Akbarabadi Mahal
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Izz-un-Nissa Begum was the third wife of the Mughal emperor
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 ...
. She is popularly known by the title, Akbarabadi Mahal (which probably indicates that she hailed from the city of Akbarabad), and commissioned the
Akbarabadi Mosque Akbarabadi Mosque was a mosque in Delhi, India. It was built by Akbarabadi Mahal, one of Shah Jahan's wives in 1650. One of the several Mughal era mosques in Old Delhi, it was demolished by the British, following their recapture of Delhi dur ...
in
Shahjahanabad Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal Empire, Mughal Mughal emperors, emperor at the time) decided to shift t ...
(present-day Old Delhi). Less commonly, she is also referred to as ''Sirhindi Begum.''


Family

Izz-un-Nissa Begum was the daughter of Mirza Iraj who held the title, Shahnawaz Khan. He was the son of
Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana Khanzada Mirza Khan Abdul Rahim (17 December 1556 – 1 October 1627), popularly known as simply Rahim and titled ''Khan-i-Khanan'', was a poet who lived in India during the rule of Mughal emperor Akbar, who was Rahim's mentor. He was one of ...
, and the grandson of
Bairam Khan Muhammad Bairam Khan(Persianمحمد بیرام خان) (18 January 150131 January 1561), commonly known as Bairam Khan or Bayram Khan was an important military commander, and later commander-in-chief of the Mughal army, a powerful statesman a ...
. Bairam Khan was a descendant of Pir-ali Baharlu, a
Black Sheep Turkoman The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu ( az, Qaraqoyunlular , fa, قره قویونلو), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate society, Persianate, Muslims, Muslim Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also ...
. She had a brother Mirza Khan Manuchir.


Marriage

In 1617, after the Deccan victory, Prince Khurram (future Shah Jahan) proposed to his father, 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 ...
that Abdul Rahim Khan, Izz-un-Nissa's grandfather, should be given the governorship of all newly secured southern islands. He also made Izz-un-Nissa's father, Shahnawaz Khan de facto commander-in-chief of the southern islands. Both the appointments served to guarantee their future loyalty to Shah Jahan. He tied the knot more firmly in a traditional way, by taking Shahnawaz's young daughter Izz-un-Nissa Begum, as his third wife. He did not even bother to consult his father, Jahangir. However, according to Muhammad Amin Qazvini, a contemporary court biographer from the reign of Shah Jahan, the marriage was forced upon the prince. The wedding took place at Burhanpur on 2 September 1617, and was a full 'bond of matrimony through a religious sanctioned marriage ceremony.' On 25 June 1619, at Agra, she gave birth to her only child, a son. Jahangir named him Sultan Jahan Afroz Mirza. But as the child was not born in an auspicious hour, he did not kept him with himself, and instead sent him to his great grandfather, Abdul Rahim Khan in Deccan, in the company of Abdul Rahim's daughter Janan Begum, the widow of the late Prince Daniyal Mirza, to be brought under his care. Jahangir stated in his memoirs '' Tuzk-e-Jahangiri'' that in 1621 all the astrologers thought that Prince
Shah Shuja Shāh Shujā' ( fa, شاه شجاع, meaning: ''brave king'') may refer to the following: *Shah Shoja Mozaffari, the 14th-century Muzaffarid ruler of Southern Iran *Shah Shuja (Mughal prince) (1616-1661), the second son of Shah Jahan *Shah Shujah D ...
, son of Shah Jahan, who had contracted smallpox, would die. However, according to the astrologer Jotik Rai, another of his sons whom Jahangir did not like would die. And so Izz-un-Niss's son died prematurely at Burhanpur in March 1621. According to a saying of the contemporary chronicler Inayat Khan, although Shah Jahan had married her and
Kandahari Begum Kandahari Begum (''also spelled Qandahari Begum''; 1593 – ?; also known as ''Kandahari Mahal''; Persian, ur, ; meaning "Lady from Kandahar") was the first wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and the mother of his first child, Princess Parhe ...
, 'Yet his whole delight was centered in this illustrious lady ( Mumtaz Mahal), to such an extent that he did not feel towards the others one thousandth part of the affection that he did for Her late Majesty.' According to Qazvini, 'these two wives enjoyed nothing more than the title of wifeship.' However, after the death of Mumtaz Mahal, Inayat Khan noted that Izz-un-nissa Begum and Fatehpuri Mahal (another one of his wives) were especially favoured by the emperor.


Death

Izz-un-Nissa survived her husband, who was deeply concerned about her welfare at the time of his death in 1666. She died 12 years later on 28 January 1678 in Agra. Izz-un-Nissa Begum was buried in the Sirhindi Garden laid out by her in the Sabji Mandi area in the outskirts of
Shahjahanabad Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal Empire, Mughal Mughal emperors, emperor at the time) decided to shift t ...
(present-day Old Delhi). Her tomb is referred to as the tomb of Sirhindi Begum. This must be another title of Izz-un-Nissa Begum.


Contributions to architecture

Izz-un-Nissa Begum provided a ''serai'' and an impressive mosque in a major market in the south part of Delhi. Shah Jahan used this mosque for prayer until his own was completed in 1656. It no longer exists, but 19th century illustrations indicate that the mosque was similar to contemporary ones built by Fatehpuri Mahal (another one of Shah Jahan's wives) and Jahanara Begum.


References


Bibliography

* * {{cite book, first1=Inayat, last1=Khan, first2=Wayne Edison, last2=Begley, title=The Shah Jahan nama of 'Inayat Khan: an abridged history of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, compiled by his royal librarian : the nineteenth-century manuscript translation of A.R. Fuller (British Library, add. 30,777), publisher=Oxford University Press, year=1990, pages=71 Year of birth missing 1678 deaths 17th-century Indian women Indian female royalty Mughal nobility 17th-century Indian Muslims Indian queen consorts People from Kandahar Indian people of Turkic descent Royal consorts Women of the Mughal Empire Wives of Shah Jahan People from Agra