Khas Mahal ( fa, خاص محل), meaning "The exquisite one of the palace", was one of the chief wives of the Mughal emperor

Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...

Family

Khas Mahal was the daughter of

Zain Khan Koka Zain Khan Koka (died 1601) was a leading official in the Mugal Empire under Akbar, including serving for a time as governor of Kabul. Zain Khan was the son of Akbar's wetnurse and thus received the title "Koka" which means foster brother. He was ...

. Zain Khan was the son of Khawajah Maqsud of

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...

and Pija Jan Anga, foster-mother of Emperor

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

. Khan's paternal uncle, Khawajah Hassan's daughter,

Sahib Jamal Sahib Jamal ( fa, صاحب جمال; died 25 June 1599) was the wife of Prince Salim, the future Mughal emperor Jahangir and the mother of his second son, Prince Parviz. Family Sahib Jamal was of Turkish origin and was the daughter of a res ...

had been married to Jahangir, and was the mother of his son Prince

Parviz Mirza Parviz Mirza (31 October 1589 – 28 October 1626) was the second son of Mughal emperor Jahangir from his wife, Sahib Jamal. His daughter, Nadira Banu Begum, later became the wife of Dara Shikoh. Early life Born on 31 October 1589, Parviz was t ...

. Khas Mahal had two brothers, named Zafar Khan and Mughal Khan. The former served under

and Jahangir, and died on 7 March 1622. The latter served under Jahangir and his son

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

, and died on 1 July 1657. A sister of Khas Mahal was married to Mirza Anwar, a son of Mirza Aziz Koka, Akbar's foster-brother.

Marriage

In 1596 Prince Salim (future Emperor Jahangir) became violently enamored of her and meditated on marrying her. Akbar was displeased at the impropriety. The cause of Akbar's objection was

who had already been married to Salim. Akbar objected to marriages between near relations. However, when Akbar saw that Salim's heart was immoderately affected, he, of necessity, gave his consent. There was a great feast and joy. The marriage took place on the eve of 18 June 1596 at the house of

Dowager empress Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere. The title was also g ...

Hamida Banu Begum Hamida Banu Begum ( 1527 – 29 August 1604), was the queen consort of the second Mughal emperor Humayun and the mother of his successor, the third Mughal emperor Akbar. When Jahangir ascended the throne, Khas Mahal became empress.

Sir William Hawkins Sir William Hawkins (fl. c. 1600) was a representative of the English East India Company notable for being the commander of ''Hector'', the first company ship to anchor at Surat in India on 24 August 1608. Hawkins travelled to Agra to negotiate ...

, a representative of the

English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southe ...

noted her among Jahangir's chief wives. He said the following:

Architecture

In 1642–43, Khas Mahal commissioned a palace near the old fort in the neighborhood of Nizamuddin,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

In popular culture

Khas Mahal is a character in Jyoti Jafa's historical novel ''Nur Jahan: A Historical Novel'' (1978).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khas Mahal Wives of Jahangir Year of death unknown 16th-century Indian women 16th-century Indian people 17th-century Indian women Place of birth unknown Year of birth unknown Indian queen consorts Mughal nobility 17th-century Indian Muslims