Behind The ‘First Great Mughal’: Khanzada Begum by Chandini Jaswal

ABSTRACT:

The history of India will always be synonymous with the greatness of the Mughals. Like everything else, however, history has also always been synonymous with ‘his-story’. Whilst a plethora of research has been done on the lives of the Great Mughal Emperors, little is known about the women behind them and the role the harem collectively played in the political dynamic. Through this paper, an attempt has been made to provide a biographical account of one such veiled woman— Khanzada Begum, the elder sister of Babur, the first Mughal Emperor. Few who know about her sacrifice have rightly attributed it to have made the establishment of this glorious empire possible. Even less known fact is that when she returned from her exile years later, Khanzada played a significant role in the political scene. Although the Begum never penned a memoir, she was discussed in various contemporary accounts. For example, Babur’s autobiography ‘Baburnama’, Gulbadan Begum’s memoir ‘Ahval-i-Humayun Badshah', Mirza Haidar’s ‘Tarikh-i-Rashidi’, Shaibani Khan Uzbek’s ‘Shaibaninama’. All these records have been quoted in this paper. Khanzada Begum’s existence is an enigma—although respected all her life and even in death, she is rarely mentioned both in contemporary and presentday records. This research paper argues that the Begum was intentionally obliterated from the records of one of the most documented histories owing to the probable source of humiliation her sacrifice became. In the end, an attempt has also been made to ‘de-mythicise’ the Mughal harem, which has today become synonymous with promiscuity in popular thought.

Author: Chandini Jaswal

Full Paper: Behind The ‘First Great Mughal’: Khanzada Begum