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12 Extraordinary Women in the Mughal Empire
The women in the Mughal court have largely been obscured in popular narratives by the exploits of the male rulers, and yet they often played crucial roles in both the private and public lives of the emperors. Their destinies mirrored the changing dynamics of the Mughal dynasty: the uncertain years of Babur’s empire building, the gilded age of Akbar, and Aurangzeb’s bitter war of succession. The women survived reversals of fortune, adapted to altered circumstances, and created significant spheres of influence despite the restrictions of the zenana (private space in a household reserved for women).
Unusually for medieval times, the royal Mughal women were highly educated and accomplished. Some were valued for their political counsel and skills as intermediaries, others were important chroniclers and poets. Many were independently wealthy and patronized the arts and architecture. All of them, in some manner or other, served as custodians of the Mughal legacy. Each emperor gave the title padshah begum (“lady emperor”) to the most powerful woman in his zenana. Here are 12 of the many extraordinary women in the Mughal court.
Nur Jahan (wife of Jahangir)
Mehr un-Nissa, widow of an Iranian-born Mughal official, was renamed Nur Jahan (“Light of the World”) after marrying Jahangir in 1611 and achieved unprecedented political power in Mughal history. She was uniquely afforded certain privileges reserved for emperors: Drumbeats preceded her movement, and coins were minted in her name. She issued farmans, or royal decrees, advised Jahangir on matters of state, owned trading ships, and multiplied her fabulous wealth with a variety of commercial enterprises.
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Indeed, agents of the East India Company were astonished to find that to be allowed to trade in India they had to seek Nur Jahan’s favor rather than Jahangir’s. She sponsored the construction of caravanserais, gardens, and buildings such as the tomb of her father, Mirza Ghiyas Beg (known by the title Itimad ud-Daulah). Her power diminished after Jahangir’s death in 1627, and she retired to Lahore, where she died in 1645.
Jahanara Begum (elder daughter of Shah Jahan)
Jahanara became padshah begum at the age of 17 after the death of her mother, Mumtaz Mahal. Jahanara exerted tremendous influence over Shah Jahan and took charge of matters of state while he grieved for his wife. Her immense riches included revenue from the lucrative port of Surat and enabled her to build structures such as Chandni Chowk, the central avenue in her father’s capital city of Shahjahanabad (now a vibrant market area in Delhi). She was also a celebrated Sufi poet and scholar.
Jahanara was undone by both her father’s favor and her own preference for Dara Shikoh, her elder brother, when Aurangzeb, her younger brother, deposed Shah Jahan in 1658 and had his brothers killed. She accompanied Shah Jahan in his imprisonment at the Agra Fort until his death eight years later.
In an indication of the great regard she inspired, she was restored to her former glory by Aurangzeb and regained the rank of padshah begum. She died in 1681 and was buried near the tomb of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi.
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Mumtaz Mahal (wife of Shah Jahan)
Arjumand Banu Begum, niece of the illustrious Nur Jahan, was renamed Mumtaz Mahal (“Chosen One of the Palace”) after she married Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan’s birth name) in 1612. Although they were betrothed at a young age, five years lapsed before the couple married. They had 14 children, among them Aurangzeb, the sixth and last great Mughal emperor.
Mumtaz Mahal, padshah begum in her lifetime, is remembered for the intense love she inspired in her husband, who was devastated when she died in 1631 after giving birth to their 14th child. She was immortalized by the Taj Mahal, the grand mausoleum built for her by the grieving Shah Jahan.
Khanzada Begum (sister of Babur)
The very first padshah begum of the Mughals, Khanzada Begum led an extraordinary life, which included a forced marriage to an Uzbek chieftain to lift the chieftain’s siege of the young Babur’s fortress in Samarkand. Khanzada spent the next decade with the Uzbeks, during which she was divorced by the chieftain and married to another man.
She was eventually liberated by Ismāʿīl I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, and rejoined the Mughal household, advising first Babur and then his successor, Humayun. At age 64 she traveled from India to Kandahar to intercede between Humayun and his rebellious brothers. She died on a similar diplomatic mission in 1545, while traveling from Kabul through Central Asia.
Roshanara Begum (younger daughter of Shah Jahan)
The talented and accomplished Roshanara was overshadowed by her elder sister, Jahanara, the clear favorite not only of her father, the emperor, but also of his subjects. Disregarded by Shah Jahan, she allied herself with her brother Aurangzeb, who shared her thwarted ambition: Just as Jahanara’s ascendancy had blighted Roshanara’s life, Dara Shikoh’s favored status had fueled Aurangzeb’s hatred.
Roshanara became Aurangzeb’s informant, keeping him apprised of court intrigues and politics. On one occasion she allegedly warned him of an assassination plot by Dara Shikoh and Jahanara. Roshanara was elevated when Aurangzeb claimed the throne but had to relinquish her preeminence on her sister’s restoration.
