reign. Her name, however, appears in the histories as a reader, poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of Makhfi (lit.'Hidden One') and as pleading with Akbar for Jahangir's forgiveness. She was known as the Khadija-uz-Zamani (lit.'Khadija of the Age') for her wisdom.[4]

  1. ^ Jahangir (1968). The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī or Memoirs of Jāhāngīr. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 232.
  2. ^ Burke, S. M. (1989). Akbar: The Greatest Mogul. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. p. 143.
  3. ^ Henry Beveridge (26 March 1906). "Journal & Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal". II. Calcutta: Asiatic Society.: 509–510. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Sarkar, Mahua (2008). Visible histories, disappearing women producing Muslim womanhood in late colonial Bengal. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 73. ISBN 9780822389033.

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