Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 10-20-08
Gulbadan Begam
bint Babur Badshah /Gulbadan Banu Begum (1522/3-1603)
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"...AWAY FROM MY MOTHERS, AND MY OWN MOTHER, AND MY SISTERS,
AND MY FATHER'S PEOPLE, AND MY BROTHERS."
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Gulbadan was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, to Babur, who shortly
after her birth became the first Mughal emperor of India (the
term "Mughal" was used for Mongol; Babur was a direct
descendant of both Ghenghis Khan and Tamerlane). Five years later
Gulbadan went with her family to northern India, where she grew
up at the court of Babur and then of her half-brother Humayun.
She was married before she was 17 and had at least one child,
a son. What should have been a peaceful life changed when, in
1540, Humayun was driven out of India; Gulbadan herself would
spend over seven years at Kabul as a captive of another half-brother
who was fighting against Humayun.
When Gulbadan was in her 60s, her nephew, the emperor Akbar,
ordered historians to gather together information on his grandfather,
Babur, and his father, Humayun. Gulbadan responded with the Humayun-nama
(originally titled Ahval-i Humayun Badshah). In it
she tells the story of her family: she describes her own experiences
and she uses sources, such as those from the women's quarters,
that were unavailable to male historians.
The extant Persian manuscript of the Humayun-nama is incomplete: it ends in 1552 instead of carrying the story forward to Humayun's death in 1556. We don't know if the ending has been lost or if the work was left unfinished, although the state of the manuscript suggests missing pages.
We do know something of Gulbadan's life after 1552. After defeating his enemies, Humayun returned to India as emperor in 1555, but he died the following year, to be succeeded by his son, Akbar. Two years later, the teen-aged Akbar brought the begams (the women of the royal family) from Kabul to India. Except for an three-year pilgrimage to Mecca when she was in her 50s, and a visit to Kabul when she was in her 60s, Gulbadan lived the rest of her life at the Mughal court, first in Agra, then in Sikri.
We know that in 1594, Gulbadan interceded with Akbar for a grandson in trouble (success unknown), and that when she died in 1603, Akbar helped to carry her bier (a surprising enough gesture to be mentioned by Akbar's chroniclers). For her personality, we have only her description of her first 28 years in the Humayun-nama, but it is enough for us to come to know her well.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from a translation in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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1. In this collection of Persian texts in translation, click on "Titles," and then, in the alphabetical list at the left, go to Humayun-namah; from the table of contents, you can link directly to Annette S. Beveridge's 1902 "Translation of the 'Humayun-nama'" for the text. You can also link to the two parts of Beveridge's introduction and to a valuable biographical glossary.
2. For a taste of the above, links to substantial excerpts from Beveridge's translation; here minor changes to the text and to Beveridge's notes have been made by Deanna M. Ramsay (for still other excerpts, see below, under "In print"). At the same site, excerpts from Beveridge's introduction.
3. From other translations:
(a) Use your browser's search function to go to "Gulbadan" for her description of a joke played by Babur on an elderly retainer (not a court jester, as described here): valuables acquired after a 1526 battle were being sent to those still in Kabul, who were eagerly waiting to see the value of what each would receive.
(b) In this excerpt from the c.1591 account of Antonio Monserrate, a Jesuit priest who visited Akbar's court, click on "Conduct to embassies" for a brief description of Gulbadan's return from Mecca (and Akbar's treatment of her, which Monserrate compares to his treatment of male courtiers); the translation is by J.S. Hoyland.
4. Essays, etc.:
(a) "Humayun-Nama: Gulbadan Begum's Forgotten Manuscript" (2005), by Neria Harish Hebbar, summarizes the work and tells something of the manuscript's history.
(b) The opening of a 2004 essay by Ruby Lal, "Historicizing the Harem: The Challenge of a Princess's Memoir"; the essay would become part of Lal's 2005 book (see just below).
