Shams ud-Din Ataga Khan (died 16 May 1562) was a prominent figure in the court of the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

emperor

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

. He held important positions in Akbar's court, including that of ''

wakil Vekil or Vakil was the term used for the deputies and ''de facto'' prime ministers of the Mughal Emperor in Mughal administration. He was considered the most powerful person after Emperor in the Mughal Empire. ''Vakil'' was one of the highest posi ...

'' (advisor or minister), to which he was appointed in November 1561, much to the displeasure of

Maham Anga Maham Anga (died 25 June 1562) was the foster mother and chief wet nurse of the Mughal emperor Akbar. She was the political adviser of the teenage emperor and the de facto regent of the Mughal Empire from 1560 to 1562. Biography Maham Anga w ...

, another prominent advisor, whose son,

Adham Khan Adham Khan (1531 – 16 May 1562) was a general of Mughal emperor Akbar. He was the younger son of Maham Anga, and thus, was the foster brother of Akbar. In his fourth regnal year, Akbar married him to Javeda Begum, the daughter of Baqi Khan B ...

, murdered him in 1562. Ataga Khan was the husband of Jiji Anga, one of Akbar's

wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeding, breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, if she is unable to nurse the child herself sufficiently or chooses not to do so. Wet-nursed children may be known a ...

Service under Humayun

Shams-ud-din was the son of Mir Yar Muhammad of Ghazni, a simple farmer, and started life as a soldier in

Kamran Mirza Kamran Mirza () (1512 – 5 October 1557) was the second son of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire and the first Mughal Emperor. Kamran Mirza was born in Kabul to Babur's wife Gulrukh Begum. He was half-brother to Babur's eldest son Hu ...

’s army. He saved

Humayun Nasir al-Din Muhammad (6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), commonly known by his regnal name Humayun (), was the second Mughal emperor, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Northern India, and Pakistan from ...

from drowning in the

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

. As a reward, Humayun took him into his personal service and his wife Jiji became one of Akbar's foster-mothers. She was called foster-mother (''Anagah'') and her husband Shamsuddin was designated foster-father (''Atgah''). He also received the title of

Khan Khan may refer to: * Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by various ethnicities Art and entertainment * Khan (band), an English progressiv ...

and his biological son, Aziz became Akbar's foster or milk-brother (''Kokah''). In 1545, he accompanied Akbar to Kabul alongside Jiji and Aziz.

Service under Akbar

In 1560, when Akbar relieved his

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

Bairam Khan Muhammad Bairam Khan (; 18 January 1501 – 31 January 1561), commonly known as Bairam Khan or Bayram Khan was an important military commander, and later commander-in-chief of the Mughal Empire, Mughal army, a powerful statesman and regent at ...

of his duties and instructed him to go to

Makkah Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above sea level. Its metropo ...

for

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

(

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

), he was goaded by his political opponents to rebel. Bairam marched upon

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

, intent on taking

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. Akbar sent Shams-ud-din with the vanguard of the Mughal army to halt or at least slow down Bairam 's advance. Shams-ud-din managed to block Bairam Khan's advance near the village of Gunecur, near

. He tried to negotiate with Bairam, to no avail. After a fierce, heavily contested battle, Shams-ud-din triumphed and Bairam was forced to retreat. For his victory, Shams-ud-din was hailed as a hero and received lavish gifts, including robes of honour,

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...

and kettledrums that had once belonged to Bairam. Later, Bairam surrendered to Akbar and was pardoned and chose to continue his journey to Makkah; en route he was assassinated by a group of Afghans due to their leader's personal vendetta. In 1561, Akbar dismissed

Munim Khan Munʿim Khān (7 March 1525 – 23 October 1575) was a Mughal general under both emperors Humayun and Akbar. He was titled ''Khān-i-Khānān'' ('Khan of Khans') when Emperor Akbar appointed him as Prime Minister of the Mughal Empire in 1560. I ...

as Vakil and appointed Shams-ud-din in his stead. Shams-ud-din would prove to be a competent and loyal administrator. Atgah Khan Tomb

Death

On 16 May 1562

accompanied by a few ruffians burst in upon Ataga Khan as he sat in the ''Diwan-e-Aam'', the hall of audience, in

Agra Fort The Agra Fort (''Qila Agra'') is a historical Mughal fort in the city of Agra, also known as Agra's Red Fort. Mughal emperor Humayun was crowned at this fort in 1530. It was later renovated by the Mughal emperor Akbar from 1565 and the presen ...

, and murdered him, in the courtyard of the ''Diwan-e-Aam''. Hearing of this murder, an enraged Akbar ordered Adham Khan to be defenestrated from the ramparts of the fort. The fall only broke Adham Khan's legs, so the still angry emperor ordered that he be thrown down again. The second fall killed Adham Khan instantly. After the death of Atagha Khan, his tomb was built by the instructions of Mughal emperor Akbar and built by his foster brother,

Mirza Aziz Koka Mirza Aziz Koka ( ), also known as Kokaltash and by his sobriquet Khan-i-Azam (''The Greatest Khan''), was the foster brother of Akbar, who remained one of the leading nobles at the courts of the Mughal emperors Akbar and Jahangir. He was also ...

, in 1566–67. It is situated on the northern edge of Nizamuddin, most known for the

dargah A Sufi shrine or dargah ( ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargāh'' दरगाह درگاہ, ''dôrgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervi ...

of 13th century

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

saint

Nizamuddin Auliya Khawaja Syed Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya (sometimes spelled Awliya; 1238 – 3 April 1325), also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin (), Sultan-ul-Mashaikh () and Mahbub-e-Ilahi (), was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, a ...

. Its architect was Ustad Khuda Quli and calligrapher Baqi Muhammad Khan from

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

, who added

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

ic verses on the white marble slabs, inlaid on the red sandstone exterior walls, which were suitably chosen reflecting his mode of death, considered a martyrdom by Mughal historian, Abul Fazal. An inscription on the southern door of the tomb mentions that it was finished in 974 AH (1566–67).

References

External links

* {{Mughal Empire Mughal nobility 1562 deaths Year of birth unknown 16th-century Indian politicians 16th-century Mughal Empire people