Daughter of Sulānam Begam Mīrān-shāhī and grand-daughter of Sulān Aḥmad Mīrzā. Which of Sulānam's three husbands was Kilān Khān Begam's father is not said; from her daughter's title, Tīmūr Sulān Uzbeg seems most probable.

Mems., 22.

Gul-badan, 24b.

CXI. Lād-malik Turkomān.

(?) Mistress of the Fort; Pers. lād, fortress, and Ar. malik, possessor, ruler.

Wife of (1) Tāj Khān Sarangkhānī and (2) of Shīr Khān Sūr (935H., 1528-29).

B. & H., II. 131, 132, and authorities there cited by Mr.
Erskine.

CXII. Lāl-shād Khānam Chaghatāī Mughal.

Perhaps, with a lip like the gleam of a ruby; Pers. lāl, ruby, and shād, gleam, happy.

Eldest daughter of Sulān Aḥmad Khān Chaghatāī and of a ‘slave’ (amm-i-wald).

‘Although she was outside the circle of distinction, she was finally married to Muḥammad Amīr Mīrzā Dughlāt.’

Tār. Rash., E. & R., 161.

CXIII. Laīfa-sulān āghācha.

Of pre-eminent delicacy or gentleness; Ar. laīfa, delicate, and a jest, and Ar. sulān, sway.

Chār-shambihī, a Wednesday wife, of Sulān Ḥusain Mīrzā Bāyqrā; mother of Abū'l-ḥasan and of Muḥam-mad Muḥsin (kepek, round-shouldered).

The Ḥabību-s-siyār says she was a relation of Jahān-shāh (? Turkomān or Barlās). She was dead before 912H. (1506).

Mems., 179, 183.

CXIV. Laīf Begam Duladāī Barlās.

Grand-daughter of Aḥmad Hājī Beg; wife (1) of Sulān Aḥmad Mīrzā Mīrān-shāhī; (2) of Ḥamza Sulān Uzbeg, and by him mother of three sons who fell into Bābar's hands at Ḥiṣār, and were released by him.

Both her grandfather Aḥmad and his paternal uncle, Janī Beg Duladāī, were amīrs of her first husband.

Mems., 23.

CXV. Māh-afroz Begam.

The princess who outshines the moon; Pers. māh, moon, and afroz, dazzling, illuminating.

She was a wife of Kāmrān and mother of Ḥājī Begam. Two of Kāmrān's wives are not known by their personal names, Hazāra Begam and the daughter of Uncle 'Alī Mīrzā Begchik. Māh-afroz may be one of these.

Gul-badan, 64b.

CXVI. Māham anaga.

Nurse of Akbar; wife of Nadīm kūka; mother of Bāqī and Adham kūkas. Cf. Bābū āghā. Much of her story is given in the Introduction to this volume.

CXVII. Māham Begam: ākā and ākām (lady and my lady).

The word Māham is explained by Mr. Erskine (who did not know Gul-badan's book) as Bābar's name of endearment for his favourite wife, and as meaning ‘my moon.’ Mr. Schuyler also translates it by the same words. He says that a woman who was shot for political offences in Bukhārā was known as ‘My moon (Māham) of Keninghez.’

But many Māhams are chronicled, and not only Bābar gives the name to Humāyūn's mother; Gul-badan speaks frequently of ‘my lady who was Māham Begam,’ and Māham seems to be her personal name. It is used at least once as a man's. (Akbar-nāma, I. 320, Māham 'Alī Qulī Khān.)

Whether māham is to be classed with sulānam, khānam, begam, shāham, I am unable to say.

Sir Douglas Forsyth (Mission to Yarkand, 84) translates khānam and begam by my lord and my ehief. But neither is a domestic word; both are in common use in the sources to designate, for general readers, the wives or daughters of khāns and begs, or princes. Sulānam also is a common title, and from Gul-badan's use of it does not appear to be a personal name, but to answer to sulān as khānam to khān, etc..

Against reading khānam as my lady, with a sense of possession or admission of superiority (as is done by Sir Douglas Forsyth), there are the Turkī words formed from it, viz., khānam-alī, honeysuckle, and khānam-būjakī, ladybird. Shāham, which has the appearance of being formed from shāh like the others by the suffix am or im, is used both for man and woman. Shīram occurs as a man's name.

Māham was a wife of whom it was said that she was to Bābar what 'Āyisha was to Muḥammad, and she was Humāyūn's mother. Gul-badan mentions her often, yet no one of the numerous sources I have consulted, sets down her family or the name of her father.

At one time it appeared to me probable that she was a Begchik Mughal, because Bābar calls Yādgār Begchik, aghaī when speaking of him in connection with Humāyūn. Further consideration led to the abandon­ment of the theory.

Uncle Yādgār, Uncle 'Alī, and Uncle Ibrāhīm (Cha­pūk , slashed-face) are named as being three of the eight brothers or half-brothers of Gul-rukh, the mother of Kāmrān; and Bega (Ḥajī) Begam is the daughter of Uncle Yādgār.

Amongst these eight Begchiks I do not find one named Uncle Muhammad 'Alī, and there is a good deal to lead one to regard a certain Khwāja Muḥam-mad 'Alī aghāī as being Māham's brother.

He was associated with Khost, and it is on record that Humāyūn visited his maternal grandparents (nanahā) in Khost. The Begchiks do not seem to have been connected with Khost. Bābar speaks frequently of Khwāja Muḥammad 'Alī as being em­ployed in the government of Khost (925H.); as coming from Khost for orders, etc., and the mīr-zādas of Khost also are recorded as visiting the court. One of Māham's children was born in Khost.

Bābar frequently mentions an 'Abdu-l-malūk Khostī, and he may be a connection of Māham. He, however, appears as Khostī, Khwastī, Qastī, qūrchī, Qūrchīn, and without a more complete good Turkī text no opinion can be formed as to his identity.

Gul-badan says that Ākā (Māham) was related to the owners of the New Year's Garden in Kābul, and this was made by Ulugh Beg Kābulī Mīrān-shāhī.

Abū'l-faẓl says Māham was of a noble Khurāsān family, related to Sulān Ḥusain Mīrzā (Bāyqrā), and, like Ḥamīda-bānū Begam, was of the line of Shaikh Aḥmad Jāmī (az dūdman-i-a'yān wa ashrāf-i-Khurāsān and, wa ba Sulān Ḥusain Mīrzā nisbat-i-khwesh dārand. Perhaps nisbat-i-khwesh implies blood-relationship on the father's side.

Gul-badan speaks of Māham's Mughal servants, but a Chaghatāī, a Begchik, a Qūchīn is also a Mughal, and Bābar often sinks the divisional tribe-name in the general one, Mughal (e.g., Mems. 9 and 21).

Some considerations suggest that Māham was a Dughlāt Mughal, and of the family of 'Abdu-l-qadūs, but no valid opinion can be formed until a text as good as the Elphinstone is available for guidance.

Bābar married Māham in Harāt when he visited that city after Sulān Ḥusain Mīrzā's death, and in 912H. (1506). Humāyūn was born on March 6, 1508 (Ẕū'l-qa'da 4th, 913H.). Four other children were born to her, and all died in infancy. They were Bār-bul, Mihr-jahān, Isān-daulat and Fārūq.

The events of her career are detailed in the Introduc­tion to this volume and in Gul-badan Begam's book.