Person · regent from 1626; d. 26 February 1667

Hayat Bakshi Begum

حیات بخشی بیگم

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Daughter of one sultan, wife of the next, mother of the third, and regent for her son from 1626 — the only woman in the royal necropolis whose tomb is the size of a king’s.

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Three reigns

She was the daughter of Muhammad Quli, the wife of Muhammad Qutb Shah, and the mother of Abdullah — who came to the throne as a boy in 1626, which is when her regency begins. Thirty years later she was still the operative figure in the kingdom’s dealings with the Mughals, negotiating down Aurangzeb’s tribute demand in 1656.

She died on 26 February 1667 and was buried in the Qutb Shahi necropolis. Her tomb is the only woman’s tomb there equal in size to the tombs of the kings — a statement of rank made in stone by people who had every opportunity to make a smaller one.

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