Khas Mahal

Khas Mahal (Persian: خاص محل), meaning "the Exquisite One of the Palace", was one of the chief wives of the Mughal emperor Jahangir.(Persian: خاص محل (Persian: خاص محل (Persian: خاص محل(Persian: خاص محلJahangir.Persian: خاص محل

Khas Mahal
Detail of Khas Mahal from a painting
Spouse	Jahangir ​ ​ (m. 1596; d. 1627)​
House	Timurid (by marriage)
Father	Zain Khan Koka
Religion	Islam

Family

Khas Mahal was the daughter of Zain Khan Koka.^[1] Zain Khan was the son of Khawajah Maqsud of Herat and Pija Jan Anga, foster-mother of Emperor Akbar.^[2] Khan's paternal uncle, Khawajah Hassan's daughter, Sahib Jamal had been married to Jahangir, and was the mother of his son Prince Parviz Mirza.^[3]

Khas Mahal had two brothers, named Zafar Khan and Mughal Khan. The former served under Akbar and Jahangir,^[4] and died on 7 March 1622.^[5] The latter served under Jahangir and his son Shah Jahan, and died on 1 July 1657.^[6] A sister of Khas Mahal was married to Mirza Anwar, a son of Mirza Aziz Koka, Akbar's foster-brother.^[7]

Marriage

In 1596 Prince Salim (future Emperor Jahangir) became violently enamored of her and meditated on marrying her. Akbar was displeased at the impropriety.^[8] The cause of Akbar's objection was Sahib Jamal who had already been married to Salim. Akbar objected to marriages between near relations.^[9]

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 Hamida Banu Begum.^[9]

When Jahangir ascended the throne, Khas Mahal became empress. Sir William 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 (Saliha Banu Begum), 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); the fourth is the daughter of Hakim Humaun (Mirza Muhammad Hakim), who was brother to his father Ekber Padasha (Akbar)^[10]

Architecture

In 1642–43, Khas Mahal commissioned a palace near the old fort in the neighborhood of Nizamuddin, Delhi.^[11][12][13]

In popular culture

Khas Mahal is a character in Jyoti Jafa's historical novel Nur Jahan: A Historical Novel (1978).^[14]

References

1. Desai, Ziyaud-Din A. (2003). Purā-prakāśa: Recent Researches in Epigraphy, Numismatics, Manuscriptology, Persian Literature, Art, Architecture, Archaeology, History and Conservation: Dr. Z.A. Desai Commemoration Volume, Volume 1. Bharatiya Kala Prakashan. p. 281. ISBN 978-8-180-90007-5.
2. Walthall, Anne (June 10, 2008). Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History. University of California Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-520-25443-5.
3. Beale, Thomas William (1881). The Oriental Biographical Dictionary. Asiatic Society. pp. 216.
4. Shīrāzī, Kāmī (2003). Fath nama-i Nur Jahan Begam. Rampur Raza Library. p. 36. ISBN 978-8-187-11360-7.
5. Jahangir, Emperor; Thackston, Wheeler McIntosh (1999). The Jahangirnama : memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India. Washington, D. C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 376. ISBN 978-0-19-512718-8.
6. Abū al-Fazl ibn Mubārak (1874). The Ain i Akbari, Volume I. Rouse. p. 346.
7. Bhakkari, Shaikh Farid (1993). The Dhakhiratul-khawanin: a biographical dictionary of Mughal noblemen. Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Dehli. p. 117.
8. Awangābādī, Shāhnavāz Khān; Prasad, Baini; 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. p. 1027.
9. Beveridge, Henry (1907). Akbarnama of Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak - Volume III. Asiatic Society, Calcutta. pp. 1058–9 n. 3.
10. Foster, Sir William (1975). Early travels in India, 1583-1619. AMS Press. pp. 100–101. ISBN 978-0-404-54825-4.
11. Parihar, Subhash (January 1, 2008). Land transport in Mughal India: Agra-Lahore Mughal highway and its architectural remains. Aryan Books International. p. 84. ISBN 978-8-173-05335-1.
12. Archeological Survey of India (1990). Annual Report. Swati Publications. p. 24.
13. Khan, Sir Sayyid Ahmad (1978). Monuments of Delhi: Historical Study. Ambika. p. 57.
14. Jafa, Jyoti (1978). Nur Jahan: A Historical Novel. Writer's Workshop. p. 18.