1. Gulbadan Begum was married to a Chagatai noble, her cousin, Khizr Khwaja Khan, the son of Aiman Khwajah Sultan, son of Khan Ahmad Alaq of the Turpan Khanate in Moghulistan at the age of seventeen.
26 Facts About Gulbadan Begum
1. 2.
Gulbadan Begum wielded great influence and respect in the imperial household and was much loved both by Akbar and his mother, Hamida Banu Begum.
3.
Gulbadan Begum's name means "body like a flower" or "rose body" in Classical Persian.
4.
When Princess Gulbadan was born in c 1523 to Dildar Begum.
5.
At the age of seventeen, Gulbadan Begum was married to a Chagatai noble, her cousin, Khizr Khwaja Khan, the son of Aiman Khwajah Sultan, son of Khan Ahmad Alaq of the Turpan Khanate.
6.
Gulbadan Begum was in exile for the next fifteen years in Safavid Iran.
7.
Gulbadan Begum was fond of his aunt and knew of her storytelling skills.
8.
Gulbadan Begum wrote in simple Persian, without the erudite language used by better-known writers.
9.
Unlike some of her contemporary writers, Gulbadan Begum wrote a factual account of what she remembered, without embellishment.
10.
From her account, we know that Gulbadan Begum was married by the age of 17 to her cousin, Khizr Khwaja, a Chagatai prince who was the son of her father's cousin, Aiman Khwajah Sultan.
11.
Gulbadan Begum had migrated to India in 1528 from Kabul with one of her stepmothers, who was allowed to adopt her as her own on the command of her father, the Emperor.
12.
Gulbadan Begum lived in Agra and then in Sikri for a short while, but mostly in Lahore or with the Court for the rest of her life, except for a period of seven years when she undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca.
13.
Gulbadan Begum appears to have been an educated, pious, and cultured woman of royalty.
14.
Gulbadan Begum had written little about her father Babur, as she was only aged eight when he died.
15.
Gulbadan Begum had minted a large gold coin, as he was fond of doing, after he established his kingdom in India.
16.
Gulbadan Begum describes her father's death when her brother had fallen ill at the age of 22.
17.
Gulbadan Begum tells that Babur was depressed to see his son seriously ill and dying.
18.
Gulbadan Begum was not even allowed to be buried next to her.
19.
Gulbadan Begum's grave is in one corner of the main quadrangle in which she is buried.
20.
Gulbadan Begum described in her memoir a pilgrimage she along with Salima Sultan Begum undertook to Mecca, a distance of 3,000 miles, crossing treacherous mountains and hostile deserts.
21.
Gulbadan Begum stayed in Mecca for nearly four years and during her return a shipwreck in Aden kept her from returning to Agra for several months.
22.
Gulbadan Begum finally returned in 1582, seven years after she had set forth on her journey.
23.
Gulbadan Begum's charities were large, and it is said of her that she added day unto day in the endeavor to please God, and this by succoring the poor and needy.
24.
Gulbadan Begum was said to have been a poet, fluent in both Persian and Turkish.
25.
For much of history, the manuscript of Gulbadan Begum remained in obscurity.
26.
Yet, the little-known account of Gulbadan Begum is an important document for historians, with its window into a woman's perspective from inside the Mughal harem.