Saliha Banu Begum

Saliha Banu Begum
Empress consort of the Mughal Empire
Padshah Begum
Tenure1608 - 10 June 1620
PredecessorHamida Banu Begum
SuccessorNur Jahan
Died10 June 1620
Agra, Mughal Empire
Spouse
(m. 1608)
HouseTimurid (by marriage)
FatherQaim Khan
ReligionIslam

Saliha Banu Begum (Persian: صالحہ بانو بیگم; d. 10 June 1620) was the chief consort of Emperor Jahangir.[1] She was the Padshah Begum for the most part of the reign of her emperor husband until her death in the year 1620.[2]

Family

Saliha Banu Begum was the daughter of Qaim Khan,[3] and the granddaughter of Muqim Khan, the son of Shuja'at Khan from Akbar's time.[4]

Marriage

Jahangir married her in 1608, in the third year of his reign. As a consequence, her brother Abdur Rahim's position greatly advanced. He was awarded with the title of Tarbiyat Khan. His son named Miyan Joh, whom Saliha had taken for her son, was killed at the banks of river Jhelum by Mahabat Khan when the latter behaved insolently towards Jahangir.[5]

Depiction of a wife of Jahangir, possibly Saliha

She held the titles of Padishah Mahal ("Sovereign of the Palace") and Padishah Banu ("The Sovereign Lady").[6][7] She was, reportedly, Nur Jahan's only powerful rival for Jahangir's affections. However, Nur Jahan was a formidable rival who had dominated not only Jahangir but also governmental affairs.[8] Williams Hawkins, a representative of the English East India Company noted her among Jahangir's chief wives. He said the following:

Hee (Jahangir) hath .... three hundred wives whereof four be chiefe as queenes, to say, the first, named Padasha Banu, daughter to Kaime Chan (Qaim Khan); the second is called Noore Mahal (Nur Jahan), the daughter of Gais Beyge (Mirza Ghiyas Beg); the third is the daughter of Seinchan (Zain Khan Koka); the fourth is the daughter of Hakim Humaun (Mirza Muhammad Hakim), who was brother to his father Ekber Padasha (Akbar)[9]

Saliha Banu Begum was reportedly to be well versed in Hindi poetry.[7]

Death

Saliha Banu Begum died on 10 June 1620.[10] Jahangir noted that her death had been foretold by the astrologer Jotik Rai; grief stricken at her loss, he nevertheless marveled at the accuracy of the prophecy, which had been taken from his own horoscope.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Findly, Ellison Banks (1993). Nur Jahan, empress of Mughal India. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 125. ISBN 9780195360608.
  2. ^ The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, Volumes 20-21. Numismatic Society of India. 1958. p. 196.
  3. ^ Lal, K.S. (1988). The Mughal harem. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. p. 27. ISBN 9788185179032.
  4. ^ Awrangābādī, Prasad & Shāhnavāz 1979, p. 925.
  5. ^ Awrangābādī, Prasad & Shāhnavāz 1979, p. 926.
  6. ^ Abdul Kader, M. (1988). Historical Fallacies Unveiled. İslamic Foundation Bangladesh. p. 105.
  7. ^ a b Sharma, Sudha (March 21, 2016). The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India. SAGE Publications India. pp. 144, 209. ISBN 978-9-351-50567-9.
  8. ^ Asiatic Society (Calcutta, India) (1 January 1932). Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Vol. 25. Asiatic Society. p. 62.
  9. ^ Foster, Sir William (1975). Early travels in India, 1583-1619. AMS Press. pp. 100–101. ISBN 978-0-404-54825-4.
  10. ^ Jahangir, Emperor; Thackston, Wheeler McIntosh (1999). The Jahangirnama : memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 340. ISBN 978-0-19-512718-8.
  11. ^ Findly, E.B. (1993). Nur Jahan, Empress of Mughal India. OUP E-Books. Oxford University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-19-507488-8.

Bibliography

  • Awrangābādī, Shāhnavāz Khān; Prasad, Bani; Shāhnavāz, 'Abd al-Hayy ibn (1979). The Maāthir-ul-umarā: being biographies of the Muḥammadan and Hindu officers of the Timurid sovereigns of India from 1500 to about 1780 A.D. Janaki Prakashan.