180.151.20.56 (talk) |
Ananya 2012 (talk | contribs) Undid revision 583104387 by 180.151.20.56 (talk) Information restored. The info ia well-cited. |
||
Line 245: | Line 245: | ||
| date = 6 May 2011 |
| date = 6 May 2011 |
||
| accessdate = 11 October 2013 |
| accessdate = 11 October 2013 |
||
}}</ref> .<ref name = Findly>{{Cite journal |
}}</ref> She was among the most prodigious women traders at the Mughal court.<ref name = Findly>{{Cite journal |
||
| last = Findly |
| last = Findly |
||
| first = Ellison B. |
| first = Ellison B. |
||
Line 258: | Line 258: | ||
| publisher = American Oriental Society |
| publisher = American Oriental Society |
||
| postscript = <!--None--> |
| postscript = <!--None--> |
||
}}</ref><ref name = Findly>{{Cite journal |
}}</ref> No other noblewoman on record seems to have been as adventurous a trader as the Queen mother.<ref name = Findly>{{Cite journal |
||
| last = Findly |
| last = Findly |
||
| first = Ellison B. |
| first = Ellison B. |
||
Line 273: | Line 273: | ||
}}</ref> |
}}</ref> |
||
Mariam Zamani |
Mariam Zamani owned ships that carried pilgrims to and from the Islamic holy city [[Mecca]]. In 1613, her ship, the ''Rahīmī'' was seized by Portuguese pirates along with the 600-700 passengers and the cargo. ''Rahīmī'' was the largest Indian ship sailing in the [[Red Sea]] and was known to the Europeans as the "great pilgrimage ship". When the Portuguese officially refused to return the ship and the passengers, the outcry at the Moghul court was quite unusually severe. The outrage was compounded by the fact that the owner and the patron of the ship was none other than the revered mother of the current emperor. Mariam-uz-Zamani's son, the Indian emperor Jahangir, ordered the seizure of the Portuguese town Daman. This episode is considered to be an example of the struggle for wealth that would later ensue and lead to colonization of the Indian sub-continent.<ref name = Findly>{{Cite journal |
||
| last = Findly |
| last = Findly |
||
| first = Ellison B. |
| first = Ellison B. |
||
Line 281: | Line 281: | ||
| issue = 2 |
| issue = 2 |
||
| pages = 227-238 |
| pages = 227-238 |
||
| year = 1988 |
|||
| doi = 10.2307/603650 |
|||
| jstor = 603650 |
|||
| publisher = American Oriental Society |
|||
| postscript = <!--None--> |
|||
}}</ref> |
|||
She was one of the only four members of the court (another was the emperor) and the only woman to have the rank of 12,000 [[cavalry]], and was known to receive a jewel from every nobleman "according to his estate" each year on the occasion of New Year's festival. Like only a few other women at the Mughal court, Maryam-uz-Zamani was granted the right to issue official documents (singularly called farman), usually the exclusive privilege of the emperor. Mariam Zamani, like [[Nur Jehan]], used her wealth and influence to build gardens, wells, and mosques around the countryside.<ref name = Findly>{{Cite journal |
|||
| last = Findly |
|||
| first = Ellison B. |
|||
| title = The Capture of Maryam-uz-Zamānī's Ship: Mughal Women and European Traders |
|||
| journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society |
|||
| volume = 108 |
|||
| issue = 2 |
|||
| pages = 232 |
|||
| year = 1988 |
| year = 1988 |
||
| doi = 10.2307/603650 |
| doi = 10.2307/603650 |
Revision as of 04:07, 25 November 2013
Heer Kunwari | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mughal Empress | |||||
Born | October 1, 1542 Amer | ||||
Died | May 19, 1623 (aged 81)[1] | ||||
Burial | |||||
| |||||
Dynasty | Mughal | ||||
Religion | Hinduism |
Mariam-uz-Zamani (Other names: Heer Kunwari, Hira Kunwari, Harka Bai, Jodha Bai) was a wife of Mughal Emperor Akbar.[2][3][4][5] Heer Kunwari, her maiden name, was the eldest daughter of Kachwaha Rajput, Raja Bharmal of Amer[3][4][5] (modern day Jaipur). She was also the sister of Bhagwant Das of Amer and the aunt of Man Singh I of Amer,[4] who later became one the Nine Jewels (Navaratnas) in the court of Akbar. Mariam-uz-Zamani was the mother of Mughal Emperor Jahangir.[2][3][4][5]
Marriage
In a marriage of political alliance, Heer was married to Akbar on February 9, 1562 at Sambhar near Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. She was 22 days older than her husband. Heer Kunwari became the third wife of Akbar after Empress Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, who was Akbar's first wife and chief consort,[6] and Empress Salima Sultan Begum, the widow of his most trusted general, Bairam Khan.[7]
As per the custom of renaming a Hindu wife, Heer Kunwari was given the title Mariam-uz-Zamani ("Mary of the Age") after she gave birth to Jahangir. Thus, despite her being a non-muhammadan wife, she came to hold great respect and honour in the Mughal household after the birth of Jahangir.[3]
