Gouled Aptidon
Gouled Aptidon (Hassan Gouled Aptidon) (October 15, 1916 - November 21, 2006). First president of Djibouti (1977-1999). Hassan Gouled Aptidon was born on October 15, 1916, in a small village called Garissa in the Lughaya district of Somaliland. Before becoming president of Djibouti, he was an important leader in Djibouti's struggle for independence from France.
Like many nationalist leaders in Francophone Africa, Gouled got his start in politics by representing his homeland-- then known as French Somaliland -- in Paris. Gouled Aptidon served in the French senate from 1952 to 1958 and in the national assembly from 1959 to 1967. He also served as the vice-president of the government council from 1958 to 1959.
When the territory held its first referendum on alternatives to colonial rule, Gouled Aptidon supported continued association with France, but by the time a second such referendum was held in 1967 he was campaigning for independence. After this referendum, the territory was renamed “French Territory of Afars and Issas,” reflecting the names of the two dominant ethnic groups.
In 1972, Gouled became president of the Ligue Populaire Africaine pour l’Independence (LPAI), the territory’s strongest anti-colonial movement. When the territory became independent as the Republic of Djibouti in June 1977, he was elected president.
While a succession of prime ministers came and went, Gouled provided the government with stability and was re-elected president for a six-year term in 1981 -- this time by direct popular vote. In 1981, he turned the country into a one party state by declaring that his party, the Rassemblement Populaire pour le Progres (RPP) (People's Rally for Progress), was the sole legal one. After the breakout of a civil war in 1991, Gouled allowed for a constitutional referendum on multi-party politics in September 1992, with four parties being permitted. In the parliamentary elections held in December 1992, however, only two parties competed, and the RPP won all 65 seats in the National Assembly. Gouled was re-elected for a fourth term in May 1993 with 60.7% of the vote. He stepped down in 1999. His successor was his nephew, Ismail Omar Guellah. Hassan Gouled Aptidon died on November 21, 2006.
As the leader of a miniscule nation, with a population of less than half a million, sandwiched between Ethiopia and Somalia, Gouled came to be recognized for maintaining his country’s neutrality amidst dangerous external hostilities while consistently pushing for peaceful settlements. Meanwhile, he worked to ease ethnic tensions within Djibouti between his own Somali-related Issa people and the non-Somali Afar by involving members of both groups in the government.
Hassan Gouled Aptidon see Gouled Aptidon
Aptidon, Hassan Gouled see Gouled Aptidon
Like many nationalist leaders in Francophone Africa, Gouled got his start in politics by representing his homeland-- then known as French Somaliland -- in Paris. Gouled Aptidon served in the French senate from 1952 to 1958 and in the national assembly from 1959 to 1967. He also served as the vice-president of the government council from 1958 to 1959.
When the territory held its first referendum on alternatives to colonial rule, Gouled Aptidon supported continued association with France, but by the time a second such referendum was held in 1967 he was campaigning for independence. After this referendum, the territory was renamed “French Territory of Afars and Issas,” reflecting the names of the two dominant ethnic groups.
In 1972, Gouled became president of the Ligue Populaire Africaine pour l’Independence (LPAI), the territory’s strongest anti-colonial movement. When the territory became independent as the Republic of Djibouti in June 1977, he was elected president.
While a succession of prime ministers came and went, Gouled provided the government with stability and was re-elected president for a six-year term in 1981 -- this time by direct popular vote. In 1981, he turned the country into a one party state by declaring that his party, the Rassemblement Populaire pour le Progres (RPP) (People's Rally for Progress), was the sole legal one. After the breakout of a civil war in 1991, Gouled allowed for a constitutional referendum on multi-party politics in September 1992, with four parties being permitted. In the parliamentary elections held in December 1992, however, only two parties competed, and the RPP won all 65 seats in the National Assembly. Gouled was re-elected for a fourth term in May 1993 with 60.7% of the vote. He stepped down in 1999. His successor was his nephew, Ismail Omar Guellah. Hassan Gouled Aptidon died on November 21, 2006.
As the leader of a miniscule nation, with a population of less than half a million, sandwiched between Ethiopia and Somalia, Gouled came to be recognized for maintaining his country’s neutrality amidst dangerous external hostilities while consistently pushing for peaceful settlements. Meanwhile, he worked to ease ethnic tensions within Djibouti between his own Somali-related Issa people and the non-Somali Afar by involving members of both groups in the government.
Hassan Gouled Aptidon see Gouled Aptidon
Aptidon, Hassan Gouled see Gouled Aptidon
Greek Orthodox Christians
Greek Orthodox Christians. Members of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Greek Orthodox Church has a history in the Middle East which goes back to the earliest times of Christian history. The Greek Orthodox of Southwest Asia have the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa as their leader. One of the most central religious buildings for Christianity (and Judaism, and to some extent Islam) is maintained by the Greek Orthodox: the monastery below Mount Sinai, believed to be the place where Moses received the covenant.
Greek Orthodox Christians. Members of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Greek Orthodox Church has a history in the Middle East which goes back to the earliest times of Christian history. The Greek Orthodox of Southwest Asia have the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa as their leader. One of the most central religious buildings for Christianity (and Judaism, and to some extent Islam) is maintained by the Greek Orthodox: the monastery below Mount Sinai, believed to be the place where Moses received the covenant.
Gujar
Gujar (Gujjar) (Gurjjar) (Gurjar) (Gurjara) (Goojar) (Gujur). Name of an ancient tribe, wide-spread in many parts of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, akin to the Rajputs, the Jats, and the Ahirs. They were a source of great trouble to the Mughal Emperor Babur and to Shir Shah Sur, the Afghan Sultan of Delhi. They were finally forced to a settled life by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. It is not known when they adopted Islam.
Muslim Gujars, unlike other Muslims in India, are an unenviable people for they have not been able to attain the same socioeconomic and religious status as their co-religionists. Being converts, they have neither been accepted fully into the Muslim fold, nor have they been able to break away completely from their early Hindu moorings. Whether the latter situation has contributed to the former or vice versa, or whether it is their nomadic way of life which has kept them out of the mainstream of the Muslim community is difficult to say. Perhaps all these factors have contributed, together with the fact that they are despised by other Muslims for their life style, which is viewed as full of intrigue and corruption.
