UgsPoXanB at 01:21, 12 March 2026

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{{Short description|Concubine of Aurangzeb}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Zainabadi Mahal
| title =
| image = File:Aurangzeb and Zainabadi Mahal, c.1640.jpg
| caption = Aurangzeb and Zainabadi Mahal, c.1640
| reign =
| reign-type =
| issue =
| birth_name = Hira Bai
| birth_date =
| birth_place = [[Kashmir]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| death_date = {{circa}} 1654
| death_place = [[Aurangabad, Maharashtra|Aurangabad]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| burial_place = [[Aurangabad, Maharashtra|Aurangabad]]
}}

'''Zainabadi Mahal''' ({{langx|fa|زين آبادی محل}}; born '''Hira Bai''';<ref name="Chandra2005">{{cite book | author = Satish Chandra | date = 2005 | title = Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II | publisher = Har-Anand Publications | pages = 274 | isbn = 9788124110669}}</ref> died {{circa}} 1654<ref name="Chatterjee1911">{{cite book | editor = Ramananda Chatterjee | date = 1911 | title = The Modern Review, Volume 10 | publisher = Modern Review Office | pages = 524}}</ref>) was a [[History of concubinage in the Muslim world|concubine]] of Mughal emperor [[Aurangzeb]].<ref name="Mukherjee2001">{{cite book | author = Soma Mukherjee | date = 2001 | title = Royal Mughal Ladies and Their Contributions | publisher = Gyan Books | pages = 25 | isbn = 9788121207607}}</ref>

==Life==
[[File:Female musicians wedding of Aurangzeb.jpg|thumb|Singers and dancers attending Aurangzeb, Hira Bai possibly among them. ]]
Described as the 'darling of Aurangzeb's youth',<ref>{{cite book | author = Gajendra Narayan Singh | date = 2018 | title = Muslim Shasakon Ka Raagrang Aur Fankaar Shahanshaah Aurangzeb Aalamgir | publisher = Vani Prakashan | pages = 102 | isbn = 9789387648944}}</ref> Zainabadi Mahal was a Kashmiri Hindu, abandoned by her parents and sold in the market.<ref name="Krieger-Krynicki2005">{{cite book | author = Annie Krieger-Krynicki | date = 2005 | title = Captive Princess: Zebunissa, Daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb | publisher = Oxford University Press | pages = 74 | isbn = 978-0-19-579837-1}}</ref> She was a slave girl of Mir Khalil,<ref name="Sharma2016">{{cite book | author = Sudha Sharma | date = 21 March 2016 | title = The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India | publisher = SAGE Publications India | pages = 73, 78 | isbn = 9789351505679}}</ref> and had been a singing<ref name="Sarkar1912">{{cite book | author = Sir Jadunath Sarkar | date = 1912 | title = History of Aurangzib: Reign of Shah Jehan | publisher = M.C. Sarkar & sons | pages = 170}}</ref> and dancing girl.<ref name="Sharma2016"/> Mir Khalil was the son-in-law of [[Abul-Hasan ibn Mirza Ghiyas Beg|Asaf Khan]], and was successively surnamed Muftakhar Khan, Sipahdar Khan, and Khan-i-Zaman. He was sent to the Deccan as Chief of the Artillery in the 23rd year of [[Shah Jahan]], 1649–50. In 1653, he became commandant of Dharur. It was only in Aurangzeb's reign that he became subahdar of [[Khandesh]].<ref name="Chatterjee1909">{{cite book | editor = Ramananda Chatterjee | date = 1909 | title = The Modern Review, Volume 6 | publisher = Modern Review Office | pages = 205}}</ref>

In 1652<ref name="Chandra2005"/> or 1653,<ref name="Sarkar1912"/> during his viceroyalty of the Deccan, the prince went with the ladies of his harem to the garden of Zainabad, Burhanpur, named Ahu-khanah (Deer Park). Here he saw Zainabadi, who had come there with the other slaves of Khan-i-Zaman's wife (the Prince's maternal aunt), and was jumping up to pluck a mango from the tree.<ref name="Chatterjee1909"/><ref name="Hansen1986">{{cite book | author = Waldemar Hansen | date = 1986 | title = The Peacock Throne: The Drama of Mogul India | publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | pages = 162 | isbn = 9788120802254}}</ref> Her musical skills and charms captivated Aurangzeb.<ref name="Mukherjee2001"/> He had fallen in love with her, and negotiated with Mir Khalil to give her to him. Mir Khalil proposed an exchange between Zainabadi and one of Aurangzeb's slave girls, Chatter Bai.<ref name="Krieger-Krynicki2005"/><ref name="National Archives of India">{{cite book | author=National Archives of India | title=Indian Archives | publisher=National Archives of India. | issue=v. 50 | year=2001 | page=146}}</ref>

