Unlike other Great Mughal emperors (including Jahangir and Shah Jahan), it seems Akbar was not a very romantic man. While he did sleep with countless many women, particularly when he was still young, it seems he had no real “love of his life”. It is however well documented that his cousin Salima Sultana, whom he married after Bairam Khan’s death, was clearly his favorite, in spite of the fact that she did not bear him any children. She was highly influential, probably much more than Akbar’s mother was, and Akbar greatly valued her opinion. She appears to have been intelligent, exceptionally well-read, and an accomplished poetess, but to my knowledge, she has not left any published memoirs to posterity.
It is reported that no less than 5,000 women lived in Akbar’s palace, of whom, chroniclers hasten to reassure us, “only” about 300 (still a highly impressive number) were his wives or concubines. It should be remembered, though, that these unions were, above all, politically inspired: many a local ruler was more than eager to send one of his daughters to the imperial palace and thus establish a family link between himself and the emperor.
It is also well documented, that the ladies in the imperial palace were quite influential and active in society. Many mosques, madrasas and other monuments of the Mughal era have in fact been commissioned by women! It is also reported that the princess of Amber (Akbar’s first Hindu wife and Jahangir’s mother) was a highly astute business woman, who ran an active international trade in spices, silk, etc., and thus amassed a private fortune which dwarfed the treasury of many a European king…
A british general met Maharaja Ranjit singh, Ranjit Singh was appalled when he heard that general was unmarried, he asked why he wasn't married then? General replied, that in his country, a man is allowed to have only one wife and if wife doesn't turn out to be good it spoils life. Maharaja replied that he had 26 wives and none can do so because he could beat them:D, General said, it was a good rule and he would ask queen of England to change the law:D
As per Islamic rule, Akbar could only have 4 wives at a time. But article claims that out of 5000 women, 300 were his wives. How an unromantic man could have 300 wives. Seems he was very much interested in women :D
Akbar's interest in Salima Sultana was well known, she was daughter of Gulbadan Begum, Sister of Humayun, she was wife of Bairam Khan and their son was Abdur Raheem Khanekhan, famous for dohas that he wrote in Braj Bhasha, it is also alleged that Akbar sent Bairam to Hajj and got him killed to marry Salima.
Dai Anga was Akbar's Nanny who rose to influence between the period after Bairam and her death, she was mother of Adham Khan who was ordered to kill due to his indiscipline, Akbar personally told her about his death, Maham Anga got depressed and died after 40 days of her son's death.
I also read in Manochi's book that Akbar was lattoo on Rani Padmani (wife of Raja Chittor). He sent her many presents, but Rajput Kaniya was not deceived. Rani & Raja tried to escape, but Raja was killed and Rani (who in Maochi's words was the most beautiful woman in India) killed herself following Satti. :(
The story is wrong, Akbar wasn’t interested in Rani Pdmavati and she was queen of Malwa, not chittor. Adham Khan wanted her but he found her dead, she consumed poison, enraged by this Adham Khan tortured people of Malwa and Akbar has to remove him from Malwa altogether to restore peace:)
because he was great grandfather of Hazrat mian Aurangzeb:)
