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Anṣārī Pīr Rōs̲h̲ān, son of S̲h̲aik̲h̲. ʿAbdullāh and his wife Banīn, born at Ḏj̲ālandhar in the Pand̲j̲āb about 1525. His parents were Afg̲h̲āns, and when Bābur defeated Ibrāhīm Lōdī and destroyed the Afg̲h̲ān dynasty, they removed to Kānigūram in the hill-country near Kandahār. Bāyazīd was descended from the saint Sirād̲j̲ al-Dīn Anṣārī and early showed a tendency to religion and mysticism. He is said in his youth to have rigidly conformed to the ordinances of orthodox Islām, but later on his th…

, second son of Muẓaffar S̲h̲āh II. Having had a disagreement with his father he went to the court of Ibrāhīm Sulṭān the last king of the Lōdī dynasty. He was present at the battle of Pānīpat, but did not take ¶ part in it. On hearing of the death of his father and of the succession of his elder brother Sikandar S̲h̲āh, he proceeded towards Gud̲j̲arāt, and on the way heard of his brother’s assassination. He became king of Gud̲j̲arāt in August 1526 and avenged his brother in a cruel manner so that he is described by Bābur (ed. Erskine, …

, a Persian and Transoxiana coin. Kopakī dīnārs are mentioned in the S̲h̲arafnāma (the life of Tīmūr), and Bābur ( Memoirs, G. M. S., p. 185) speaks of 300 tomān Kopakī (see also P. de Courteille’s transl. i. 420). P. de la Civise, as quoted by Quatremère ( N.E., xiv. 74, n.) says that dīnārs copghies are gold ducats worth 7.10 French money. See also Tavernier, Hobson-Jobson, and Murray’s English Dict., s. v. Copeck. Though the Transoxiana and Persian Kopak was a gold coin, the word may still be etymologically identical with the Russian Copeck, just as dīnār and denarius degenerated from bein…

An Afg̲h̲ān favourite of the emperor Ḏj̲ahāngīr [q. v.], who called him his son ( farzand). His original name was Pīr Ḵh̲ān, and he was a son of Dawlat Ḵh̲ān and descended from the Dawlat Ḵh̲ān Lōdī, who was supreme in the Pand̲j̲āb when Bābur entered India. Pīr Ḵh̲ān nrst had the title of Ṣalābat Ḵh̲ān, and afterward that of Ḵh̲ān Ḏj̲ahān. When Ḏj̲ahāngīr died, he behaved badly, made the mistake of not recognising S̲h̲āh Ḏj̲ahān, and of not even answering his autograph letter, and sold the Balāg̲h̲āt of the D…

The last king of India of the house of Lodī [s. Sikandar Lodī], came to the throne in 1510, and reigned at Agra for about 16 years when he was overthrown and slain by Bābur at Pānīpat in April 1526. He was violent and tyrannical, and alienated his nobles who called in Bābur to help them. He fell, however, fighting bravely, along with thousands of his Afg̲h̲āns. Like Harold, he had trouble with his own family, before being called upon to encounter a foreign foe. His father’s brother, ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn, attempted …

, “Lord of Lords”, a title given by the Dihlī emperors to their highest officer. It corresponds to the Turkish Beglerbeg. It was in use in Bābur’s time, the title having been given to Dilāwar Ḵh̲ān, son of Dawlat Ḵh̲ān. The most famous Ḵh̲ān Ḵh̲ānān’s were Akbar’s ministers, Bairām and his son ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. — Ḵh̲ān Dawrān, “Lord of the age”, and Ḵh̲ān Ḏj̲ahān, “Lord of the world”, are similar titles. (H. Beveridge)

, eldest son of the Emperor Akbar. He was born at Fatḥpūr Sikri on 31 August 1569. His mother was a Rād̲j̲pūt, the daughter of Rād̲j̲ā Bihārī Mal Kačhulāhī, who afterwards was styled Miryam al-Zamānī, “The Mary of the Age”. His father gave Ḏj̲ahāngīr the name of Sulṭān Salīm, though he generally called him S̲h̲aik̲h̲ū Bābā, in allusion to the belief that he was born in answer to the prayers of the derwīsh. Salīm Čis̲h̲tī, and in his cell. When Ḏj̲ahāngīr ascended the throne on 24 October 1605 he…

