Shakr-un-Nissa Begum

Shakr-un-Nissa Begum
Shahzadi of Mughal Empire
Born	Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Mughal Empire
Died	1 January 1653 Akbarabad (present day Agra), Mughal Empire
Burial	Akbar's tomb, Sikandra, Agra
Spouse	Shahrukh Mirza ​ ​ (m. 1594;d. 1607)​
House	Timurid
Father	Akbar
Mother	Bibi Daulat Shad
Religion	Sunni Islam

Shakr-un-Nissa Begum, also Shakr al-Nisa Begum ^[1] (died 1 January 1653) was a Mughal princess, and a daughter of Emperor Akbar.

Early life

Shakr-un-Nissa Begum was born at Fatehpur Sikri, to Akbar and Bibi Daulat Shad. She had a younger full sister named Aram Banu Begum. ^[2]

Shakr-un-Nissa was brought up in Akbar's care and turned out to be very well, good-natured, and innately compassionate towards all people. Jahangir had great fondness for his half-sister. ^[3]

Marriage

Mirza Shah Rukh (d. 1607-8) ruler of Badakhshan. Married Shakr-un-Nissa Begum, and became ruler of Malwa after fleeing to the Mughal Empire.

In 1594, Akbar arranged her marriage with Shahrukh Mirza. He was the son of Ibrahim Mirza, the son of Suleiman Mirza of Badakshan and Haram Begum. ^[5] His mother was Muhtarima Khanum, the daughter of Shah Muhammad Sultan Jagatai (grandson of Mahmud Khan) and Khadija Sultan Khanum (daughter of Ahmad Alaq). ^[6] The marriage took place on 2 September 1594 in the quarters of Empress Hamida Banu Begum. ^[7]

Shahrukh Mirza was also married to Shakr-un-Nissa's cousin, Kabuli Begum, the daughter of her uncle Mirza Muhammad Hakim. ^[8]

Shakr-un-Nissa became a widow, after Shahrukh Mirza's death in 1607. He died leaving four sons, Hasan Mirza and Husayn Mirza, who were twins, Sultan Mirza, and Badi-uz-Zaman Mirza, and three daughters. ^[9]

After the death of Akbar in the year 1605, she exercised her influence over her brother Jahangir and aided her stepmothers Mariam-uz-Zamani and Salima Sultan Begum to secure a pardon for the Khusrau Mirza, the eldest son of Jahangir. ^[10]

Death

Shakr-un-Nissa Begum died on 1 January 1653. She had started from Akbarabad towards Shahjahanabad. She was buried in her father's mausoleum, located at Sikandra. ^{[11] [12]}

References

1. "Portrait of Mirza Shah Rukh". www.rct.uk.
2. Beale, Thomas William; Keene, Henry George (1894). An Oriental Biographical Dictionary: Founded on Materials Collected by the Late Thomas William Beale. W.H. Allen. p. 107.
3. Jahangir, Emperor; Rogers, Alexander; Beveridge, Henry (1909). The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri; or, Memoirs of Jahangir. Translated by Alexander Rogers. Edited by Henry Beveridge. London Royal Asiatic Society. pp.  36.
4. "Portrait of Mirza Shah Rukh". www.rct.uk.
5. Varma, Ramesh Chandra (1967). Foreign Policy of the Great Mughals, 1526 - 1727 A.D. Shiva Lal Agarwala. p. 49.
6. Begum, Gulbadan (1902). The History of Humayun (Humayun-Nama). Royal Asiatic Society. pp. 247, 267.
7. Beveridge, Henry (1907). Akbarnama of Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak - Volume III. Asiatic Society, Calcuta. p. 990.
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. 781.
9. 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.  303–4. ISBN   978-0-19-512718-8.
10. Xavier, Jesuit (1606). Missoes Jesuitas Na India. British Library London, MS 9854. p. 44.
11. Khan, Inayat; Begley, Wayne Edison (1990). 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). Oxford University Press. p. 489.
12. Kanbo, Muhammad Saleh. Amal e Saleh al-Mausoom Ba Shahjahan Nama (Persian) - Volume 3. p. 117.