(c) A review by Karuna Sharma of Lal's 2005 study, Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World; and elsewhere, another review, this by Rudrangshu Mukher (for more on the book's treatment of Gulbadan, see "Secondary Sources").
(d) Go to "Gulbadan" for a brief abstract of a 2003 conference paper by Nurten Kilic-Schubel, "Gulbadan Begum's Humayun-nama: The Role of Women in Dynastic Politics."
5. At the same site given in #1 above, from the "Titles" list, you can link to three other contemporary documents:
(a) The Akbarnama of Abul Fazl, translated by Henry Beveridge, 1897-1939. This is the first official history of the Mughal court, completed in 1596 (in Volume III, note brief accounts in Chapters 27 and 67 of the departure and return of Gulbadan on her pilgrmage to Mecca).
(b) Memoirs of Humayun; translated by Charles Stewart, 1832. This is another memoir of Humayun, written by one of his servants, Jawhar Aftabchi, in response to the same order that caused Gulbadan to write.
(a) The Memoirs of Babur; translated by John Leyden and William Erskine, 1921. This is Babur's own memoir, usually called the Baburnama, written in Turki and later translated into Persian.
6. Excerpts from the Baburnama, here translated by Daniel C. Waugh (based on a translation by Annette Beveridge), valuable for the maps and the illustrations from the Persian version of Baburnama made at Akbar's court. At another site (on 3 pages), more of the images from the same edition of the Baburnama, which Gulbadan would have known.
7. For more historical background:
(a) Brief biographical essays (2002) by Hebbar on Babur and on Humayun.
(b) For greater detail, "The Establishment of the Mughal Empire," a chapter from S. M. Ikram's 1964 study, Muslim Civilization in India; at the bottom you can link to the next chapter, "The Age of Akbar."
(c) A map of the Mughal empire at the time of Gulbadan's death.
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[Unlike the online source, the print version of Annette S. Beveridge's 1902 edition of Humayun-nama gives the Persian original as well as an English translation. Beveridge gives a valuable introduction, detailed notes, and a useful biographical glossary. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The history of Humayun (Humayun-nama), by GulBadan Begam (Princess
Rose-Body). Translated, with introd., notes, illus., and biographical
appendix, and reproduced in the Persian from the only known ms.
of the British Museum by Annette S. Beveridge (Oriental translation
series, 1). Delhi, Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli [1972]. (xiv, 331,
96 p. illus.)
LC#: DS461 .G813 1972
Includes bibliographical references.
[Later reprints from Low Price Publications, Delhi (1989, etc.).
ISBN: 8175360674]
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"I set down whatever there is that I have heard and remember."
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[The book's opening, describing Akbar's request for manuscripts:]
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate!
There has been an order issued, "Write down whatever you know of the doings of Firdaus-makani [Babur] and Jannatashyani [Humayun]."
At the time when his Majesty Firdaus-makani passed from this perishable world to the everlasting home, I, this lowly one, was eight years old, so it may be that I do not remember much. However, in obedience to the royal command, I set down whatever there is that I have heard and remember. [p.83]
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"God blessed the taking of Kabul, for after it 18 children
were born."
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[By 1506, the young Babur had fought and defeated a distant cousin for control of Kabul:]
God the most High, having freed Kabul from the power of Mizra Khan, committed it to my royal father's care. He was then 23 years old and had no child and greatly desired one. In his seventeenth year a girl had been born to him by Ayisha Sultan Begam, but she had died in a month. The most high God blessed the taking of Kabul, for after it 18 children were born. [p.89]
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"He... took me for awhile in his arms."
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[Babur had 4 wives; his eldest son, Humayun (b.1507), was born to Mahan, his favorite; Gulbadan was the daughter of Babur's fourth wife but was at first raised by Mahan. From 1525 to 1527 Babur conquered much of the northwest of India while his family remained in Kabul; then:]
A year later [1528] my lady, who was Mahan Begam, came from Kabul to Hindustan [India]. I, this insignificant one, came with her in advance of my sisters, and paid my duty to my royal father.
