Farman of Wali Nimat Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum with Scan of Original Persian Document

Hi Friends,

This post is about an edict(Imperial Order/Farman) issued by Mariam-Uz-Zamani(MUZ) Begum - one of the most awaited posts on this blog, for which many of you have sent enough blogger form messages and posted many many comments here. Sorry for the delay, but this post is worth it's wait.

Before we start, let me tell the brief contents of this post. The Imperial Order of MUZ is discussed at the end of the post, and before that various terminologies related to Imperial Mughal Farmans have been discussed. This post contains the Original Persian Scan of that Farman, along with some scans from the Indian Historical Records Commission Meeting, 1925 at Lahore ; which describe the title of "Wali Nimat" conferred on Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum. Let us start now.

We all know that Wali Nimat Mariam-uz-Zamani Begum had the privilege to issue edicts. {See this earlier post, where this was mentioned, along with the same hukm that is discussed in this article --> Link} 

Today, sharing the details of a hukm or edict issued by this remarkable lady with you. It was fascinating to see how involved she was in such a routine court matter as the embezzlement of the assets of a court employee by a Zamindar. This is an example of how she was involved in resolving the civil disputes among the masses through her edicts.

Note: 
A hukm is simply an edict issued by a Queen-Mother or a Royal Consort. Similarly, an edict issued by a prince's consort or a princess is known as a nishan.


Parts of a Hukm

Let's first understand what a hukm consists of / looks like.
"Hukm", literally means an order.

1. A hukm has an invocation at the top. You may remember that Akbar replaced the earlier invocation from Babur and Humayun's reigns - Huwal Ghani - with Huwal Akbar and Allahu Akbar. {This link refers to the post where the change of invocation by Akbar was discussed --> Akbar Changes Invocation.} Mariam-uz-Zamani continued to use the last invocation even in the reign of her son.

2. The hukm of a Queen-Mother carries an unwan below the invocation. The hukm of Mariam-uz-Zamani carries the unwan "hukm i Maryam Zamani" (meaning - edict of Maryam Zamani).

3. The hukm is adorned with a beautiful seal, affixed to the right of the unwan. The seal is usually of a peculiar stamp and shape. It usually contains a legend which includes the name and titles of the owner, along with the appellations of her father, husband or son and the year of engraving the seal. The seal on the hukm of Mariam-uz-Zamani resembles a pitcher and carries the legend,

"Wali Nimat Begam walidah i Jahangir Badshah"

This translates to Wali Nimat Begam, mother of Emperor Jahangir.

4. The first 2 lines of a hukm are abbreviated in order to distinguish it from a parvancha of a minister (in which all the lines are of equal length)


Importance of a Hukm

A hukm ranks next only to the farman of an Emperor. The historical value of a hukm cannot be underestimated - for instance, the hukms of Maryam Makani and Mariam-uz-Zamani Begam not only add to our knowledge of history but also prove how the Queen Mothers implemented the religious and agrarian policies of the emperor.

Note: 
You can read a farman issued by mother of Akbar - Maryam Makani Begum at this link given below. She had confirmed an earlier order of her son Mughal Emperor Akbar in which he had granted a favor to a Brahmin of Mathura. The Original Farman issued by Akbar will be posted soon, till then, here is the link to the Farman of Hamida Bano Begum: Maryam Makani Hamida Banu Begum's Farman




The hukm of Maryam Zamani is important for 2 more reasons:

1. It is the only contemporary document that so clearly identifies Wali Nimat Begam with Maryam Zamani and calls her the mother of Jahangir. She was the eldest daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber who married her to Akbar at Sambhar near Ajmer in 1562 AD.

References: Abul Fazl, Akbarnama, Vol. II, pg 242; Nizamuddin Ahmad, Tabaqati Akbari II (Kolkata, 1931), pg 155, Abdul Qadir Badayuni, Tarikh-i-Badouni, II, tr. Lowe (Kolkata, 1924), pg. 46.