There are numerous opinions as to the origins of the Gujars. Some place them among the Scythian tribes who conquered Kabul around 100 B. C. T. and marched into India. They established themselves in Kashmir and northwestern India, where such place names as Gujranwala and Gujarat (now in Pakistan) are testimony to their early settlements. By the middle of the fifth century, they had built a Gujar kingdom, Gujradesa. Some scholars trace their origin to the White Huns, who in about 463 poured into India as nomadic hordes. Still other scholars said they came after the Huns, became Hindu and eventually founded the kingdom of Rajasthan. It is theorized that Gujars, Jats and perhaps Ahirs are of one ethnic stock who entered India at different times and settled in different places.
Gujars were converted to Islam in different localities at different times. In all probability this process started with the attack of Mahmud of Ghazni and the plundering of Somnath in Gujarat in 1024, when Gujars and Jat fought valiantly to defend their kingdom. The Gujars of Oudh and Meerut attribute their conversion to Timur, when he attacked Delhi in 1398 and forcibly converted the people. Successive invasions of Muslims from the northwest quickened this process. When Babur invaded India in 1525, he found that in northern Punjab, Gujars and Jat had already adopted Islam. The process continued through the seventeenth century under the Mughal rule of Aurangzeb, who forcibly converted the Gujars of Himachal Pradesh.
Pushtun and Baluch Muslims of northwestern India were contemptuous of these Gujar and Jat Muslim converts, seized their lands and drove them from their homeland to seek a nomadic life. Since then, the Gujars have been wandering in jungles and hills with their herds of buffalo in search of grazing land.
While the origin of the Gujjars is uncertain, the Gujjar clan appeared in northern India about the time of the Huna invasions of the region. In the 6th to 12th Century, they were primarily classed as Kshatriya and Brahmin, and many of them later converted to Islam during the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent. Today, the Gujjars are classified under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in some states in India. The Gujjars today are assimilated into several varnas of Hinduism.
There are various references talking about the origin of the Gujjars. In Ramayana, it is told that a war was fought among demons and gods. Gurjars fought against demons under the leadership of King Dasharatha. There is also references of gurjar widows in Yoga Vasistha, whose husbands laid down their lives in the battlefield, having their heads tonsured as a mark of their bravement.
In the Mahabharata war, Gurjars fought and later on along with lord Krishna migrated from mathura to Dwarka, Gujarat.
The Gujjar clan appeared in northern India about the time of the Huna invasions of northern India. Some scholars believe that the Gurjars were foreign immigrants, possibly a branch of Hephthalites ("White Huns"). Other scholars believe that the Gurjars came into India with the Hunas, and the name was sanskritized to "Gurjara." It is also believed that several places in Central Asia, such as "Gurjistan", are named after the Gujars and that the reminiscences of Gujar migration is preserved in these names.
The Imperial Gazetteer of India states that throughout the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Gujars and Musalman (Muslim) Rajputs proved the "most irreconcilable enemies" of the British in the Bulandshahr area. A band of rebellious Gurjars ransacked Bulandshahr after a revolt by the 9th Native Infantry on May 21, 1857. The British officers initially left for Meerut but later sent a small force to retake the town. The British forces were able to retake the town with the help of Dehra Gurkhas, but the Gujars rose again after the Gurkhas marched off to assist General Wilson's column in another area. Under the leadership of Walidad Khan of Malagarh, the British garrison was driven out the district. Walidad Khan held Bulandshahr from July to September, until he was expelled after an engagement with Colonel Greathed's flying column. On October 4, the Bulandshahr District was regularly occupied by the British Colonel Farquhar and measures of repression were adopted against the armed Gujars.
During the revolt of 1857, the Muslim Gujars in the villages of the Ludhiana District showed dissent to the British authorities. The British interests in Gangoh city of Saharanpur District were threatened by the rebel Gujars under the self-styled Raja Fathua. These Gujars rebels were defeated by the British forces under H. D. Robertson and Lieutenant Boisragon, in June 1857. The Gujars of Chundrowli rose against the British, under the leadership of Damar Ram. The Gujars of Shunkuri village, numbering around three thousand, joined the rebel sepoys. According to British records, the Gurjars plundered gunpowder and ammunition from the British and their allies. In Delhi, the Metcalfe House was sacked by the Gurjar villagers from whom the land was taken to erect the building. The British records claim that the Gujars carried out several robberies. Twenty Gujars were reported to have been beheaded by Rao Tula Ram for committing dacoities in July 1857. In September 1857, the British were able to enlist the support of many Gujars at Meerut. Some believe that the British classified the nomadic tribes as "criminal tribes" because they considered these tribes to be prone to criminality in the absence of legitimate means of livelihood, and also because of their participation in the revolt of 1857. The Imperial Gazetteer of India stated that the Gujars were impoverished due to their "lawlessness in the Mutiny", and that the Gujars in Delhi had a "bad reputation as thieves". During World War II, several Gurjars served in the British Indian army. Kamal Ram, a Gurjar sepoy, was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry.
Gurjars are mainly concentrated in the Indo-Gangetic plains, the Himalayan region, and eastern parts of Afghanistan, although the Gujjar diaspora is found in other places as well. A majority of Gurjars follow Hinduism and Islam, though small Gujjar communities following other religions exist.
In India, Gurjar populations are found mainly in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Haryana, northern Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The semi-nomadic Gujjar groups are found in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and north-western Uttar Pradesh. The name for the state of Gujarat has derived from "Gurjar".
