Qutlugh Nigar

Khanum Khanum, Hanum, Khanom, or Khanoum ( kz, Hanym/Ханйм, uz, Xonim/Хоним, az, Xanım, tr, Hanım, fa, خانم, hi, ख़ानुम, bn, খাঁনম/খানম, ar, خانم, ur, خانم, sq, Hanëm) is a female royal and ...

(''also spelled Kutlak Nigar Khanum''; d. 1505) was the first wife and chief consort of Umar Shaikh Mirza II, the ruler of

Ferghana Valley The Fergana Valley (; ; ) in Central Asia lies mainly in eastern Uzbekistan, but also extends into southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Divided into three republics of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse and in the ...

. She was a princess of

Moghulistan Moghulistan (from fa, , ''Moghulestân'', mn, Моголистан), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Ten ...

by birth and was a daughter of

Yunus Khan Yunus Khan (b. 1416 – d. 1487) ( ug, يونس خان}), was Khan of Moghulistan from 1462 until his death in 1487. He is identified by many historians with Ḥājjī `Ali (, Pinyin: ''Hazhi Ali'') ( ug, ھاجى علي}), of the contempor ...

, the

Great Khan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...

. She was also the mother of Emperor

Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through hi ...

, the founder of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

of India.

Family and lineage

Qutlugh Nigar

was born as a princess of Moghulistan and was the second daughter of Yunus Khan, the Great Khan of Moghulistan, and his chief consort

Aisan Daulat Begum Aisan Daulat Begum (died June, 1505, other spellings ''Ehsan Daulat, Isan Daulat, Ësan Dawlat'') was the first wife and chief consort of Yunus Khan of Moghulistan. She was the mother of Qutlugh Nigar Khanum, and hence the grandmother of the first ...

. Her paternal grandfather was

Uwais Khan Uwais Khan ibn Sher Ali also referred to as Sultan Vais Khan, was the Moghul Khan of Mughalistan; (first from 1418 to 1421 C.E. and again from 1425 to 1429 C.E.). He was the nephew of Sher Muhammad. In English, his name has been variously spelle ...

, the Moghul Khan of Moghulistan and her father's predecessor. Qutlugh was a direct descendant of Chenghiz Khan, the founder and

(Emperor) of the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

through her father's side. Being the daughter of a Khan, Qutlugh held the title of "

" ("daughter of a Khan or princess") by birth. All of Qutlugh's siblings became her sisters-in-law since her elder sister,

Mihr Nigar Khanum Mihr Nigar Khanum was the first wife of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, the King of Samarkand and Bukhara. She was a princess of Moghulistan by birth and was the eldest daughter of Yunus Khan, the Great Khan of Moghulistan and his chief consort Aisan Daulat ...

, married

Sultan Ahmed Mirza Sultan Ahmed Mirza was the eldest son of Abu Sa'id Mirza on whose death he became the Timurid ruler of Samarkand and Bukhara from 1469 until 1494. During his rule, he successfully repelled at least one invasion attempt by the Kara Koyunlu, and f ...

, the eldest son of

Abu Sa'id Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza ( Chagatay/ fa, ابو سعید میرزا; 14248 February 1469) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire during the mid-fifteenth century. Born a minor prince of the Timurid dynasty, Abu Sa'id quickly established himself as the most ...

. Her younger sister, Khub Nigar Khanum, married Sultan Ahmed Mirza's successor,

Sultan Mahmud Mirza Sultan Mahmud Mirza ( 1453 – January 1495) was a prince of Timurid branch of Transoxiana, son of Abu Sa'id Mirza. Biography His father gave him the government of Hisar and Termez in 1459 (according to Babur Astarabad), but lost to Sultan Husa ...

Marriage

Qutlugh married Prince Umar Shaikh, the fourth son of Abu Sa'id Mirza, the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

of the

Timurid Empire The Timurid Empire ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani (Chagatai language, Chagatai: کورگن, ''Küregen''; fa, , ''Gūrkāniyān''), was a PersianateB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition, 2006 Tu ...

in 1475. She was his first wife and chief consort. Before his death, her father-in-law had divided his empire between his sons and Umar was given to rule Ferghana Valley in today's

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

. Here, at

Andizhan Andijan (sometimes spelled Andijon or Andizhan in English) ( uz, Andijon / Андижон / ئەندىجان; fa, اندیجان, ''Andijân/Andīǰān''; russian: Андижан, ''Andižan'') is a city in Uzbekistan. It is the administrative, ...

, she gave birth to Umar's eldest son, Prince Babur on 14 February 1483. Babur went on to become the founder of the Mughal Empire of India and was the first Mughal emperor. Qutlugh also gave birth to Umar's eldest daughter, Princess

Khanzada Begum Khanzada Begum ( 1478 – 1545) was a Timurid princess and the eldest daughter of Umar Shaikh Mirza II, the ''amir'' of Ferghana. She was also the elder sister of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire. She and her brother remained deeply attac ...

, who was five years older than Babur and was born sometime in 1478. Qutlugh, being a Mongol princess, was well educated. With the untimely death of her husband, when her son Babur was only ten, Qutlugh and her mother Aisan Daulat Begum, raised him themselves. She accompanied her son during most of his guerrilla expeditions and throne-less times.

Death

Qutlugh Nigar had fever for six days and died in June 1505, five or six months after Babur conquered

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

. She, therefore, did not live to see her son become Mughal emperor. She was buried in New Year's Garden. Babur paid 1,000 coined ''misqal'' to his kinsmen, the owners of the garden, and laid her there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khanum, Qutlugh Nigar 1505 deaths 15th-century women 16th-century women Borjigin Women in 15th-century warfare Mothers of Mughal emperors Year of birth unknown