2. The hukm aims to institute an enquiry into the embezzlement of the revenues and usurpation of the jagir of Mudabbir Beg in the pargana of Chaupala in the sarkar of Sambhal by Suraj Mal Zamindar. It instructs the officer concerned to summon the ryot and after investigating into the matter, he should ensure that all the arrears are paid to Mudabbir Beg and that not a single fulus or jital is appropriated by Suraj Mal.

The Farman/Hukm/Edict of Wali Nimat Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begam

The original hukm is available in the Red Fort Museum of the Archaeological Survey of India, No. G. 51. {The readers who stay in Delhi, can visit and find this Farman preserved there.}

*********

Let's see the hukm without further ado.

-> Invocation: Allah u Akbar (God is great)
{ This was a symbolical motto of Akbar. In 1575-76 AD, Akbar proposed to have this motto inscribed on coins and his seal. See this Link -> Click Here }

-> Seal - Mihrabi {pitcher shaped} 

-> Legend on Seal - Wali Nimat Begam, mother of Nurud Din Jahangir, the king

-> Unwan: the hukm of Maryam Zamani



Here is the Persian text of the hukm:

Original Persian Text of Hukm of Mariam-uz-Zamani

Here is a scan of the original hukm in Persian. The original scan of the hukm in the book from which the following scan was made is itself not clear.

Original Hukm of Mariam-uz-Zamani

And here is the English translation of the hukm, which has also been written below for easy reading and translation by translation tool.

English Translation of Hukm of Marium-uz-Zamani

  
The English translation of the hukm (as seen in the scan above) reads as:

"    Be it known to the asylum of dignity, perfect in wisdom...chieftainship, worthy of kindness and beneficence, Sayyid...expectant of favour, that whereas Mudabbir Beg, one of the servants and well-wishers of this court, has represented that the revenue authorities have assigned him a jagir in the pargana of Chaupala in sarkar Sambhal in lieu of his pay, but its assets have not been realised by his gumashtas and Suraj Mal, Zamindar, has embezzled and usurped them. (It is hereby ordered) that on learning the contents of the order of Her Majesty {this hukm}, he should summon the (riaya) before him and making enquiry into the matter get all the dues, the present revenue and arrears, paid to the aforesaid person (Mudabbir Beg), and he should not permit Suraj Mal to embezzle and usurp a single fulus or jital. Considering this imperative, he should bring the order to execution and do nothing contrary to it...on the date...the month of Tir of Ilahi year... "



Notes:

1. Chaupala, modern Moradabad, was included in the sarkar of Sambhal in the suba of Delhi.       Reference: Moradabad District Gazetteer ed. H.R. Nevill, Allahabad, 1911, pg 150

2. Gumashtas: Literally appointee. Connotes an agent, a steward, a confidante, an officer employed by Zamindars to collect rents, by bankers to receive money, by merchants to carry on their affairs in places other than where they reside. Reference: H.H. Wilson, Glossary of Judicial and Revenue Terms of British India (London, 1855), pg 189

3. Zamindar: Literally landholder. Probably coined in India as early as the 14th century. Under the Mughals, the Zamindars were classified into 3 broad categories:
a. Autonomous chieftains ; b. Intermediary Zamindars ; c. Primary Zamindars
Reference: Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India, (Mumbai, 1963), pg 138; S. Nurul Hasan, The Position of the zamindars in the Mughal Empire in the Indian Economic and Social Review I, No. 11, April-June 1964, pp 107-119.