In 2002, some Gujjars and Bakarwals in Jammu and Kashmir demanded a separate state (Gujaristan) for Gujjar and Bakerwal communities, under the banner of All India Gujjar Parishad. The Gujjars who moved to the state remained in an almost oblivion as there is hardly any mention of these people in the history of the state. In the 17th century, however, there were Gujjars of high official status in Poonch. They lived at Lahore-Kot now known as Loran, in the Haveli Tehsil of the Poonch District. They provided ministers to assist the rulers of the area. At the end of the 18th century, one of their leaders named Ruh-Ullah Khan obtained full control of the country and assumed the title of Raja. He was the most important Gujjar personality of the time. He was Wazir of Raja Khan Bahadur of Poonch. On the murder of the later Ruh-Ullah Khan ruled as the deceased Raja's representative until he got his own son, Amir Khan, declared Raja of Poonch in 1797. Ruh Ullah Khan died in 1819 and Amir Khan in around 1825. The later was succeeded by his son Mir Baz Khan, who was captured by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab and removed to Lahore where he was murdered by one Pir Bakhsh Khan Chib in 1837. The dynasty started by Ruh-Ullah Khan was known as the Sango line of Gujjars. With the disappearance of Mir Baz Khan, their short period of power came to an end and the statues and influence of the Gujjars gradually declined. No outstanding Gujjar has since appeared in the state in comparison to Ruh-Ullah Khan. As generations have passed, the Gujjars throughout the state have become less important in all respects except in numbers.
The Van Gujjars ("forest Gujjars") are found in the Shivalik hills area of North India. The Van Gujjars follow Islam, and they have their own clans, similar to the Hindu gotras. They are a pastoral semi-nomadic community, practicing transhumance. In the winter season, the Van Gujjars migrate with their herds to the Shiwalik foothills, and in summer, they migrate to pastures high up in the mountains. The Van Gujjars have had conflicts with the forest authorities, who prohibited human and livestock populations inside a reserved park, and blamed the Van Gujjar community for poaching and timber smuggling. After the creation of the Rajaji National Park (RNP), the Van Gujjars in Deharadun were asked to shift to a resettlement colony at Pathari near Hardwar. In 1992, when the Van Gujjars returned to the foothills, the RNP authorities tried to block them from the park area. The community fought back and finally the forest authorities had to relent. Later, a community forest management (CFM) program aiming to involve the Van Gujjars in forest management was launched.
Fairs of Shri Devnarayan Bhagwan are organized two times in a year at Demali, Maalasheri, Asind and Jodhpuriya. Gurjars form one of the major communities in Rajashtan, and are seen as a vote bank by political parties. The Gurjars of Rajasthan are predominantly rural, pastoral and semi agriculturist community whose traditional and primary occupation is selling milk and milk products. They rear mainly cows, buffalo, goats and sheep.The Gujars lead a technologically simple life in close harmony with its natural environment. In Rajasthan, some members of the Gurjar community resorted to violent protests over the issue of reservation in 2006 and 2007. The more powerful and more influential Jat community had been included under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, which prompted the Gurjars to demand Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. During the 2003 election to the Rajasthan assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised them ST status. However, the party failed to keep its promise after coming to the power, resulting in protests by the Gujjars in September 2006.
In May 2007, during violent protests over the reservation issue, the members of the Gurjar community clashed with the police, twenty six people (including two policemen) were killed.. Subsequently, the Gurjars protested violently, under various groups including the Gurjar Sangarsh Samiti, Gujjar Mahasabha and the Gujjar Action Committee. The protestors blocked roads and set fire to two police stations and some vehicles. Presently, the Gurjars in Rajasthan are classified as Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
On June 5, 2007 the Gurjar rioted over their desire to be added to the governments of India list of tribes who are given preference in India government job selection as well as placement in the schools sponsored by the states of India. This preference is given under a system designed to help India's poor and disadvantaged citizens. However, other tribes on the list oppose this request as it would make it harder to obtain the few positions already set aside.
In December 2007, the Akhil Bhartiya Gurjar Mahasabha ("All-India Gurjar Council") stated that the community would boycott BJP, which was in power in Rajasthan. But in 2009 Gurjars were supporting BJP so that they could be politically benefitted. Kirori Singh Bainsala fought and lost on the BJP ticket. In the early 2000s, the Gujjar community in Rajasthan were also in the news for the falling sex ratio, unavailability of brides and the resulting polyandry.
Gujjar see Gujar
Gurjjar see Gujar
Gurjar see Gujar
Goojar see Gujar
Gujur see Gujar
Gurjara see Gujar
Gujar (Gujjar) (Gurjjar) (Gurjar) (Gurjara) (Goojar) (Gujur). Name of an ancient tribe, wide-spread in many parts of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, akin to the Rajputs, the Jats, and the Ahirs. They were a source of great trouble to the Mughal Emperor Babur and to Shir Shah Sur, the Afghan Sultan of Delhi. They were finally forced to a settled life by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. It is not known when they adopted Islam.
Muslim Gujars, unlike other Muslims in India, are an unenviable people for they have not been able to attain the same socioeconomic and religious status as their co-religionists. Being converts, they have neither been accepted fully into the Muslim fold, nor have they been able to break away completely from their early Hindu moorings. Whether the latter situation has contributed to the former or vice versa, or whether it is their nomadic way of life which has kept them out of the mainstream of the Muslim community is difficult to say. Perhaps all these factors have contributed, together with the fact that they are despised by other Muslims for their life style, which is viewed as full of intrigue and corruption.
There are numerous opinions as to the origins of the Gujars. Some place them among the Scythian tribes who conquered Kabul around 100 B. C. T. and marched into India. They established themselves in Kashmir and northwestern India, where such place names as Gujranwala and Gujarat (now in Pakistan) are testimony to their early settlements. By the middle of the fifth century, they had built a Gujar kingdom, Gujradesa. Some scholars trace their origin to the White Huns, who in about 463 poured into India as nomadic hordes. Still other scholars said they came after the Huns, became Hindu and eventually founded the kingdom of Rajasthan. It is theorized that Gujars, Jats and perhaps Ahirs are of one ethnic stock who entered India at different times and settled in different places.
Gujars were converted to Islam in different localities at different times. In all probability this process started with the attack of Mahmud of Ghazni and the plundering of Somnath in Gujarat in 1024, when Gujars and Jat fought valiantly to defend their kingdom. The Gujars of Oudh and Meerut attribute their conversion to Timur, when he attacked Delhi in 1398 and forcibly converted the people. Successive invasions of Muslims from the northwest quickened this process. When Babur invaded India in 1525, he found that in northern Punjab, Gujars and Jat had already adopted Islam. The process continued through the seventeenth century under the Mughal rule of Aurangzeb, who forcibly converted the Gujars of Himachal Pradesh.
