Bairam Khan

Bairam Khan also Bayram Khan ( _fa. بيرام خان) (died 1561) was a powerful Turcoman [Annemarie Schimmel: The Empire of the Great Mughals] noble and regent of eastern Anatolian and Azerbaijani origin at the court of the Mughal emperors Humayun and Akbar whose father and grandfather had joined Babur's service. [ Wheeler M. Thackston, "The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor", 2002, xix, The Modern Library]

Bairam Khan was born in Badakhshan and belonged to the Baharlu clan of the Turkmen Qara Qoyunlu tribe. The Qara Qoyunlu had ruled Western Persia for decades before being overthrown by their Aq Qoyunlu rivals and, eventually, by the Safavid dynasty.

Bairam Khan acted as the regent and raised the young emperor Akbar who assumed the throne at the age of fourteen upon Humayun's death in 1556. He also contributed greatly to the reconquest of the Mughal empire under Humayun, while his most notable battle was at the Second Battle of Panipat. he was appointed as a guardian for Akbar.

Bairam was dismissed upon Akbar's coming-of-age in 1560. He then left upon a hajj to Mecca. [ [http://www.indiagrid.com/cgi-bin/viewarticle.cgi?cat=art&dmmy=ok&postid=4499&stq=1350 Rahim-Abdul Rahim Khankhana at Indiagrid] ]

When Bairam asked Akbar to execute Hemu, Akbar refused - so Bairam instead seized his sword and decapitated Hemu himself.

While traveling through Gujarat, [Bose, Mandakranta. [http://books.google.com/books?id=lNOUSo6Eb-oC&pg=PA208&lpg=PA208&dq=%22bairam+khan%22+killed&source=web&ots=yRCkqYugZe&sig=kJTCJXJYMxGl04cTWLbxQQ4T3O4 Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India] , 2000.] he was killed by a Lohani Pashtun assassin whose father had been killed five years ago in a battle led by Bairam. He died on January 31, 1561.

Legacy

Bairam Khan's accomplishments were recognized both in Afghanistan and India. He was a perfect master of the sword and the pen. His liberal patronage attracted men of letters and masters of fine arts.

Bairam Khan has left a small divan of Chagatay, Persian and Turkish verses. The Persian section contains 618 verses, the Turkish 357 verses. However, an earlier copy of his divan preserved in the library of his son Abd ul-Rahan consisted of about 2,000 couplets. Bairam Khan, a Shiite, praises the Imams Ali ibn Abu Talib and Ali al-Ridha in his Persian poetry. He also wrote panegyrics glorifying the emperors Humayun and Akbar.

His son Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana translated the "Baburnama" from Chagatay into Persian.

References