She was surnamed Zainabadi Mahal,<ref name="Sarkar1979">{{cite book | author = Sir Jadunath Sarkar | date = 1979 | title = A Short History of Aurangzib, 1618-1707 | publisher = Orient Longman | pages = 13 | isbn = 978-0-86131-083-8}}</ref> because ever since from the reign of Emperor [[Akbar]], it had been ordained that the names of the women of the imperial harem should not be mentioned in public, they should be designated by some epithet, derived either from the place of their birth or the city or country where they had entered the imperial harem.<ref>{{cite book|first=Abraham|last=Eraly|title=The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age|publisher=Penguin Book India|date=January 1, 2007|pages=126|isbn=978-0-143-10262-5}}</ref> Aurangzeb then lingered in Burhanpur for the next nine months in spite of Shah Jahan's repeated orders urging him to go to Aurangabad.<ref name="Sarkar 1973">{{cite book | last=Sarkar | first=J. | title=History of Aurangzib: Mainly Based on Persian Sources | publisher=Orient Longman | issue=v. 1-2 | year=1973 | page= 94}}</ref><ref name="Sarkar 1981">{{cite book | last=Sarkar | first=J. | title=without special title | publisher=South Asian Publishers | series=History of Aurangzib: Mainly Based on Persian Sources | year=1981 | page= 94}}</ref> One day, Zainabadi taunted him by offering him a cup of wine in order to test his love.<ref name="Chatterjee1909"/><ref name="Hansen1986"/> This love-affair proceeded to such lengths as to reach Shah Jahan's ears. His elder brother, [[Dara Shikoh]], made this incident known to their father in order to slander Aurangzeb.<ref name="Chatterjee1909"/>

She probably accompanied him to Daulatabad when he made a month long journey there in November 1653,<ref name="Gandhi 2020">{{cite book | last=Gandhi | first=S. | title=The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India | publisher=Harvard University Press | year=2020 | isbn=978-0-674-98729-6 | page=173}}</ref> and died in
around 1654.<ref name="Sarkar1912"/> She was buried at Aurangabad close to the big tank. On the day of her death the prince became very unwell; in extreme agitation he rode out to hunt.<ref name="Chatterjee1909"/><ref name="Sarkar">{{cite book | editor = Sir Jadunath Sarkar | author = Sir Jadunath Sarkar | date = 1912 | title = Anecdotes of Aurangzib: Translated Into English with Notes and Historical Essays | publisher = M.C. Sarkar & Sons | pages = 45}}</ref><ref name="Sharma1999">{{cite book | author = S.R. Sharma | date = 1999 | title = Mughal Empire in India: A Systematic Study Including Source Material, Volume 2 | publisher = Atlantic Publishers & Dist | pages = 459 | isbn = 9788171568185}}</ref> [[Niccolao Manucci]], a Venetian adventurer, who traveled through India during the period reports that after she died, Aurangzeb "vowed never to take up wine or to listen to music," and would later claim that God had been very gracious to him by putting an end to that dancing girl's life, for through her the prince had "committed so many sins that he can risk of never reigning by being occupied in such vices."<ref name="Gandhi 2020"/>

==In literature==
* Zainabadi is a character in [[Khushwant Singh]]'s historical novel ''[[Delhi: A Novel]]'' (1990).<ref name="Singh 1990 p. 130">{{cite book | last=Singh | first=K. | title=Delhi | publisher=Penguin Books | series=A Penguin Book: Fiction | year=1990 | isbn=978-0-14-012619-8}}</ref>
* Zainabadi is a character in Hamid Ismailov's historical novel ''A Poet and Bin-Laden: A Reality Novel'' (2018).<ref name="Ismailov2018">{{cite book | author = Hamid Ismailov | date = 1 January 2018 | title = A Poet and Bin-Laden: A Reality Novel | publisher = Glagoslav Publications | pages = | isbn = 978-1-909156-37-1}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:1654 deaths]]
[[Category:Concubines of Mughal emperors]]
[[Category:Mughal royal consorts]]
[[Category:Women from the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:17th-century Mughal Empire people]]
[[Category:17th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:People from Burhanpur]]
[[Category:Slave concubines]]
[[Category:Indian slaves]]
[[Category:Indian courtesans]]
[[Category:17th-century slaves]]
[[Category:Indian female dancers]]

Zainabadi Mahal - Revision history

UgsPoXanB at 01:21, 12 March 2026