Pushtun and Baluch Muslims of northwestern India were contemptuous of these Gujar and Jat Muslim converts, seized their lands and drove them from their homeland to seek a nomadic life. Since then, the Gujars have been wandering in jungles and hills with their herds of buffalo in search of grazing land.
While the origin of the Gujjars is uncertain, the Gujjar clan appeared in northern India about the time of the Huna invasions of the region. In the 6th to 12th Century, they were primarily classed as Kshatriya and Brahmin, and many of them later converted to Islam during the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent. Today, the Gujjars are classified under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in some states in India. The Gujjars today are assimilated into several varnas of Hinduism.
There are various references talking about the origin of the Gujjars. In Ramayana, it is told that a war was fought among demons and gods. Gurjars fought against demons under the leadership of King Dasharatha. There is also references of gurjar widows in Yoga Vasistha, whose husbands laid down their lives in the battlefield, having their heads tonsured as a mark of their bravement.
In the Mahabharata war, Gurjars fought and later on along with lord Krishna migrated from mathura to Dwarka, Gujarat.
The Gujjar clan appeared in northern India about the time of the Huna invasions of northern India. Some scholars believe that the Gurjars were foreign immigrants, possibly a branch of Hephthalites ("White Huns"). Other scholars believe that the Gurjars came into India with the Hunas, and the name was sanskritized to "Gurjara." It is also believed that several places in Central Asia, such as "Gurjistan", are named after the Gujars and that the reminiscences of Gujar migration is preserved in these names.
The Imperial Gazetteer of India states that throughout the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Gujars and Musalman (Muslim) Rajputs proved the "most irreconcilable enemies" of the British in the Bulandshahr area. A band of rebellious Gurjars ransacked Bulandshahr after a revolt by the 9th Native Infantry on May 21, 1857. The British officers initially left for Meerut but later sent a small force to retake the town. The British forces were able to retake the town with the help of Dehra Gurkhas, but the Gujars rose again after the Gurkhas marched off to assist General Wilson's column in another area. Under the leadership of Walidad Khan of Malagarh, the British garrison was driven out the district. Walidad Khan held Bulandshahr from July to September, until he was expelled after an engagement with Colonel Greathed's flying column. On October 4, the Bulandshahr District was regularly occupied by the British Colonel Farquhar and measures of repression were adopted against the armed Gujars.
During the revolt of 1857, the Muslim Gujars in the villages of the Ludhiana District showed dissent to the British authorities. The British interests in Gangoh city of Saharanpur District were threatened by the rebel Gujars under the self-styled Raja Fathua. These Gujars rebels were defeated by the British forces under H. D. Robertson and Lieutenant Boisragon, in June 1857. The Gujars of Chundrowli rose against the British, under the leadership of Damar Ram. The Gujars of Shunkuri village, numbering around three thousand, joined the rebel sepoys. According to British records, the Gurjars plundered gunpowder and ammunition from the British and their allies. In Delhi, the Metcalfe House was sacked by the Gurjar villagers from whom the land was taken to erect the building. The British records claim that the Gujars carried out several robberies. Twenty Gujars were reported to have been beheaded by Rao Tula Ram for committing dacoities in July 1857. In September 1857, the British were able to enlist the support of many Gujars at Meerut. Some believe that the British classified the nomadic tribes as "criminal tribes" because they considered these tribes to be prone to criminality in the absence of legitimate means of livelihood, and also because of their participation in the revolt of 1857. The Imperial Gazetteer of India stated that the Gujars were impoverished due to their "lawlessness in the Mutiny", and that the Gujars in Delhi had a "bad reputation as thieves". During World War II, several Gurjars served in the British Indian army. Kamal Ram, a Gurjar sepoy, was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry.
Gurjars are mainly concentrated in the Indo-Gangetic plains, the Himalayan region, and eastern parts of Afghanistan, although the Gujjar diaspora is found in other places as well. A majority of Gurjars follow Hinduism and Islam, though small Gujjar communities following other religions exist.
In India, Gurjar populations are found mainly in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Haryana, northern Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The semi-nomadic Gujjar groups are found in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and north-western Uttar Pradesh. The name for the state of Gujarat has derived from "Gurjar".
In 2002, some Gujjars and Bakarwals in Jammu and Kashmir demanded a separate state (Gujaristan) for Gujjar and Bakerwal communities, under the banner of All India Gujjar Parishad. The Gujjars who moved to the state remained in an almost oblivion as there is hardly any mention of these people in the history of the state. In the 17th century, however, there were Gujjars of high official status in Poonch. They lived at Lahore-Kot now known as Loran, in the Haveli Tehsil of the Poonch District. They provided ministers to assist the rulers of the area. At the end of the 18th century, one of their leaders named Ruh-Ullah Khan obtained full control of the country and assumed the title of Raja. He was the most important Gujjar personality of the time. He was Wazir of Raja Khan Bahadur of Poonch. On the murder of the later Ruh-Ullah Khan ruled as the deceased Raja's representative until he got his own son, Amir Khan, declared Raja of Poonch in 1797. Ruh Ullah Khan died in 1819 and Amir Khan in around 1825. The later was succeeded by his son Mir Baz Khan, who was captured by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab and removed to Lahore where he was murdered by one Pir Bakhsh Khan Chib in 1837. The dynasty started by Ruh-Ullah Khan was known as the Sango line of Gujjars. With the disappearance of Mir Baz Khan, their short period of power came to an end and the statues and influence of the Gujjars gradually declined. No outstanding Gujjar has since appeared in the state in comparison to Ruh-Ullah Khan. As generations have passed, the Gujjars throughout the state have become less important in all respects except in numbers.