When my lady reached Kul, his Majesty had sent two litters with three horsemen. She went on posthaste from Kul to Agra. His Majesty had intended to go as far as Kul... to meet her. At evening-prayer time someone came and said to him: "I have just passed her Highness on the road, four miles out." My father did not wait for a horse to be saddled but set out on foot. He met her.... She wished to alight, but he would not wait, and fell into her train and walked to his own house....
At the time of her meeting his Majesty, she desired me to
come on by daylight and pay my respects to him.... I fell at
his feet; he asked me many questions, and took me for awhile
in his arms, and then this insignificant person felt such happiness
that greater could not be imagined.
[pp.100-102]
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"The Emperor gave houses to all the begams."
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[Later, the other women of the royal family arrived in India:]
After his [Babur's] arrival, word was brought that the begams were on the way from Kabul. My royal father went as far as Naugram to give honorable reception to... my oldest paternal aunt and my royal father's eldest sister. All the begams who came with her paid their duty to the Emperor in her quarters. They were very happy and made the prostration of thanks, and then set off for Agra. The Emperor gave houses to all the begams. [p.108]
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"She did not know she was orphaned and headless."
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[In 1530 Babur died, and Humayun became Emperor; two years later Mahan died, and the 10-year-old Gulbadan began to live with her birth mother. The position of both were entirely dependent on the good will of the new emperor, Gulbadan's half-brother:]
...[H]is majesty [Humayun] used always, so long as he was in Hindustan, to come to our house. He used to visit us and showed us kindness and affection and favour without stint. He used to come to the house of this insignificant one, and there would come... all the married ladies and pay their duty to him.
In short, after the death of my royal father and my lady [Mahan], his Majesty, in the fullness of his affection, showed this broken one such favour, and spoke with such boundless compassion to this helpless one, that she did not know she was orphaned and headless. [p.111]
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"They... were adorned by various accomplishments."
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[Gulbadan gives detailed descriptions of the court life of Humayun's years in India: the celebrations, the banquets, the picnics. In a list of attendees at a celebration, only two women, older begams, are described with more than names; these women seem to have greatly impressed the 11-year-old girl:]
They had great friendship for one another, and they used to wear men's clothes and were adorned by various accomplishments, such as making of thumb-rings [for archery] and arrows, playing polo, and shooting with the bow and arrow. They also played many musical instruments. [pp.120-21]
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"Then he took me by main force."
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[By the late 1530's, Humayun's empire in India was in trouble and his brother Kamran was using the unsettled times to take over Kabul. Gulbadan, now about 17 and married, became a pawn in the conflict between her two brothers: Humayun, needing Kamran's support, allowed Kamran to take Gulbadan away from Agra. It's not clear why Kamran wanted her --- perhaps to get her husband on his side in the coming conflict with Humayun --- perhaps Gulbadan herself never knew. As he was leaving Agra for Kabul, Kamran asked her to accompany him part of the way. But then:]
When one stage was reached, he began to declare, on his oath; "I will not let you go."
Then he took me by main force, with a hundred weepings and
complaints and laments, away from my mothers, and my own mother,
and my sisters, and my father's people, and my brothers, and
parted us who had all grown up together from infancy.
I saw that the Emperor's command also was in the affair. I was
helpless. [pp.141-42]
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"I shall not come."
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[In 1540, Humayun was forced out of India; by then Gulbadan was Kamran's captive in Kabul. For the next five years, Gulbadan did not see Humayun and seldom saw her mother. But she tells the story of Humayun's 1541 marriage to Hamida, who would become the mother of Akbar and a close friend of Gulbadan (and probably the origin of the story). Hamida was then living with Gulbadan's mother, Dildar, and her full-brother Hindal; Humayun tried to use both as matchmakers:]
...[O]n that day she [Dildar] gave a party. When it was over, he [Humayun] went to his own quarters. On another day he came to my mother and said, "Send someone to call Hamida-banu Begam here." When she sent, the begam did not come, but said, "If it is to pay my respects, I was exalted by paying my respects the other day. Why should I come again?"