There are two places of this name in Afg̲h̲ānistān. One is in the Oxus basin, near Andarāb, in what is now called Afg̲h̲ān Turkistān, and is on the borders of Badak̲h̲s̲h̲ān. It lies S.E. of Balk̲h̲, S.S.E. of Haibak, N. of Kābul and Čārīkār, and at the back of (i.e. north of) the the Hindu Kus̲h̲ mountains. The place seems little known, and is seldom marked on the maps, but was of importance in old times. Yāḳūt (Barbier de Meynard’s translation) calls it “le chef lieu d’un petit pays fertile et boisé”, and it is several times mentioned in Bābur’s Memoirs. He spells it Ḵh̲wāst, and it seems to be …

, the pen-name of Badr al-Dīn. Of Čag̲h̲atāi origin and born at Astarābād he was educated at Herāt, and was patronised by ʿAlī S̲h̲ēr. The fullest account of him is by Sām Mīrzā who was a friend of his. (See Silvestre de Sacy in Not. et Extraits, iv. 285). The account there given of his begging to be put to death by a certain young man is not in the B. M. copies of the Tuḥfat-Sāmī and may be an interpolation. Hilālī’s best known poem is the S̲h̲āh u Darwīs̲h̲ (S̲h̲āh u Gadā). Bābur severely criticises its morality, and Rieu, II, 656, seems to take the same view, but Professor Ethé clai…

b. Manṣūr b. Bāiḳarā (Black Prince?), and styled Abu’l G̲h̲āzī. This famous king of Ḵh̲urāsān was born at Herāt in Muḥarram 842 a. h., June 1438, and reigned there, with one interruption, from Ramaḍān 873 (March 1469), to the last month of 911 (May 1506). He was a distinguished soldier and sovereign, and was a munificent patron of letters. He also attempted poetry, and composed a dīwān, but it does not seem to have been of much value. According to Sām Mīrzā, he is also the author of a book called the Mad̲j̲ālis al-ʿUs̲h̲s̲h̲āḳ, which is a mixture of prose and poetry, and contains biogra…

(Muḥammad Hās̲h̲im Nihẓām al-Mulkī), historian; his title of Ḵh̲wāfī Ḵh̲ān was given him by Muḥammad S̲h̲āh and is derived from a family connection with Ḵh̲wāf, a district of eastern Persia, famous for its distinguished men. He was a son of Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Mir a confidentìal servant of Murād Bak̲h̲s̲h̲, youngest son of S̲h̲āh Ḏj̲ahān. The place and date of his birth are not known, but it seems probable that he was born in India, and a statement in his history (i. 739) implies that his birth took place about 1664. The statement is that 74 y…

, Persian historian. His real name was G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn, and he was the son of Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Hamām al-Dīn b. Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Ḏj̲alāl al-Dīn b. Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Burhān al-Dīn Muḥammad S̲h̲īrāzī. The historian Mīr Ḵh̲wānd [q.v.] was his maternal grandfather, and Niẓām al-Dīn Sulṭān Aḥmad Ṣadr was his maternal uncle. His Either was for many years the minister of Sulṭān Maḥmūd of Samarḳand, who was Bābur’s paternal uncle. Ḵh̲wandamīr must have been born about 1475, and probably in Herāt, where his maternal grandfather lived. The Haft Iḳlīm, however, enters him under Buk̲h̲ārā. ¶ His grandfather Mīr…

A Persian copper coin’ worth, according to Chardin, the tenth part of a s̲h̲āhī. It is now obsolete. Chardin says, iv. 279 (Rouen, 1723), the name means “the King’s money”, but see the titles Gosbeck and Cosbeague in Hobson-Jobson (revised ed.). Another form of the word seems to be Ḳazbīnī from Ḳazbīn where they were coined. (H. Beveridge)