The Van Gujjars ("forest Gujjars") are found in the Shivalik hills area of North India. The Van Gujjars follow Islam, and they have their own clans, similar to the Hindu gotras. They are a pastoral semi-nomadic community, practicing transhumance. In the winter season, the Van Gujjars migrate with their herds to the Shiwalik foothills, and in summer, they migrate to pastures high up in the mountains. The Van Gujjars have had conflicts with the forest authorities, who prohibited human and livestock populations inside a reserved park, and blamed the Van Gujjar community for poaching and timber smuggling. After the creation of the Rajaji National Park (RNP), the Van Gujjars in Deharadun were asked to shift to a resettlement colony at Pathari near Hardwar. In 1992, when the Van Gujjars returned to the foothills, the RNP authorities tried to block them from the park area. The community fought back and finally the forest authorities had to relent. Later, a community forest management (CFM) program aiming to involve the Van Gujjars in forest management was launched.
Fairs of Shri Devnarayan Bhagwan are organized two times in a year at Demali, Maalasheri, Asind and Jodhpuriya. Gurjars form one of the major communities in Rajashtan, and are seen as a vote bank by political parties. The Gurjars of Rajasthan are predominantly rural, pastoral and semi agriculturist community whose traditional and primary occupation is selling milk and milk products. They rear mainly cows, buffalo, goats and sheep.The Gujars lead a technologically simple life in close harmony with its natural environment. In Rajasthan, some members of the Gurjar community resorted to violent protests over the issue of reservation in 2006 and 2007. The more powerful and more influential Jat community had been included under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, which prompted the Gurjars to demand Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. During the 2003 election to the Rajasthan assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised them ST status. However, the party failed to keep its promise after coming to the power, resulting in protests by the Gujjars in September 2006.
In May 2007, during violent protests over the reservation issue, the members of the Gurjar community clashed with the police, twenty six people (including two policemen) were killed.. Subsequently, the Gurjars protested violently, under various groups including the Gurjar Sangarsh Samiti, Gujjar Mahasabha and the Gujjar Action Committee. The protestors blocked roads and set fire to two police stations and some vehicles. Presently, the Gurjars in Rajasthan are classified as Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
On June 5, 2007 the Gurjar rioted over their desire to be added to the governments of India list of tribes who are given preference in India government job selection as well as placement in the schools sponsored by the states of India. This preference is given under a system designed to help India's poor and disadvantaged citizens. However, other tribes on the list oppose this request as it would make it harder to obtain the few positions already set aside.
In December 2007, the Akhil Bhartiya Gurjar Mahasabha ("All-India Gurjar Council") stated that the community would boycott BJP, which was in power in Rajasthan. But in 2009 Gurjars were supporting BJP so that they could be politically benefitted. Kirori Singh Bainsala fought and lost on the BJP ticket. In the early 2000s, the Gujjar community in Rajasthan were also in the news for the falling sex ratio, unavailability of brides and the resulting polyandry.
Gujjar see Gujar
Gurjjar see Gujar
Gurjar see Gujar
Goojar see Gujar
Gujur see Gujar
Gurjara see Gujar
Gujaratis
Gujaratis. Located in the westernmost portion of central India, Gujarat includes the region of Kutch, Kathiawar and Surastra and the territories between the rivers Banas and Damanganga. The state encompasses great contrasts from wet fertile rice-growing plains in the southern tip to the almost rainless salt deserts of Kutch. To the west lies the Indian Ocean with two major gulfs, Kutch and Cambay, exposing the major commercial seaports of Surat, Broach and Cambay, to which Gujarat owes much of its historical importance.
Gujarat experienced numerous unsuccessful land based raids by the Arabs through the eighth century. Concurrently, immigrant Arab trading communities settled on the western Indian seacoast, from where they conducted the Indian Ocean trade. They were later joined by Persian traders. The ultimate expansion and subsequent extension inland of these Muslim trading communities was directly related to the flourishing trade across the ocean, and wherever the Muslims settled, they constructed mosques.
For the Muslims of Gujarat, the late eleventh century, during the reign of Siddharaj Jayasingha, proved to be their most glorious period. The alien Muslim population experienced exceptional generosity and fairness from the Hindu ruler. Moreover, this period witnessed considerable Muslim proselytization, which resulted in the establishment of Muslim communities of all sects. Muslim missionaries of the Shi‘a sect, who came to Gujarat to find converts, used Hindu beliefs of incarnation and declared Hazarat Ali as the tenth avatar of Vishnu. The missionaries simplified their teachings and used the language which those in the lower stratum of society could at once follow. Thus religious songs (bajans), a common form of poetry, were also used to reach the masses.
The Turkish invasion of Gujarat further opened the way to a large influx of Muslims from the north and the conversion of numerous Rajputs to Islam.
Gujaratis. Located in the westernmost portion of central India, Gujarat includes the region of Kutch, Kathiawar and Surastra and the territories between the rivers Banas and Damanganga. The state encompasses great contrasts from wet fertile rice-growing plains in the southern tip to the almost rainless salt deserts of Kutch. To the west lies the Indian Ocean with two major gulfs, Kutch and Cambay, exposing the major commercial seaports of Surat, Broach and Cambay, to which Gujarat owes much of its historical importance.
Gujarat experienced numerous unsuccessful land based raids by the Arabs through the eighth century. Concurrently, immigrant Arab trading communities settled on the western Indian seacoast, from where they conducted the Indian Ocean trade. They were later joined by Persian traders. The ultimate expansion and subsequent extension inland of these Muslim trading communities was directly related to the flourishing trade across the ocean, and wherever the Muslims settled, they constructed mosques.
For the Muslims of Gujarat, the late eleventh century, during the reign of Siddharaj Jayasingha, proved to be their most glorious period. The alien Muslim population experienced exceptional generosity and fairness from the Hindu ruler. Moreover, this period witnessed considerable Muslim proselytization, which resulted in the establishment of Muslim communities of all sects. Muslim missionaries of the Shi‘a sect, who came to Gujarat to find converts, used Hindu beliefs of incarnation and declared Hazarat Ali as the tenth avatar of Vishnu. The missionaries simplified their teachings and used the language which those in the lower stratum of society could at once follow. Thus religious songs (bajans), a common form of poetry, were also used to reach the masses.
The Turkish invasion of Gujarat further opened the way to a large influx of Muslims from the north and the conversion of numerous Rajputs to Islam.
Gujars
Gujars. See Gujar.
