Udaipuri Mahal
{{Short description|Concubine of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (died 1707)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Udaipuri Mahal
| image = Dara Shikoh with his consort.jpg
| caption = Mahal in Dara Shikoh's harem
| title =
| reign =
| house =
| spouse = Aurangzeb
| spouse-type = Consort of
| issue = Muhammad Kam Bakhsh
| religion = Islam
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date = July 1707
| death_place = Gwalior, Mughal Empire
| place of burial = Shrine of Qutb-al Aqtab, Delhi
| burial_date =
}}
Udaipuri Mahal (died July 1707) was a concubine of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.{{cite book |last1=Mehta |first1=Jl |title=Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India |date=1986 |publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd |isbn=9788120710153 |page=480}}
Life
Described as 'the darling of Aurangzeb's old age',{{cite book | author = Muhammad Tariq Awan | date = 1994 | title = History of India and Pakistan: pt. 1. Great Mughals | publisher = Ferozsons | pages = 461}} Udaipuri Mahal had been a slave girl in the harem of Aurangzeb's elder brother Prince Dara Shikoh,{{cite book | author = Satish Chandra | date = 2005 | title = Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II | publisher = Har-Anand Publications | pages = 274 | isbn = 9788124110669}} and before entering his harem, she had been a dancing girl or Tawaif.{{cite book | author = William Irvine | date = 1971 | title = Later Mughal | publisher = Atlantic Publishers & Distri | pages = 54, 58}}
She was either from Kashmir, or from nearby Udaipur, or as stated by her contemporary, the Venetian traveler Manucci, she was a Georgian Christian.{{cite book | author = Bilkees I. Latif | date = 2010 | title = Forgotten | publisher = Penguin Books India | pages = 34 | isbn = 978-0-14-306454-1}} Other sources have stated Armenia{{cite book | author = Annie Krieger-Krynicki | date = 2005 | title = Captive Princess: Zebunissa, Daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb | publisher = Oxford University Press | pages = 103, 175 | isbn = 978-0-19-579837-1}} or Circassia.{{cite book | last=Sarkar | first=J. | title=Anecdotes of Aurangzib: Translated Into English with Notes and Historical Essays | publisher=M.C. Sarkar & Sons | year=1912 | page=26}} Ever since the reign of Emperor Akbar, it had been ordained that the names of the women of the imperial Mughal harem should not be mentioned in public, they should be designated by some epithet, derived either from the place of their birth or the city or country where they had entered the imperial harem.{{cite book|first=Abraham|last=Eraly|title=The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age|publisher=Penguin Book India|date=January 1, 2007|pages=126|isbn=978-0-143-10262-5}}
She was described as having red hair that captivated Aurangzeb, and loved him deeply. This made Aurangzeb's other wives and concubines jealous of her. She gave birth to their son Prince Muhammad Kam Bakhsh on 7 March 1667.{{cite book | editor = Sir Jadunath Sarkar | author = Sir Jadunath Sarkar | date = 1912 | title = Anecdotes of Aurangzib: Translated Into English with Notes and Historical Essays | publisher = M.C. Sarkar & Sons | pages = 79}} She was an alcoholic.
In 1678, she accompanied Aurangzeb to a war against the Rana of Chittor and the Raja of Marwar.{{cite book | author = Zinat Kausar | date = 1992 | title = Muslim Women in Medieval India | publisher = Janaki Prakashan | pages = 201 | isbn = 9788185078748}} In 1686, she was in Aurangabad or Ahmadnagar with Aurangzeb in his camp.{{cite book | editor = C. M. Agrawal | date = 2001 | title = Indian Woman, Volume 1 | publisher = Indian Publishers Distributors | pages = 244 | isbn = 9788173412127}}
Udaipuri Mahal was an influential woman.{{cite book | date = 2001 | title = Journal of Historical Research, Volume 39, Issue 1 | publisher = Department of History, Ranchi University. | pages = 63}} She continued to influence Aurangzeb until his death, and it was the result of her influence that he pardoned many faults of his son Kam Bakhsh.{{cite book | author = M. P. Srivastava | date = 1978 | title = Social Life Under the Great Mughals, 1526-1700 A.D. | publisher = Chugh Publications | pages = 101}} Following the transfer of most of Aurangzeb's sons and grandsons, she continued to cultivate ties to Khidmatgar Khan, his successor Khwaja Ambar (who was also titled Khidmatgar Khan after 1704), and other imperial eunuchs.{{cite book | author = Munis D. Faruqui | date = 27 August 2012 | title = The Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504–1719 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | pages = 240 | isbn = 978-1-139-53675-2}}
In a letter written by Aurangzeb in 1707 on his death-bed to Kam Bakhsh, he says "Udaipuri, your mother, who has been with me during my illness, wishes to accompany [me in death]."{{cite book | author = Sudha Sharma | title = The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India | publisher = SAGE Publications India | isbn = 9789351505679 | date = March 21, 2016 |page=69}} When Aurangzeb died, she grieved deeply, and died within four months at Gwalior, in July 1707. Bahadur Shah I carried out her dying wishes with regard to her household and gave her remains for burial in a grave close to the shrine of Qutb-al Aqtab, Delhi.
References
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Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Indian people of Georgian descent
Category:Concubines of Mughal emperors
Category:18th-century Indian women