Gulbadan Begum - Old Age and Death

Old Age and Death

When she was 70, her name is mentioned with that of Muhammad-yar, a son of her daughter, who left the court in disgrace; again, she and Salima join in intercession to Akbar for Prince Salim; again, with Hamida, she receives royal gifts of money and jewels.

Her charities were large, and it is said of her that she added day unto day in the endeavour to please God, and this by succouring the poor and needy.

When she was 80, in February, 1603, her departure was heralded by a few days of fever. Hamida was with her to the end, and it may be that Ruqaiya, Hindal’s daughter, also watched her last hours. As she lay with closed eyes, the Empress Hamida Banu Begum spoke to her by the long-used name of affection, "Jiu!"(live or May you Live. There was no response. Then, "Gul-badan!" The dying woman opened her eyes, quoted the verse, "I die—may you live!" and died.

Akbar helped to carry her bier some distance, and for her soul's repose made lavish gifts and did good works. He will have joined in the silent prayer for her soul before committal of her body to the earth, and if no son were there, he, as a near kinsman, may have answered the Imam’s injunction to resignation: "It is the will of God."

It is said that for the two years after her death, Akbar lamented constantly that he missed his favorite aunt, until his own death in 1605.

Gulbadan was also said to have been a poet, fluent in both Persian and Turkish. None of her poems have survived.However there are references to two verses and a quaseeda written by her by the Emperor BhadurShahZafar in his collection of verses as well as some references by Mir TaqiMir .It is unfortunate that a large collection of imperial Mughal archival material which had found its way to lukhnow was destryed by the Farangis in order to impose and lend substase to tho myth of centuries of foreign rule over Hindustan instead of the ninety years which was actually endured

For much of history the manuscript of Gulbadan Begum remained in obscurity. There is little mention of it in contemporary literature of other Mughal writers, especially the authors who chronicled Akbar’s rule. Yet, the little known account of Gulbadan Begum is an important document for historians, with its window into a woman’s perspective from inside the Mughal harem.