Gujars. See Gujar.
Gula, Sharbat
Sharbat Gula (b. c. 1972). An Afghan woman who became famous for her photo taken by photojournalist Steve McCurry during the Soviet-Afghan War, when 12-year-old Gula was living in a refugee camp in Pakistan. The photo, known as Afghan Girl, became famous in June 1985 after appearing on the cover of National Geographic magazine. Gula's identity was unknown until 2002, when her whereabouts were verified and she was photographed for the second time in her life.
Gula was born into a Pashtun family. In the early 1980s, her village was attacked by Soviet helicopters and during the attacks her parents were killed. Her sisters, brothers and grandmother moved to Pakistan to the Nasir Bagh refugee camp on the border with Afghanistan. It was whilst Gula was attending school there, that McCurry photographed her and other girls. It was later alleged that McCurry did not obtain permission to take the images, which contradict Pashtun culture, where women should not show their faces to men outside the family.
In the mid 1980s, Sharbat was married to baker Rahmat Gula when she was aged 13, and returned to Afghanistan in 1992. As of 2002, Gula had three daughters, Robin, Zahid and Alyan – her fourth daughter died shortly after birth; she later had a son. Her husband died in 2012.
In late October 2016, Gula was arrested by Pakistani police on suspicion of forging an identity document. She was deported by the Pakistani Courts to Afghanistan, where the government promised to take care of her family housing, education and health. In 2017 she was given a house by the Afghan government and a $700 per month stipend for living and medical costs. As of 2016, she was living in Kabul.
Following the crisis which occurred after the Taliban capture of Kabul in 2021, Gula was evacuated to Italy, where she received refugee status.
In 1984 National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry travelled to Afghanistan to document the effects of the war, visiting refugee camps, many of which were on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Whilst there, McCurry took what was to become one of the most iconic cover photographs for National Geographic. Initially, the magazine's editor did not want to use the image, but eventually gave in, publishing a cover image which was simply called Afghan Girl. The photo, which shows a girl with a unique green eye color, looking straight into the lens, became a symbol of the Afghan conflict and the problems affecting refugees around the world.
The identity of the girl remained unknown for more than 17 years. In the 1990s, the journalist made several unsuccessful attempts to find out the girl's name. In January 2002, a National Geographic team led by Steve McCurry travelled to Afghanistan to find her, however during this search several women and men came forward, claiming to either be Gula, or to be married to her. Eventually she was tracked down through a camp resident who knew her brother. Her identity was verified by John Daugman using iris recognition software.
In the intervening years, Gula had no idea how globally symbolic her face had become. It is the only image to have been used three times on National Geographic covers.
The Finnish metal band Nightwish dedicated an instrumental work to Gula, on the 2015 album Endless Forms Most Beautiful entitled "The Eyes of Sharbat Gula". Here Be Dragons, an album by The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble includes a composition called "Sharbat Gula".
In 2017, the New England Review published a new work by poet Gjertrud Schnakenberg, entitled "Afghan Girl", which the author had been composing since 2012.
Gulbadan Begam
Gulbadan Begam (Gulbadan Begum) (c.1523-1603). Daughter of the Mughal Emperor Babur. She wrote her memoirs under the title Humayun-nama.
Gulbadan Begum was a daughter of Zāhir ud-Dīn Mohammad Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India, she is best known as the author of 'Humayun Nama', the account of the life of her brother, Humayun.
Her name (Gulbadan Begum) means literally princess with a body like roses in Persian. She was a descendant of the lines of the highest Central Asian aristocracy: Timur through his son Miran Shah, and Genghis Khan through his son Chagatai Khan. Her mother was Dildar Begum and she was sister to Humayun, the second Mughal emperor.
She also finds reference throughout, Akbarnama, the Book of Akbar, written by Abul Fazal, and much of her biographical details are accessible through the work
When Princess Gulbadan was born her father had been lord in Kabul for nineteen years; he was master also in Kunduz and Badakhshan, had held Bajaur and Swat since 1519, and Qandahar for a year. During ten of those nineteen years he had been styled "padshah", in token of headship of the house of Timur and of his independent sovereignty. Two years later Babur set out on his last expedition across the Indus to conquer an empire in India. Gulbadan Begum was brought to India at the age of six. Gulbadan was married at 17, and had at least one son.
In 1540, Humayun lost the kingdom that his Kabul-born father Babur had established in India to Sher Shah Suri, an upstart from Bihar. With only his pregnant wife, one female attendant and a few loyal supporters, Humayun first fled to Lahore, and then later to Kabul. He was in exile for the next fifteen years in Afghanistan and Persia. Gulbadan Begum went to live in Kabul again. Her life, like all the other Mughal women of the harem, was intricately intertwined with three Mughal kings – her father Babur, brother Humayun and nephew Akbar. Two years after Humayun re-established the Delhi Empire, she accompanied other Mughal women of the harem back to Agra at the behest of Akbar, who had begun his rule.
Akbar commissioned Gulbadan Begum to chronicle the story of her brother Humayun. He was fond of his aunt and knew of her storytelling skills. It was fashionable for the Mughals to engage writers to document their own reigns (Akbar’s own history, Akbarnama, was written by the well-known Persian scholar Abul Fazl). Akbar asked his aunt to write whatever she remembered about her brother’s life. Gulbadan Begum took the challenge and produced a document titled Ahwal Humayun Padshah Jamah Kardom Gulbadan Begum bint Babur Padshah amma Akbar Padshah. It came to be known as Humayun-nama.
Gulbadan wrote in simple Persian without the erudite language used by better known writers. Her father Babur had written Babur-nama in the same style and she took his cue and wrote down from her memory. Unlike some of her contemporary writers, Gulbadan wrote a factual account of what she remembered, without embellishment. What she produced not only chronicles the trials and tribulations of Humayun’s rule, but also gives us a glimpse of life in the Mughal harem. It is the only surviving writing penned by a woman of Mughal royalty in the sixteenth century.
The memoir had been lost for several centuries and what has been found is not well preserved, poorly bound with many pages missing. It also appears to be incomplete, with the last chapters missing. There must have been very few copies of the manuscript, and for this reason it did not receive the recognition it deserved.
