Bairam Khan

• 1. Introduction

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  Bairam Khan was born on the 18th of January 1501 in the region of Badakhshan in Central Asia, and he died on the 31st of January 1561 with a dagger wound so fierce that the blade passed straight through his chest and out the other side. That gap of sixty years holds one of the most consequential careers in the early history of the Mughal Empire. He served two emperors, saved an empire from collapse at least twice, and raised a boy king into one of the greatest rulers the subcontinent ever knew. Then, in the space of a few months, that same boy king stripped him of everything. How does a man go from being honoured as Khan-i-Khanan, meaning "King of Kings", to dying alone at a pilgrimage tank far from the court he built? That question runs through every chapter of Bairam Khan's life.

• 2. Roots and Early Service

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  Bairam Khan's people, the Baharlu Turkoman clan, came out of the Kara Koyunlu confederation, which had ruled Western Persia for decades before being overthrown by their Ak Koyunlu rivals. His father Seyfali Beg Baharlu and his grandfather Janali Beg Baharlu had already entered Babur's service before Bairam was old enough to hold a sword. The family connection to the founder of the Mughal dynasty ran even deeper: Bairam's great-grandmother was a daughter of the Qara Qoyunlu ruler Qara Iskander, and a niece of Bairam's great-grandfather had been one of Babur's wives.

  When Bairam himself entered Babur's service, he was sixteen years old. The precise circumstances are not recorded, but the transition placed him at the heart of an empire in the making. He started not as a general but as a muhardar under Humayun, meaning keeper of the seals, a position that put him close to the administrative machinery of the throne. From that post he took part in military campaigns that ranged across Benares, Bengal, and Gujarat, learning the terrain of Hindustan campaign by campaign.

• 3. Capture, Exile, and Return

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  In 1540, at the Battle of Kannauj, everything collapsed. Sher Shah Suri's forces captured Bairam Khan, and the Mughal Empire that Babur had built began to unravel around him. His escape was later described as adventurous, and by July 1543 he had rejoined Humayun at Sindh, making his way back to the side of an emperor who was himself a fugitive.

  Humayun's years of exile in Persia proved formative for Bairam Khan. He accompanied the emperor throughout that period, and when the moment came to strike back, Bairam Khan helped lead the campaign that retook Kandahar. He then served as governor of Kandahar for nine years, a tenure that gave him administrative depth to go alongside his military experience.

  In 1556, Bairam Khan played a leading role as a commander when Humayun finally reconquered Hindustan. He had been with the dynasty through its lowest point and was now driving the engine of its restoration. The reconquest would prove to be the last major act of Humayun's reign. Within weeks of returning to Delhi, the emperor was dead.

• 4. The Regent's Gambit

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  Humayun died on the 27th of January 1556, and in that moment Bairam Khan made a decision that likely saved the empire. He was in Punjab at the time, serving as ataliq, or guardian, of the young prince Akbar, and as sipahsalaar, commander-in-chief, of the Mughal army. He kept the emperor's death a secret. He sent out false reports of Humayun's recovery and arranged for Mullah Bekasi, a loyal cleric who resembled the emperor, to dress in imperial robes and appear each day from the balcony of the fort in Delhi, convincing the city that the throne was still occupied.

  On the 14th of February 1556, Akbar was crowned. His first act as emperor was to appoint Bairam Khan as Vakil, or Prime Minister, and to confirm the titles Khan-i-Khanan and sipahsalaar itizad-i-daulat qahira upon him. The full title translates roughly as commander-in-chief of the army and mainstay of victorious dominion.

  The threat facing them was not yet resolved. Sikandar Shah Suri was still in the field, and while the Mughal army drove him deeper into the Siwalik hills after five months encamped at Jalandhar, a far more dangerous adversary had emerged. Hemu, the Vakil of Adil Shah Suri and the final significant ruler of the Sur dynasty, had moved quickly through the power vacuum. By October 1556, he had taken Gwalior, Delhi, and Agra. A Mughal general named Tardi Beg, whom Bairam Khan had installed as governor of Delhi, suffered a defeat at the Battle of Tughlaqabad on the 7th of October 1556 and retreated.

• 5. Panipat and Its Aftermath

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  Tardi Beg's retreat set off a confrontation within the Mughal camp. Bairam Khan summoned him to Sirhind, where an argument broke out over military strategy. Shortly afterwards, Bairam Khan had Tardi Beg executed on grounds of cowardice. The source notes that doubt exists about whether those charges were accurate. Tardi Beg was a senior official and a political rival, and his death clearly strengthened Bairam Khan's grip on the army. Akbar was absent on a hunting trip throughout the episode.

