Ajabdeh and Ruqaiya - companions to their partners

Rukaiya Begum (also Ruqaiya Sultan Begum) was the Empress of Mughal Empire and first wife of Emperor Akbar the Great. She was born in 1542. Her marriage with Akbar took place in the year 1551. The coronation of Akbar took place on February 14, 1556 and she served as Mughal Empress from 1556 to 1605.

Rukaiya Begum was born as a Timurid Princess. She was the daughter of Hindal Mirza and Sultanam Begum. Hindal Mirza was the younger brother of Humayun. The grandfather of Rukaiya Begum was Babur who was the founder of Mughal Empire in India.

In 1551, after the death of her father, Hindal Mirza, Rukaiya was married to Akbar the Great. The marriage was arranged by Humayun. Mughal emperor Humayun was the father of Akbar and uncle of Rukaiya.

Mughal Empror Akbar had deep respect and love for Rukaiya Begum. At the time of conflict between Akbar and Jahangir, Rukaiya stepped in to settle the dispute. She further helped Jahangir to ascend to the throne.

Rukaiya was a well educated and patron of art and culture.

Unfortunately, Rukaiya was child-less but was handed over the the charge of Prince Khurram, the son of Jahangir. She took utmost care in the upbringing of Prince Khurram. Prince Khurram later on ascended to the throne and bore the title "Shah Jahan". Hence, Rukaiya Begum got the pleasure and satisfaction of raising a Mughal Emperor. Since Rukaiya Begum was well educated, the education of Shah Jahan was very well taken care. Shah Jahan remained with Rukaiya Begum till he attained 13 years of age.

Jahangir had high regard for Rukaiya Begum. Even after the death of Akbar, Rukaiya Begum was given very regard in the Mughal Court and the imperial harem. Her authority was un-matchable.

Rukaiya Begum had palaces at Fatehpur Sikri and Agra.

Rukaiya Begum died on January 19, 1626 at the age of 84.

woh kehte hai na, behind every successful man there is a woman...I feel ruqu and Ajab are the women behind jalal and pratap...and there are stark similarities in the way their story is.

lets keep the discussion on "love of life" out. For that matter, it is often said that neither Jalal nor Pratap had any time for lovestories and jalal's primary goal was attaining power and invading and pratap's primary goal was protection of his motherland. Could be true. But one needs the support of a companion to achieve the respective goals - one who stands there unconditionally - if that is not love - what is? every lovestory doesn't gain weightage only by building up a Taj Mahal..some never make it in detail to the pages of history, but silently are acknowledged between the partners. Both had childhood marriages - which ofcoz was a norm then...but keeping in mind that both the men married later on as adults as well. Both women were the first wives of the respective spouses. Both had high regards in the eyes of their husband and were valued.

Ajab stood by Pratap in his struggle and believed in him and gave him strength to face obstacles and difficulties in his life - including the famous roti incident as well...where she "the maharani" was with him. And maybe I ve written this 31413493 times...sorry for broken record but after haldighati loss...it was she and bhama singh who motivated pratap to continue the struggle, after he was shattered with it.

Yesterday's scene of Ajab bearing pain just so that pratap could sleep peacefully - embodied how she was ready to stay with him in jungles and ready for all hardships..so that pratap could gain strength from her and even in his darkest phases find some peace.

Cut to the Ruqlal first meet - it laid the foundation so well with pack of cards there - ruqaiya will be there with him, when he will climb the ladder of emperor and help him through it - she is well educated - something that jalal wasn't and regretted all his life...and had all the makings of a Mughal empress - smart, articulate, clear headed and confident.