Ruqaiya Sultan Begum was first wife of Mughal king Akbar. She was empress concert of the Mughal empire from 1557 to 1605. She is also the longest serving Mughal empress, having a tenure of almost fifty years.
Ruqaiya Sultan Begum was daughter of Hindal Mirza, brother of Humayun. She was married to Akbar in Kabul during Humayun’s exile. She remained childless throughout her marriage but always played an integral part in court politics and had foremost political control over Akbar. Ruqaiya died at the age of 84 in the year 1626 and was buried in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Bairam Khan (1501–1561) ) was an important military commander of the Mughal army. He entered Babur’s service at the age of 16. He also worked for Humayun and Akbar. Under Humayan he was entrusted the position of muhradr (keeper of the seals) and took part in military campaigns in Benares, Bengal and Gujara. He was also the guardian, chief mentor, adviser, teacher of Mughal king Akbar. Akbar honored him as Khan-i-Khanan, which means “King of Kings”.
Bairam Khan was a Shia Muslim and was disliked by the Sunni Turkic nobles. Bairam was dismissed by Akbar’s in 1560. He subsequently chose to leave India to perform the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. During his journey to Mecca, he was killed by Hazi Khan Mewati of Alwar near Gujrat in 1561.