Mariam uz-Zamani (wife of Akbar and mother of Jahangir)
In Akbar’s zenana, which was more strictly segregated than in the necessarily mobile households of Babur and Humayun, who led untethered lives in the empire-building years, the names of the highest ranked women were replaced by titles. As a result, the identity of Jahangir’s mother is a matter of some debate, obscured as it is by the honorific Mariam uz-Zamani, meaning “Mary of the Age.”
It is most likely that Mariam uz-Zamani was the Rajput princess Harkha Bai or Hira Kunwari. She is popularly conflated with Jodha Bai, who has been rendered severally in art, literature, and cinema, but who may have been fictional rather than historical.
Mariam uz-Zamani’s influence increased during Jahangir’s reign. She issued farmans, carried out international trade, and commissioned gardens, wells, and mosques.
Gulbadan Begum (daughter of Babur and sister of Humayun)
At age five or six, Gulbadan made the arduous journey from Kabul to Agra to join the fledgling empire in India. She lived through the reigns of her father, her brother Humayun, and her nephew Akbar. She chronicled the foundational years of the empire in the memoir Humayun-nama, the first document of its kind to be written by a woman.
Gulbadan was among the first Mughal women to go on the hajj, leading a group of other zenana women in 1576. After being stranded in Surat for a year, they sailed to Mecca and remained there for four years, in defiance of eviction attempts by the Ottoman ruler, Murad III.
Maham Anaga (foster mother of Akbar)
Akbar alone of the great Mughals was raised by foster-mothers in whose care he was left as his parents, Humayun and Hamida Banu Begum, wandered through Afghanistan to Iran, Humayun having lost the empire to Sher Shah of Sur in 1540.
Akbar continued to rely on the foster mothers when he ascended the restored Mughal throne at the age of 13. Maham Anaga, the chief foster mother, was regarded as the power behind the throne in the early years of Akbar’s reign and plotted against the veteran Mughal general, Bairam Khan. However, she fell from grace after her son assassinated the husband of another foster-mother, Jiji Anaga.
Hamida Banu Begum (wife of Humayun and mother of Akbar)
The teenage Hamida Banu Begum married Humayun in 1541, after he had been dispossessed by Sher Shah, and endured the vagaries of exile with him for nearly 15 years. She gave birth to Akbar while the depleted Mughal entourage meandered toward Afghanistan.
Near Kandahar the news of an impending assault by Humayun’s disloyal brother Askari forced a hasty departure from their encampment, leaving Akbar in the care of his foster mothers. Humayun and Hamida fled to Iran, and the empire was regained on Sher Shah’s death in 1555.
When Akbar succeeded his father two years later, Hamida was given the title Mariam Makani (“Of Mary’s Stature”) and was held in the greatest regard by the court and the zenana.
Bega Begum (wife of Humayun)
When Humayun married Hamida Banu Begum, the fate of his first wife, the feisty Bega Begum, was unknown. She had been captured by Sher Shah’s forces at the battle of Chausa in 1539. She was eventually freed and rejoined Humayun’s zenana. She went on the hajj and was known as Hajji Begum on her return.
The first Mughal woman to commission buildings, her monumental (quite literally) achievement was to commission and supervise the construction of Humayun’s Tomb (now in New Delhi), on which the Taj Mahal was modeled.
Salima Sultan Begum (wife of Akbar)
When the exiled Bairam Khan was murdered in 1561, his young widow, Salima Sultan Khan, married Akbar and became a cherished member of the zenana. She was among the women who accompanied Gulbadan on the hajj.
On their return the two women, along with Hamida Banu Begum, were instrumental in restoring the rebellious prince Salim to Akbar’s good graces after he had the historian Abu al-Fazl murdered. When Salim ascended the throne as Jahangir on Akbar’s death, he granted Salima Sultan the highest rank of the royal women: padshah begum.
Zeb-un-Nissa (daughter of Aurangzeb)
Elder daughter of Aurangzeb and his wife Dilras Banu Begum, Zeb-un-Nissa was an accomplished poet who wrote under the pseudonym Makhfi (“The Concealed One”) and for whom the austere Aurangzeb allowed poets at court.
However, her father’s indulgence eventually turned to distrust for one or more reasons: She had close ties to Aurangzeb’s rival Dara Shikoh; she had corresponded with her youngest brother, Muhammad Akbar, who led an alliance of Rajput princes against Aurangzeb; and she may have been sympathetic to her father’s enemy, the Maratha leader Shivaji. Disgraced, Zeb-un-Nissa was imprisoned in Delhi’s Salimgarh fort for 20 years, dying in 1702.