Another time his Majesty sent Subhan Quli, and said, "Go to Mizra Hindal, and tell him to send the begam." He [Hindal] said: "Whatever I may say, she will not go. Go yourself and tell her."
When Subhan Quli went and spoke, the begam replied: "To see kings once is lawful; a second time it is forbidden. I shall not come."...
To cut the story short: For forty days the begam resisted and discussed and disagreed. At last my mother, Dildar Begam, advised her, saying: "After all, you will marry someone. Better than a king, who is there?" The begam said, "Oh, yes, I shall marry someone; but he shall be a man whose collar my hand can touch, and not one whose skirt it does not reach." Then my mother again gave her much advice.
At last, after forty days,... his Majesty took the astrolabe into his own blessed hand and, having chosen a propitious hour, summoned Mir Abu-l-baqa and ordered him to make fast the marriage bond. [pp.150-51]
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"There was a woman riding... at the hunt."
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[When Gulbadan was writing her book in the late 1580s, she relied on Hamida's account of her wanderings with Humayun between 1540 and 1545. The description of a visit with the Shah of Persia includes this description of the Shah's sister, who to the surprise of the Mughals, joined the men in hunting:]
There was hunting eight times while he [Humayun] was in Iraq.... Hamida-banu Begam used to enjoy the sight from a distance in either a camel or a horse-litter. Shahzada Sultanam, the Shah's sister, used to ride on horseback, and take her stand behind her brother. His Majesty [Humayun] said, "There was a woman riding behind the Shah at the hunt." [pp.169-70]
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"He shut up a room with bricks and plaster and dung-cakes."
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[In 1545 Humayun succeeded in chasing Kamran out of Kabul. Gulbadan was reunited with her family, and for a year all was quiet. Then Humayun left Kabul to put down a rebellion nearby, and Kamran returned. This time he treated the women more harshly:]
...[Kamran's] people went into the Bala-i-hisar [citadel], and plundered and destroyed innumerable things belonging to the haram [women's quarters]....
[Kamran] put the great begams [including Gulbadan and her mother] into Mizra Askari's house and there he shut up a room with bricks and plaster and dung-cakes, and they used to give the ladies water and food over the four walls....
He behaved very ill indeed to the wives and families of the officers who had left him for the Emperor, ransacking and plundering all their houses.... [p.181]
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"Praise be to God! The khan kept to what I said."
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[When Humayun returned to try to free Kabul, Kamran offered to free Gulbadan and her mother from their imprisonment if Gulbadan would write to her husband, urging him to side with Kamran in his war against Humayun:]
I answered, "Khizr Khwaja Khan [her husband] has no way of recognizing a letter from me. I have never written to him myself. He writes to me when he is away, by the tongue of his sons. Write yourself what is in your mind."
At last he sent Mahdi Sultan and Shir Ali to fetch the khan. From the first I had said to the khan: "Your brothers may be with Mizra Kamran, (but) God forbid that you should have the thought of going to him and joining them. Beware, a thousand times beware of thinking of separating yourself from the Emperor."
Praise be to God! The khan kept to what I said. [p.182]
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"God preserve His friends from such a house."
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[Humayun besieged Kabul for seven months. He was limited in his use of cannon by the presence of his family --- including his son Akbar --- inside the walls. Eventually, though, Kamran abandoned the city; Gulbadan describes the women's release (Bega Begam was Humayun's first wife):]
During the siege Jahan Sultan Begam who was two years old, died. His Majesty wrote: "Some time or other, if we had used force against the citadel, Mizra Muhammad Akbar would have disappeared."
To finish the story: There were always people in the Bala-i-hisar from evening prayer till dawn, and there was a continuous uproar. The night Mizra Kamran went away, prayer-time passed, and indeed bedtime came, and there was no noise at all....
