Khas Mahal
{{Short description|Chief Wife of Mughal Emperor Jahangir}}
{{Infobox royalty
| consort = yes
| name = Khas Mahal
| image = Prince Saleem's (the future Mughal emperor Jahangir) wife Khas Mahal.jpg
| caption = Detail of Khas Mahal from a painting
| succession =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| reign =
| spouse = {{marriage|Jahangir|1596|1627|end= {{Abbr|d.|death}}}}
| house = Timurid (by marriage)
| father = Zain Khan Koka
| issue =
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| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
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| religion = Islam
}}
Khas Mahal ({{langx|fa|خاص محل}}), meaning "the Exquisite One of the Palace", was one of the chief wives and empress of the Mughal emperor Jahangir.
Family
Khas Mahal was the daughter of Zain Khan Koka.{{cite book|first=Ziyaud-Din A.|last=Desai|title=Purā-prakāśa: Recent Researches in Epigraphy, Numismatics, Manuscriptology, Persian Literature, Art, Architecture, Archaeology, History and Conservation: Dr. Z.A. Desai Commemoration Volume, Volume 1
|publisher=Bharatiya Kala Prakashan|year=2003|pages=281|isbn=978-8-180-90007-5}} Zain Khan was the son of Khawajah Maqsud of Herat and Pija Jan Anga, foster-mother of Emperor Akbar.{{cite book|first=Anne|last=Walthall|title=Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History|publisher=University of California Press|date=June 10, 2008|pages=103|isbn=978-0-520-25443-5}} Khan's paternal uncle, Khawajah Hassan's daughter, Sahib Jamal had been married to Jahangir, and was the mother of his son Prince Parviz Mirza.{{cite book|first=Thomas William|last=Beale|title=The Oriental Biographical Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/b21781941|publisher=Asiatic Society|year=1881|pages=[https://archive.org/details/b21781941/page/n227 216]}}
Khas Mahal had two brothers, named Zafar Khan and Mughal Khan. The former served under Akbar and Jahangir,{{cite book|first=Kāmī|last=Shīrāzī|title=Fath nama-i Nur Jahan Begam|publisher=Rampur Raza Library|year=2003|pages=36|isbn=978-8-187-11360-7}} and died on 7 March 1622.{{cite book|first1=Emperor |last1=Jahangir|first2=Wheeler McIntosh|last2=Thackston|title=The Jahangirnama : memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India|url=https://archive.org/details/jahangirnamamemo00jaha |publisher=Washington, D. C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; New York: Oxford University Press|year=1999|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jahangirnamamemo00jaha/page/376 376]|isbn=978-0-19-512718-8 }} The latter served under Jahangir and his son Shah Jahan, and died on 1 July 1657.{{cite book|author=Abū al-Fazl ibn Mubārak|title=The Ain i Akbari, Volume I|publisher=Rouse|year=1874|pages=346}} A sister of Khas Mahal was married to Mirza Anwar, a son of Mirza Aziz Koka, Akbar's foster-brother.{{cite book|first=Shaikh Farid|last=Bhakkari|title=The Dhakhiratul-khawanin: a biographical dictionary of Mughal noblemen|publisher=Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Dehli|year=1993|pages=117}}
Marriage
In 1596 Prince Salim (future Emperor Jahangir) became violently enamored of her and meditated on marrying her. Akbar was displeased at the impropriety.{{cite book|first1=Shāhnavāz Khān|last1=Awangābādī|first2=Baini|last2=Prasad|first3='Abd al-Hayy ibn|last3=Shāhnavāz|title=The Maāthir-ul-umarā: Being biographies of the Muḥammadan and Hindu officers of the Timurid sovereigns of India from 1500 to about 1780 A.D.|publisher=Janaki Prakashan|year=1979|pages=1027}} The cause of Akbar's objection was Sahib Jamal who had already been married to Salim. Akbar objected to marriages between near relations.{{cite book|title=Akbarnama of Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak - Volume III|first=Henry|last=Beveridge|year=1907|publisher=Asiatic Society, Calcutta|pages=1058–9 n. 3}}
However, when Akbar saw that Salim's heart was immoderately affected, he, of necessity, gave his consent. There was a great feast and joy. The marriage took place on the eve of 18 June 1596 at the house of Dowager empress Hamida Banu Begum.
When Jahangir ascended the throne, Khas Mahal became empress. Sir William Hawkins, a representative of the English East India Company noted her among Jahangir's chief wives. He said the following:
{{blockquote|Hee (Jahangir) hath .... three hundred wives whereof four be chiefe as queenes, to say, the first, named Padasha Banu (Saliha Banu Begum), daughter to Kaime Chan (Qaim Khan); the second is called Noore Mahal (Nur Jahan), the daughter of Gais Beyge (Mirza Ghiyas Beg); the third is the daughter of Seinchan (Zain Khan); the fourth is the daughter of Hakim Humaun (Mirza Muhammad Hakim), who was brother to his father Ekber Padasha (Akbar){{cite book|first=Sir William|last=Foster|title=Early travels in India, 1583-1619|publisher=AMS Press|year=1975|pages=100–101|isbn=978-0-404-54825-4}}}}
Architecture
In 1642–43, Khas Mahal commissioned a palace near the old fort in the neighborhood of Nizamuddin, Delhi.{{cite book|first=Subhash|last=Parihar|title=Land transport in Mughal India: Agra-Lahore Mughal highway and its architectural remains|publisher=Aryan Books International|date=January 1, 2008|pages=84|isbn=978-8-173-05335-1}}{{cite book|author=Archeological Survey of India|title=Annual Report|publisher=Swati Publications|year=1990|pages=24}}{{cite book|first=Sir Sayyid Ahmad|last=Khan|title=Monuments of Delhi: Historical Study|publisher=Ambika|year=1978|pages=57}}
In popular culture
Khas Mahal is a character in Jyoti Jafa's historical novel Nur Jahan: A Historical Novel (1978).{{cite book|first=Jyoti|last=Jafa|title=Nur Jahan: A Historical Novel|publisher=Writer's Workshop|year=1978|pages=18}}