16 Facts About Bairam Khan

Bairam Khan was the guardian, chief mentor, adviser, teacher and the most trusted ally of Akbar.

Bairam was originally called Bairam "Beg", but later became honoured as Khan.

Bairam Khan was an aggressive general who was determined to restore Mughal authority in India.

Bairam Khan was born in the region of Badakhshan in Central Asia, and belonged to the Baharlu Turkoman clan of the Kara Koyunlu confederation.

Bairam Khan's great-grandparents were Pirali Beg Baharlu and his wife, a daughter of the Kara Koyunlu ruler Qara Iskander; Piroli's niece through his sister Pasha Begum had been one of the wives of Babur.

Bairam Khan secured the loyalty of his rival, Tardi Beg by appointing him as the governor of Delhi.

The main reason was that Bairam Khan had begun to take several decisions without consulting the Emperor first, such as when he unilaterally dismissed his former favourite Pir Muhammad Khan, who was a senior Mughal official.

Akbar felt jealous that a leash was kept on his private expenses while Bairam Khan's servants grew rich.

Bairam Khan could take whatever land he wished so that his servants could send him remittances of the harvest annually.

Akbar tried in vain to send another firman to Bairam Khan, ordering him to continue his pilgrimage.

Bairam Khan left his family in the fortress of Tabar-e-Hind and headed towards Jalandhar, intent on taking Lahore.

Bairam Khan tried to negotiate, but Bairam Khan remained adamant about fighting.

However, Bairam Khan managed to retreat with the majority of his force to Talwara-Hazipur adjoining Rey Shikargah from where he surrendered and was treated by Akbar with immense respect.

Bairam Khan's corpse was later found by a group of locals, who buried him at the tomb of a nearby Sufi saint.

Bairam Khan was a Shia Muslim and was disliked by some of the Sunni Turkic nobles.

Bairam Khan promoted Sheikh Gadai, the son of Sikandar Lodi's court poet Jamali Kamboh, to the position of sadurat-i-mamalik in 1559.