  On the 5th of November 1556, the Mughals met Hemu's forces at the Second Battle of Panipat. The battle was fiercely contested, but the Mughals won. Hemu was captured and killed, either by Bairam Khan or by Akbar himself. Delhi and Agra were retaken. After a month's rest in Delhi, the campaign against Sikandar Suri resumed. He had attempted to strike at Lahore but was pushed back to the hill-fortress of Mankot, in present-day Jammu and Kashmir, where he waited for Afghan reinforcements through the Siege of Mankot in 1557. No reinforcements came. On the 25th of July 1557, he surrendered to Akbar and was granted a fief in Bihar.

• 6. A Regent's Undoing

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  Power that is exercised without consultation tends to breed resentment, and Bairam Khan's last years in office showed exactly that dynamic. He had begun making significant decisions unilaterally, including dismissing Pir Muhammad Khan, a senior Mughal official who had been a favourite of his own. Akbar grew increasingly aware that a constraint was being kept on his personal expenditures while Bairam Khan's own servants grew wealthy.

  The relationship deteriorated over a series of incidents that began to look petty from the outside but reflected the breakdown of trust. Bairam Khan had two of Akbar's personal mahouts executed. One had failed to control an imperial elephant that killed one of Bairam Khan's animals; the other had failed to restrain an elephant that nearly capsized a small boat Bairam Khan was resting on.

  In March or April 1560, Akbar issued Bairam Khan an offer: retire and remain at the palace, or go on the hajj to Mecca. He could take whatever lands he chose so that the harvest revenues would follow him. Bairam Khan accepted the pilgrimage option. Then his opponents at court, Maham Anga and her son Adham Khan, sent Pir Muhammad to follow him and, in the source's phrase, "pack him off to Mecca". That deliberate humiliation changed his mind.

• 7. Rebellion and Surrender

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  Pir Muhammad's pursuit goaded Bairam Khan into turning back toward the empire rather than away from it. Pir Muhammad retreated when he saw Bairam Khan's Turkoman horse archers bearing down. Akbar sent a firman ordering Bairam Khan to resume his pilgrimage. Bairam Khan ignored it. He left his family inside the fortress of Tabar-e-Hind, in present-day Bathinda, and moved toward Jalandhar with Lahore as his objective.

  Akbar dispatched his foster father Shams-ud-din with a strong vanguard to intercept Bairam Khan before the main imperial army could arrive. Near the village of Gunecur, outside Jalandhar, Shams-ud-din caught up with him. He tried to negotiate. Bairam Khan refused.

  The battle that followed ended in Bairam Khan's defeat, though the source notes he fought with determination despite his far smaller army. He managed to withdraw with most of his force to Talwara-Hazipur, and from there he surrendered. Akbar received him with great respect and offered three choices: stay at court as his personal adviser, choose a jagir of his liking, or complete the pilgrimage. Bairam Khan chose the pilgrimage. He set out for Mecca.

• 8. Assassination and Legacy

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  At Sahasralinga Tank, a religious site near Anhilwad Patan in Gujarat, Bairam Khan stopped to rest. A group of Afghans approached, and according to the Akbarnama, they appeared to be coming to pay their respects. Bairam Khan let them draw near. Their leader was Mubarak Khan Lohani, whose father had died fighting the Mughals at the Battle of Machhiwara in 1555. Mubarak stabbed him from behind with a dagger, driving the blade with enough force that its point came out through his chest. A second Afghan struck him on the head. Bairam Khan died repeating the takbir. Locals found his body and buried it at the tomb of a nearby Sufi saint.

  His wife Salima and their son escaped to Ahmedabad. When Akbar learned of their situation, he sent an escort to bring them to Agra. Salima, who was also a cousin of Akbar, married the emperor after Bairam Khan's death. Their son, Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, grew up to become one of the nav-ratans, the nine gems, of Akbar's court.

  Bairam Khan's religious life had always been quietly complicated. He was a Shia Muslim in a court populated by Sunni Turkic nobles who viewed him with suspicion. He still attended Friday prayers at the mosque of a noted Sufi, and in 1559 he promoted Sheikh Gadai, son of the court poet Jamali Kamboh, to the position of sadurat-i-mamalik, meaning Chief Justice. The son he left behind inherited the same title Akbar had given his father: Khan-i-Khanan.