In the beginning of 1569, Akbar was gladdened by the news that his first Hindu consort, Heer Kunwari was expecting a child, and that he might hope for the first of the three sons promised by Sheikh Salim Chisti, a reputed holy man who lived at Sikri. An expectant Heer was sent to Sheikh's humble dwelling at Sikri during the period of her pregnancy. On August 30, 1569, the boy was born and received the name Salim, in acknowledgement of his father's faith in the efficacy of the holy man's prayers.[4]
Her title, Mariam-uz-zamani, 'the Mary of the Age', has been mistaken sometimes with Akbar's mother, whose title was Mariam-makani, 'dwelling with Mary'.[4]
Akbar's marriage with Hindu princess Heer Kunwari produced important effects on both on his personal rule of life and on his public policy.[4][8] The custom of Hindu rulers offering their daughters for marriage to Muslim rulers, though not common, had been prevalent in the country for several centuries. Yet Akbar's marriage to princess of Amber/Amer is significant, as an early indication of his evolving policy of relegious eclecticism.[5] The marriage with the Amer princess secured the powerful support of her family throughout the reign, and offered a proof manifest to all the world that Akbar had decided to be the Badshah of his whole people i.e. Hindus as well as Muhammadans.[4]
Man Singh I, nephew of Heer Kunwari and son of Raja Bhagwant Das, the heir to throne of Raja Bharmal , was taken into the imperial service, post marriage. They both rose ultimately to high offices.[4] The Rajas of Amer/Amber especially benefitted from their close association with the Mughals, and acquired immense wealth and power. Of twenty-seven Rajputs in Abul Fazl's list of mansabdars, thirteen were of Amber clan, and some of them rose to positions nearly as high as that of imperial princes. Raja Bhagwan Das, for instance, became commander of 5000 and bore the proud title Amir-ul-Umara (Chief Noble). His son, Man Singh I, rose even higher to become commander of 7000.[5] This marriage was thus, beneficial to both Mughals and Kachwaha Rajputs of Amer.
Akbar took several Rajput princesses in marriage. The rajas had much to gain from the link to imperial family. Akbar made such marriages respectable for rajputs.[5]
Her niece, Manbhawati Bai or Manmawati bai, daughter of her brother Bhagwant Das, married Prince Salim on 13 February 1585. Man bai later became mother to Prince Khusrau Mirza.[5][4]
Religion
Akbar had Hindu inclinations and thus, allowed his Hindu wives to perform their customary rites in the royal palace.[5] Thus, contrary to the usual practice of sultans, Akbar allowed her and his other Hindu wives to remain a Hindu and to maintain a Hindu temple in the royal palace. He himself occasionally participated in the puja she performed. [5] Mariam was a devotee of Lord Krishna. Her palace was decorated with paintings of Lord Krishna and frescos.[9]
Political influence and power
Mariam uz-zamani was reported to have been a highly astute business woman, who ran an active international trade in spices, silk, etc., and thus, amassed a private fortune which dwarfed the treasury of many a European king.[10] She was among the most prodigious women traders at the Mughal court.[11] No other noblewoman on record seems to have been as adventurous a trader as the Queen mother.[11]
Mariam Zamani owned ships that carried pilgrims to and from the Islamic holy city Mecca. In 1613, her ship, the Rahīmī was seized by Portuguese pirates along with the 600-700 passengers and the cargo. Rahīmī was the largest Indian ship sailing in the Red Sea and was known to the Europeans as the "great pilgrimage ship". When the Portuguese officially refused to return the ship and the passengers, the outcry at the Moghul court was quite unusually severe. The outrage was compounded by the fact that the owner and the patron of the ship was none other than the revered mother of the current emperor. Mariam-uz-Zamani's son, the Indian emperor Jahangir, ordered the seizure of the Portuguese town Daman. This episode is considered to be an example of the struggle for wealth that would later ensue and lead to colonization of the Indian sub-continent.[11]
She was one of the only four members of the court (another was the emperor) and the only woman to have the rank of 12,000 cavalry, and was known to receive a jewel from every nobleman "according to his estate" each year on the occasion of New Year's festival. Like only a few other women at the Mughal court, Maryam-uz-Zamani was granted the right to issue official documents (singularly called farman), usually the exclusive privilege of the emperor. Mariam Zamani, like Nur Jehan, used her wealth and influence to build gardens, wells, and mosques around the countryside.[11]
Death
Mariam uz-Zamani died in 1623.[1] As per her last wishes, a vav or step well was constructed by Jahangir. Her tomb, built in 1611, is on the Tantpur road now known as in Jyoti Nagar. She was buried according to Islamic custom. Mariam's Tomb is only a kilometre from Tomb of Akbar the Great. The tomb's location reduced its chances of becoming a tourist attraction, but likewise, its lack of visibility meant it fell into a state of disrepair.