A battered copy of the manuscript is kept in the British Museum. Originally found by an Englishman, Colonel G. W. Hamilton. it was sold to the British Museum by his widow in 1868. Its existence was little known until 1901, when Annette S. Beveridge translated it into English (Beveridge affectionately called her Princess Rosebud).
Historian Dr. Rieu called it one of the most remarkable manuscripts in the collection of Colonel Hamilton (who had collected more than 1,000 manuscripts). A paperback edition of Beveridge’s English translation was published in India in 2001.
Pradosh Chattopadhyay has translated Humayun Nama into Bengali in 2006. Chirayata Prokashan published the book.
Upon being entrusted with the directive by Akbar to write the manuscript, Gulbadan Begum begins thus:
There had been an order issued, ‘Write down whatever you know of the doings of Firdous-Makani (Babur) and Jannat-Ashyani (Humayun)’. At this time when his Majesty Firdaus-Makani passed from this perishable world to the everlasting home, I, this lowly one, was eight years old, so it may well be that I do not remember much. However, in obedience to the royal command, I set down whatever there is that I have heard and remember.
From her account we know that Gulbadan was married by the age of seventeen to Khizr Khwaja Khan, a Chagtai Mughal by ancestry and her second cousin. She had at least one son. She had moved to Delhi/Agra in 1528 from Kabul with her foster mother. After the defeat of Humayun in 1540 she moved back to Kabul to live with one of her half brothers. She did not return to Agra immediately after Humayun won back his kingdom. Instead, she stayed behind in Kabul until she was brought back to Agra by Akbar, two years after Humayun died in a tragic accident in 1556. Gulbadan Begum lived in Agra and then Sikri for the rest of her life, except for a period of seven years when she undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Gulbadan appears to have been an educated, pious, and cultured woman of royalty. She was fond of reading and she enjoyed the confidences of both her brother Humayun and nephew Akbar. From her account it is also apparent that she was an astute observer, well versed with the intricacies of warfare, and the intrigues of royal deal making. The first part of her story deals with Humayun’s rule after her father’s death and the travails of Humayun after his defeat. She had written little about her father Babur, as she was only aged eight when he died. However, there are anecdotes and stories she had heard about him from her companions in the Mahal (harem) that she included in her account. The latter part also deals with life in the Mughal harem.
Gulbadan recorded one light-hearted incident about Babur. He had minted a large gold coin, as he was fond of doing, after he established his kingdom in India. This heavy gold coin was sent to Kabul, with special instructions to play a practical joke on the court jester Asas, who had stayed behind in Kabul. Asas was to be blindfolded and the coin was to be hung around his neck. Asas was intrigued and worried about the heavy weight around his neck, not knowing what it was. However, when he realized that it was a gold coin, Asas jumped with joy and pranced around the room, repeatedly saying that no one shall ever take it from him.
Gulbadan Begum describes her father’s death when her brother had fallen ill at the age of twenty-two. She tells that Babur was depressed to see his son seriously ill and dying. For four days, he circumambulated the bed of his son repeatedly, praying to Allah, begging to be taken to the eternal world in his son’s place. As if by miracle, his prayers were answered. The son recovered and the forty-seven year old father died soon after.
Soon after his exile, Humayun had seen and fallen in love with a thirteen year old girl named Hamida Banu in the harem of Shah Husain Mirza. At first she refused to come to see the Emperor, who was much older than she was. Finally she was advised by the other women of the harem to reconsider, and she consented to marry the Emperor. Two years later, in 1542, she bore Humayun a son named Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal rulers. Gulbadan Begum described the details of this incident and the marriage of Humayun and Hamida Banu with glee, and a hint of mischievousness in her manuscript.
Gulbadan also recorded the nomadic life style of Mughal women. Her younger days were spent in the typical style of the peripatetic Mughal family, wandering between Kabul and Delhi. During Humayun’s exile the problem was further exaggerated. She had to live in Kabul with one of her step brothers, who later tried to recruit her husband to join him against Humayun. Gulbadan Begum persuaded her husband not to do so.
Gulbadan Begum described in her memoir a pilgrimage she took to Mecca, a distance of three thousand miles, crossing treacherous mountains and hostile deserts. Though they were of royal birth, the women of the harem were hardy and prepared to face hardships, especially since their lives were so intimately intertwined with the men and their fortunes. Gulbadan Begum stayed in Mecca for nearly four years and during her return a shipwreck in Aden kept her from returning to Agra for several months. She finally returned in 1582, seven years after she had set forth on her journey.
Akbar had provided for safe passage of his aunt on her Hajj and sent a noble as escort with several ladies in attendance. Lavish gifts were packed with her entourage that could be used as alms. Her arrival in Mecca caused quite a stir and people from as far as Syria and Asia Minor swarmed to Mecca to get a share of the bounty.
If Gulbadan Begum had written about the death of Humayun, when he tumbled down the steps in Purana Qila in Delhi, it has been lost. The manuscript seems to end abruptly in the year 1552, four years before the death of Humayun. It ends in mid-sentence, describing the blinding of Prince Kamran. As we know that Gulbadan Begum had received the directive to write the story of Humayun’s rule by Akbar, long after the death of Humayun, it is reasonable to believe that the only available manuscript is an incomplete version of her writing. It is also believed that Akbar asked his aunt to write down from her memory so that Abul Fazl could use the information in his own writings about the emperor Akbar.
When she was seventy, her name is mentioned with that of Muhammad-yar, a son of her daughter, who left the court in disgrace. Again, she and Salima join in intercession to Akbar for Prince Salim. Again, with Hamida, she receives royal gifts of money and jewels.
Her charities were large, and it is said of her that she added day unto day in the endeavor to please God, and this by tending to the needs of the poor and needy.
When she was eighty years old, in February, 1603, her departure was heralded by a few days of fever. Hamida was with her to the end, and it may be that Ruqaiya, Hindal’s daughter, also watched her last hours. As she lay with closed eyes, Hamida-banu spoke to her by the long-used name of affection, "Jiu!" (elder sister). There was no response. Then, "Gul-badan!" The dying woman opened her eyes, quoted the verse, "I die—may you live!" and died.