4. Riaya : Plural of raiyat. Literally, "hard at pasture" and connotes a peasant.

5. Fulus: Dams and half dams (adhelas) are called fulus on their inscriptions. A fulus was a copper coin. Reference: Stanley Lane-Poole, Catalogue of Indian Coins in the British Museum - The Mughal Emperors, (London, 1892), pg lxxvi

6. Jital: A very old Indian coin that can be traced back to the early Delhi Sultanat. Under Akbar, jital was equivalent to 1/25 of a dam. The dam was divided only by accountants in their calculations. Reference: Abul Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari I, pg 32; Yule and Burnell, pg 457

7. Tir: The 4th month of the ancient Persian solar calendar, which was introduced by Akbar as Ilahi era. Reference: V.S.Bendrey, Tarikhi Ilahi, (Poone, 1933), pp 3, 15

8. Ilahi year: The Tarikhi Ilahi was founded by Fathullah Shirazi and introduced by Akbar in 1584-85 AD. But it was ordered to be calculated from the year which commenced on 11 March, 1556 AD.
Note: Reference to the introduction of the Ilahi era was made in the post --> Link1. You can read more about Fathullah Shirazi at Link2.

9. The date on the hukm is not legible but it must be during Jahangir's reign.



Deductions:


From the seal and the unwan, we know that Maryam Zamani and Wali Nimat Begam (who is the mother of Jahangir) are one and the same.

Sujan Rai Bhandari, the chronicler of Aurangzeb's reign, mentions that Jahangir was born to the daughter of Raja Bharmal Kachhwaha. Reference: Suraj Rai Bhandari, Khulasatut Tawarikh, Delhi 1918, pg 374.
Note: This earlier post had also mentioned the above quoted reference made to Mariam-uz-Zamani by Sujan Rai Bhandari --> Link.

Abul Fazl writes that Akbar married the daughter of Raja Bharmal and sister of Bhagwan Das at Sambhar. Reference: Abul Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari, I, pg 322
Note: Refer to the post on the marriage anniversary of Akbar and Harka Bai --> Link.

Therefore, we can conclude that Wali Nimat Begam was the name/title given to the daughter of Raja Bhara Mal after her marriage with Akbar and it was probably after the birth of Prince Salim (later Jahangir) that the honorific of Maryam Zamani was conferred on her.

Above facts have been mentioned in the following 3 scans from the Meeting of Indian Historical Records Commission, Lahore, 1925. In this meeting this Farman of Mariam-Uz-Zamani was discussed. A person had purchased this farman, from someone whose identity was not revealed in this meeting.

Courtesy - GOI

 

Wali Nimat Begum was another title conferred upon Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum. It means "Gift of God / Saint ".

Farmans were issued by those Ladies who had Leading position in the Imperial Harem

Translation of Farman as published in this Paper

 
Concluding Remarks:

The following text is from the description of the book, Edicts from the Mughal Harem, by SAI Tirmizi, Deputy Director of Historical Archives, Government of India, 1972. The scan of the same is also given.

Scan of the Description of the Book, Edicts From the Mughal Harem

" Status enjoyed by women is the yardstick to assess the standard of civilization for any age or country. The Indian concept of womanhood is quite exalted but its manifestations have often been distorted. This is particularly true of the women in the Mughal harem. The position of the inmates of the harem needs to be re-examined today when we desire to use woman-power for development. Such efforts at re-examination are required to be backed by historical studies. An attempt has, therefore, been made in this book to focus attention on the hitherto somewhat neglected edicts issued from the Mughal harem. These edicts purport to lift up the veil of mystery that has enveloped the Mughal harem. While the Medieval Chroniclers were loath to write about the inmates of the harem, foreign travellers based their account on hearsay. The present book, therefore, attempts to examine the nature and extent of the influence exerted by queens and princesses. Their influence was confined not only to the court but encompassed different parts of the empire and affected collection of revenue, augmentation of cultivation, promotion of trade, appointments and dismissals of mansabdars, movements of troops and suppression of revolts. "

I am purposely not adding my personal views here because the above lines, and indeed the entire article, speak for themselves about the role of the Mughal ladies not only in the court but in the administration of the empire itself. Please feel free to share your views about the role played by the Mughal women in shaping and directing the progress of the empire as well as on the powers & active role played by Marium-uz-Zamani Begum, as seen from her hukm here.   

Thanks to Abhay for his inputs. 
The article has been posted under the Mughals section of this history BLOG.