The Mosque of Mariyam Zamani Begum was built by her son Nuruddin Salim Jahangir and is situated in the Walled City of Lahore, present day Pakistan.
The misnomer of Jodhabai
There is a popular perception that the wife of Akbar, mother of Jahangir, was also known as "Jodha Bai".[12]
Her name as in Mughal chronicles was Mariam-uz-Zamani. Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, the autobiography of Jahangir, doesn't mention Jodha Bai nor Harka Bai or Heer Kunwari.[12] Therein, she is referred to as Mariam-uz-Zamani.[13] Neither the Akbarnama (a biography of Akbar commissioned by Akbar himself), nor any historical text from the period refer to her as Jodha Bai.[13]
According to Professor Shirin Moosvi, a historian of Aligarh Muslim University, the name "Jodha Bai" was first used to refer to Akbar's wife in the 18th and 19th centuries in historical writings.[13] According to the historian Imtiaz Ahmad, the director of the Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library in Patna, by Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod, in his book Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan.[3]
According to Professor N R Farooqi, a historian of Allahabad Central University, Jodha Bai was not the name of Akbar's queen; it was the name of Jahangir's wife Taj Bibi Bilqis Makani the Princess of Jodhpur, whose real name was Jagat Gosain.[12]
References
- ^ a b INDIA The Timurid Dynasty GENEALOGY http://www.royalark.net/India4/delhi4.htm
- ^ a b Lal, Ruby (2005). Domesticity and power in the early Mughal world. Cambridge University Press. p. 170. ISBN 9780521850223.
- ^ a b c d e Syed Firdaus Ashraf (2008-02-05). "Did Jodhabai really exist?". Rediff.com. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Smith, Vincent Arthur (1917). Akbar the Great Mogul. Oxford, Clarendon Press. p. 58. ISBN 0895634716. Cite error: The named reference "Smith" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Eraly, Abraham (2000). Emperors of the Peacock Throne, The Saga of the Great Mughals. Penguin Books India. p. 136. ISBN 0141001437. Cite error: The named reference "Eraly" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Jahangir (1968). Henry Beveridge (ed.). The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī: or, Memoirs of Jāhāngīr, Volumes 1-2. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 48.
- ^ Lal, Ruby (2005). Domesticity and power in the early Mughal world. Cambridge University Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780521850223.
- ^ Mukhia, Harbans (2004). The Mughals of India. Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. p. 133. ISBN 0631185550.
- ^ N/A (1 May 2010). "Was it really a romance Jodha-Akbar?". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
- ^ Anuradha Verma (6 May 2011). "Akbar had no real love". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- ^ a b c d Findly, Ellison B. (1988). "The Capture of Maryam-uz-Zamānī's Ship: Mughal Women and European Traders". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 108 (2). American Oriental Society: 232. doi:10.2307/603650. JSTOR 603650. Cite error: The named reference "Findly" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b c Atul Sethi (2007-06-24). "'Trade, not invasion brought Islam to India'". The Times of India. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- ^ a b c Ashley D'Mello (2005-12-10). "Fact, myth blend in re-look at Akbar-Jodha Bai". The Times of India. Retrieved 2008-02-15.