Gulbadan Begum

Gulbadan Begum
Shahzadi of the Mughal Empire
Born	1523 Kabul, present-day Afghanistan
Died	7 February 1603 (aged 80) Agra, India
Burial	Gardens of Babur
Spouse	Khizr Khwaja(D-1552)
House	Timurid
Father	Babur
Mother	Dildar Begum
Religion	Islam

Shahzadi Gulbadan Begum (c. 1523 – 7 February 1603) was a Mughal Princess, the daughter of Emperor Babur of the Mughal Empire, she is most known as the author of Humayun Nama, the account of the life of her half-brother, Humayun. Later, her nephew, Prince Jalal-ud-Dīn ascended the imperial throne as Emperor Akbar the Great. She was also the paternal aunt of Akbar's chief consort, Empress Ruqaiya Sultan Begum.

Her name means literally "with a body like a rose flower" in Turkish. She was a descendant of the lines of highest Central Asian aristocracy: Timur through his son Miran Shah, and Genghis Khan through his son Chagatai Khan. Her mother was Dildar Begum and she was half-sister to Humayun, the second Mughal emperor.

She also finds reference throughout, Akbarnama, the Book of Akbar, written by Abul Fazal, and much of her biographical details are accessible through the work.

When Princess Gulbadan was born her father(Babur) had been lord in Kabul for 19 years; he was master also in Kunduz and Badakhshan, had held Bajaur and Swat since 1519, and Kandahar for a year. During 10 of those 19 years he had been styled "padshah", in token of headship of the house of Timur and of his independent sovereignty. Two years later Babur set out on his last expedition across the Indus to conquer an empire in India. Gulbadan Begum was brought to India at the age of six, was married at 17, and had at least one son. Gulbadan's siblings included her elder brother, Hindal Mirza, Kamran Mirza, and two elder sisters, the princesses: Gulrang Begum and Gulchehra Begum, while her younger brother Alwar Mirza, died in childhood. Among her siblings, Gulbadan was very close to her brother, Hindal Mirza.

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