Abd al-Rahim Khan-i-Khana

Mirza Abd al-Rahim Khan-i-Khanan was a Mughal general, statesman and scholar, born in Lahore on 14 Safar 964/16 December 1556. He was the son of Bayram Khan, Akbar's first wakil, and belonged to the Baharlu branch of the Kara Koyunlu Turkmens. His father was murdered when he was four, and Akbar brought him up and educated him. The encyclopaedia entry, signed by Nurul Hasan, is the source for the facts below. ¹

He was governor of Gujarat from 1576 and, after the defeat of Muzaffar Shah, received the title Khan-i Khanan and the rank of 5,000 in 1584. He was appointed mir 'arz in 1581 and atalik to the prince Salim in 1582. In 1589 he became wakil, the highest office at court, and he presented the Waqi'at-i Baburi to Akbar that year. From 1595 his services were mostly in the Deccan, where he joined Daniyal's siege of Ahmadnagar in 1599 and later dealt with Malik Ambar, concluding a treaty that was seen as dishonourable in 1610. ¹

He was arrested for communicating with the rebel Mahabat Khan and was later released; in 1625 Jahangir restored his title and honours. He died on his way to Delhi in 1036/1627, at the age of seventy-one, and was buried near the tomb of Shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya. He wrote poetry in Arabic, Persian, Turki and Hindi under the pen name Rahim, and his Hindi poetry is full of bhakti. The encyclopaedia says he was professedly Sunni, and it states that the charge that he secretly followed Shi'i tenets is not supported by contemporary evidence. ²