, eldest son of S̲h̲āh Ḏj̲ahān. His mother was Ard̲j̲ūmand Bānu Mumtāz Maḥal, and he was born at Ad̲j̲mīr on the 20th March 1615. In 1633 he was married to his cousin Nādira Begam the daughter of Prince Parwēz, and granddaughter of Ḏj̲ahāngīr. By her he had one daughter, Ḏj̲ānī Begam or Ḏj̲ahān Zeb Bānū, and two sons Sulaimān S̲h̲ikōh and Sipihr S̲h̲ikōh. Dārā, says Elphinstone, was a frank and high-spirited prince, dignified in his manners, generous in his expense, liberal in his opinions, open in his enmities; but…

Mīrzā, second son of Bābur, and half-brother of Humāyūn; his mother was Gulruk̲h̲ Bēgam, and he was born in Kābul city about 1509. He was cleverer than Humāyūn and had a poetical turn, but he was cruel and vicious, and a restless schemer. He repeatedly rebelled against Humāyūn, who was at last compelled by his officers to make him innocuous by blinding him in the end of 1553. He went to Mecca in 1554 and died there in October 1557. The most interesting thing about him is the devotion of his wife, Māh Čīčak Bēgam Arg̲h̲ūn, daughter of S̲h̲āh Ḥasan of Sind. She insisted on going on board his vessel ¶ and …

, district in the Presidency Division of Bengal; area 2,143 sq. m.; pop. 1,372,274, of whom 713,152 are Muslims. The public offices are at Barhāmpūr, but the old capital is at Murs̲h̲idābād, which before Murs̲h̲id Kulī’s appointment was known as Mak̲h̲ṣūṣābād or Mak̲h̲sūdābād. The district is mainly agricultural, and produces much rice, jute, etc., and is famous for its mangoes. The silk industry was formerly of great importance, but has now much declined. The district played a very prominent pa…

, daughter of the Emperor Bābur, half-sister of Humāyūn, and aunt of Akbar. Her mother was. Dildār Begam, whose real name, apparently, was Ṣāliḥa Sulṭān, and who was daughter of Sulṭān Maḥmūd Mīrzā the ruler of Samarḳand. Gulbadan was born in the city of Kābul, and as in her charming Memoirs she tells us that she was eight years old when her father died, i. e. in the last week of December 1530, she must have been born in 929 (1523). She remained in Kābūl when her father went off to the conquest …

, wife of S̲h̲āh Ḏj̲ahān, and the lady for whom the Tād̲j̲ Maḥall [q. v.] was built. She was the daughter of Abu’l-Ḥasan Āṣaf Ḵh̲ān, who was Nūr Ḏj̲ahān’s brother. Her name was Ard̲j̲umand Bānū, the title Mumtāz Maḥall being conferred on her after S̲h̲āh Ḏj̲ahān’s accession. She was his favourite wife and bore him fourteen children, seven of whom grew up. She was born in 1593, married in 1612, and died, at Burhānpūr in the Deccan, very shortly after the birth of a daughter in 1631. She was beautiful and amiabie, and S̲h̲āh Ḏj̲ahān loved her tenderly. (H. Beveridge) Bibliography Ḵh̲wāfī Ḵh̲ān, Mun…

, the last king of the Mug̲h̲al (Mog̲h̲ul) dynasty. He was the lineal descendant of Tīmūr, as may be seen from the genealogical table in Blochmann’s translation of the Āʾīn-i Akbar. But there had been no king of Delhi who was possessed of real power since the death of Muḥammad S̲h̲āh in 1748. Bahādur S̲h̲āh’s full name was Abu ’l-Muẓaffar Sirād̲j̲ al-Dīn Muḥammad Bahādur S̲h̲āh, and he was the second son of Akbar S̲h̲āh II. He was born in October 1775 and succeeded to the title of King in September 1837. Bahādur S̲h̲āh, who was then over seventy years of age, joined the Mutineers in 1…

The old capital of Bengal, situated in the district of Mālda, Eastern Bengal and Assam, Lat. 24° 54′ N. Long. 88° 8′ E. It lies east of the Ganges, on a narrow and deserted channel of that river, and is twelve miles from the town of Mālda. The name Gaur is old, and according to Firis̲h̲ta it was founded many centuries ago by a Hindu named S̲h̲ankal. In later times it was known by the name of Lakhnawtī, an abridgement of Laks̲h̲maṇavatī, a name derived from the Hindu king of Bengal. It was captu…