Udaipuri Mahal
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Udaipuri Mahal | |
|---|---|
| Died | 8 June 1707 |
| Burial place | Shrine of Qutb-al Aqtab, Delhi |
| Partner | Aurangzeb |
| Children | Muhammad Kam Bakhsh |
Udaipuri Mahal (died shortly after 8 June 1707[citation needed]) was Georgian slave girl, who was a concubine[1] of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. She is thought to be the most favourite begum of the emperor during his old age.
Biography
Udaipuri Mahal was a slave girl, who was initially brought in as a concubine for Aurangzeb's older brother, Dara Shikoh. When her son Muhammad Kam Bakhsh intrigued with the enemy at the siege of Jinji, Aurangzeb angrily remarked, — 'A slave-girl's son comes to no good. The contemporary Venetian traveler Manucci speaks of her as a Georgian[2] slave-girl of Dara Shikoh's harem, who, on the downfall of her first master, became the concubine of his victorious rival. She seems to have been a very young woman at the time, as she first became a mother in 1667, when Aurangzeb was verging on fifty. She retained her youth and influence over the Emperor till his death, and was the darling of his old age. Under the spell of her beauty he pardoned the many faults of Kam Bakhsh and overlooked her freaks of drunkenness, which must have shocked so pious a Muslim.
Kam Baksh is also called 'a dancing-girl's son'. Orme speaks of her as a Circassian, evidently on the authority of Manucci.
In a letter written by Aurangzeb on his death-bed to Kam Bakhsh, he says "Udaipuri, your mother, who has been with me during my illness, wishes to accompany [me in death]." From this expression Tod infers, "Her desire to burn shows her to have been a Rajput."
When Aurangzeb died she grieved deeply[citation needed] and died within four months at Gwalior, in July 1707. Bahadur Shah I carried out her dying wishes with regard to her household and forwarded her remains for burial in a grove close to the shrine of Qutb-al Aqtab, Delhi.
References
- ^ Mehta, Jl (1986). Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 480. ISBN 9788120710153.
- ^ Chandra, Satish (2005). Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II. Har-Anand Publications. p. 274. ISBN 9788124110669.
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