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Concept
Nawab Bai
Summary
Rahmat-un-Nissa (رحمت النساء بیگم; died 1691), better known by her title Nawab Bai (نواب بائی; meaning "The Great"), was a secondary wife of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. She gave birth to Aurangzeb's first two sons, including Bahadur Shah I, who became Mughal emperor in 1707. Nawab Bai was unpopular at the Mughal court and lost her husband's favour quite early on in her life while the misconduct of her sons, Muhammad Sultan and Muhammad Muazzam, embittered her latter life. She died in 1691 in Delhi after long years of separation from her husband and children.
There are two conflicting accounts of Nawab Bai's parentage. According to one account, she was the daughter of Raja Tajuddin Khan of the Rajauri State in Kashmir, and belonged to the Jarral clan.
According to another account by the Mughal historian Khafi Khan, she was the daughter of a Muslim saint named Syed Shah Mir, a descendant of Abdul-Qadir Gilani, who had taken to a life of retirement among the hills of Rajauri. The Raja of Rajauri, who became close to this holy man, offered him his daughter in marriage. Syed Shah Mir accepted and they became parents to a son and a daughter. Then the saint went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where all trace of him was lost. When Shah Jahan later demanded from the Raja a tribute of money, and a daughter of his house, the Raja sent him this granddaughter, Nawab Bai, who was noted for her beauty, goodness and intelligence. According to modern historians, she was given this false pedigree in order to give Bahadur Shah a right to call himself a Sayyid.
In the imperial harem, she was taught languages and culture by a set of masters, governesses, and Persian women versed in court manners, and in 1638 she was married to Aurangzeb becoming his secondary wife. After her marriage, she was given the name Rahmat-un-Nissa.
A year later, she gave birth to Aurangzeb's first son, Prince Muhammad Sultan Mirza. He was born on 29 December 1639, at Mathura. Over the next eight years, she gave birth to two more children.
Official source
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