When all the city was asleep, there suddenly sounded a clashing and clinking of armor, so that we said to one another, "What a noise." Perhaps a thousand people were standing in front. We were afraid, but all at once, without warning, off they went. Qaracha Khan's son Bahadur brought us word that the mizra had fled....
Our people... and the rest who were outside took away the
door which had kept us fastened in. Bega Begam urged: "Let
us go to our own houses."
I said, "Have a little patience. We should have to go by
the lane, and perhaps too someone will come from the Emperor"....
In a little while the Emperor came and embraced Dildar Begam and me, and then Bega Begam and Hamida-banu Begam, and said: "Come quickly out of this place. God preserve His friends from such a house, and let such be the portion of his foes." He said to Nazir, "Guard one side," and to Tardi ben Khan, "Guard the other, and let the begams pass out."
All came out, and we spent the evening of that day with the Emperor until night became morning....
The Emperor spent a full year and a half in Kabul, prosperously and happily, and in comfort and sociability. [pp.184-86]
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"Would to heaven that merciless sword had touched... my
son!"
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[Kamran continued his rebellion against Humayun, and in one battle caused the death of Hindal, his half-brother and Gulbadan's beloved full-brother:]
Would to heaven that merciless sword had touched my heart and eyes, or Sadat'yar, my son's, or Khizr Khwaja Khan's!... All may be said in a word: Mizra Hindal gave his life freely for his sovereign....
If that slayer of a brother, that stranger's friend, the monster, Mizra Kamran, had not come that night, this calamity would not have descended from the heavens. [pp.198-200]
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"If you wish to act as a brother, abandon the throne."
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Eventually, in 1152, Kamran was captured. Despite Kamran's treason, Humayun was reluctant to execute him because they were brothers; he finally agreed to a compromise. This is the end of the extant manuscript:]
To be brief, all the assembled khans and sultans, and high and low, and plebeian and noble, and soldiers and the rest who all bore the marks Miza Kamran's hand, with one voice represented to His Majesty: "Brotherly custom has nothing to do with ruling and reigning. If you wish to act as a brother, abandon the throne. If you wish to be king, put aside brotherly sentiment.... This is no brother! This is your Majesty's foe!"
His Majesty answered: "Though my head inclines to your words, my heart does not."...
When he drew near to Rohtas, the Emperor gave an order to Sayyid Muhammad: "Blind Mizra Kamran in both eyes." The sayyid went at once and did so.
After the blinding, his Majesty the Emperor--- [pp.200-201]
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[Gulbadan's Humayun-nama acts as a centerpiece for Ruby Lal's study of the changing life and roles of women under the first three Mughal rulers. Lal looks at what male writers (both contemporary and later) said about public and private life in the light of what Gulbadan reported, and in so doing invites historians to rethink their traditional categories. The book also provides information from contemporary sources about Gulbadan's life after 1552. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Lal, Ruby. Domesticity and power in the early Mughal world
(Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2005. (xv, 241 p.: ill., maps)
LC#: DS461 .L3443 2005; ISBN: 0521850223, 0521615348
Includes bibliographical references and index
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[This biography of Gulbadan by Rumer Godden uses much of Beveridge's
translation of Humayun-nama. However, caution is needed:
phrases and whole sentences are omitted without any indication.
Despite this, much of Gulbadan's own story is told, and the background
information is worthwhile. Unfortunately, the book has no index:]
Gulbadan, portrait of a rose princess at the Mughal court
/ by Rumer Godden; picture research by Helen Topsfield (A Studio
book). New York: Viking Press, 1981, c1980. (153, [7] p.: col.
ill., map)
LC#: DS461.9.G84 G62; ISBN: 0670357561.
Based on : The history of Humayun / by Gulbadan Begam; the Memoirs
of Babur; and The Akbar nama / by Abul Fazl. Bibliography: p.
[158].
[Reissued 2007 by Tara Press; ISBN: 9788183860413]
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Updated 10-20-08