Akbar helped to carry her bier some distance, and for her soul's repose made lavish gifts and did good works. He will have joined in the silent prayer for her soul before committal of her body to the earth, and if no son were there, he, as a near kinsman, may have answered the Imam’s injunction to resignation: "It is the will of God."
It is said that for the two years after her death, Akbar lamented constantly that he missed his favorite aunt, until his own death in 1605.
Gulbadan was also said to have been a poet, fluent in both Persian and Turkish. None of her poems have survived.
For much of history the manuscript of Gulbadan Begum remained in obscurity. There is little mention of it in contemporary literature of other Mughal writers, especially the authors who chronicled Akbar’s rule. Yet, the little known account of Gulbadan Begum is an important document for historians, with its window into a woman’s perspective from inside the Mughal harem.
Begam, Gulbadan see Gulbadan Begam
Begum, Gulbadan see Gulbadan Begam
Gulbadan Begum see Gulbadan Begam
Gulbadan Begam (Gulbadan Begum) (c.1523-1603). Daughter of the Mughal Emperor Babur. She wrote her memoirs under the title Humayun-nama.
Gulbadan Begum was a daughter of Zāhir ud-Dīn Mohammad Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India, she is best known as the author of 'Humayun Nama', the account of the life of her brother, Humayun.
Her name (Gulbadan Begum) means literally princess with a body like roses in Persian. She was a descendant of the lines of the highest Central Asian aristocracy: Timur through his son Miran Shah, and Genghis Khan through his son Chagatai Khan. Her mother was Dildar Begum and she was sister to Humayun, the second Mughal emperor.
She also finds reference throughout, Akbarnama, the Book of Akbar, written by Abul Fazal, and much of her biographical details are accessible through the work
When Princess Gulbadan was born her father had been lord in Kabul for nineteen years; he was master also in Kunduz and Badakhshan, had held Bajaur and Swat since 1519, and Qandahar for a year. During ten of those nineteen years he had been styled "padshah", in token of headship of the house of Timur and of his independent sovereignty. Two years later Babur set out on his last expedition across the Indus to conquer an empire in India. Gulbadan Begum was brought to India at the age of six. Gulbadan was married at 17, and had at least one son.
In 1540, Humayun lost the kingdom that his Kabul-born father Babur had established in India to Sher Shah Suri, an upstart from Bihar. With only his pregnant wife, one female attendant and a few loyal supporters, Humayun first fled to Lahore, and then later to Kabul. He was in exile for the next fifteen years in Afghanistan and Persia. Gulbadan Begum went to live in Kabul again. Her life, like all the other Mughal women of the harem, was intricately intertwined with three Mughal kings – her father Babur, brother Humayun and nephew Akbar. Two years after Humayun re-established the Delhi Empire, she accompanied other Mughal women of the harem back to Agra at the behest of Akbar, who had begun his rule.
Akbar commissioned Gulbadan Begum to chronicle the story of her brother Humayun. He was fond of his aunt and knew of her storytelling skills. It was fashionable for the Mughals to engage writers to document their own reigns (Akbar’s own history, Akbarnama, was written by the well-known Persian scholar Abul Fazl). Akbar asked his aunt to write whatever she remembered about her brother’s life. Gulbadan Begum took the challenge and produced a document titled Ahwal Humayun Padshah Jamah Kardom Gulbadan Begum bint Babur Padshah amma Akbar Padshah. It came to be known as Humayun-nama.
Gulbadan wrote in simple Persian without the erudite language used by better known writers. Her father Babur had written Babur-nama in the same style and she took his cue and wrote down from her memory. Unlike some of her contemporary writers, Gulbadan wrote a factual account of what she remembered, without embellishment. What she produced not only chronicles the trials and tribulations of Humayun’s rule, but also gives us a glimpse of life in the Mughal harem. It is the only surviving writing penned by a woman of Mughal royalty in the sixteenth century.
The memoir had been lost for several centuries and what has been found is not well preserved, poorly bound with many pages missing. It also appears to be incomplete, with the last chapters missing. There must have been very few copies of the manuscript, and for this reason it did not receive the recognition it deserved.
A battered copy of the manuscript is kept in the British Museum. Originally found by an Englishman, Colonel G. W. Hamilton. it was sold to the British Museum by his widow in 1868. Its existence was little known until 1901, when Annette S. Beveridge translated it into English (Beveridge affectionately called her Princess Rosebud).
Historian Dr. Rieu called it one of the most remarkable manuscripts in the collection of Colonel Hamilton (who had collected more than 1,000 manuscripts). A paperback edition of Beveridge’s English translation was published in India in 2001.
Pradosh Chattopadhyay has translated Humayun Nama into Bengali in 2006. Chirayata Prokashan published the book.
Upon being entrusted with the directive by Akbar to write the manuscript, Gulbadan Begum begins thus:
There had been an order issued, ‘Write down whatever you know of the doings of Firdous-Makani (Babur) and Jannat-Ashyani (Humayun)’. At this time when his Majesty Firdaus-Makani passed from this perishable world to the everlasting home, I, this lowly one, was eight years old, so it may well be that I do not remember much. However, in obedience to the royal command, I set down whatever there is that I have heard and remember.
From her account we know that Gulbadan was married by the age of seventeen to Khizr Khwaja Khan, a Chagtai Mughal by ancestry and her second cousin. She had at least one son. She had moved to Delhi/Agra in 1528 from Kabul with her foster mother. After the defeat of Humayun in 1540 she moved back to Kabul to live with one of her half brothers. She did not return to Agra immediately after Humayun won back his kingdom. Instead, she stayed behind in Kabul until she was brought back to Agra by Akbar, two years after Humayun died in a tragic accident in 1556. Gulbadan Begum lived in Agra and then Sikri for the rest of her life, except for a period of seven years when she undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Gulbadan appears to have been an educated, pious, and cultured woman of royalty. She was fond of reading and she enjoyed the confidences of both her brother Humayun and nephew Akbar. From her account it is also apparent that she was an astute observer, well versed with the intricacies of warfare, and the intrigues of royal deal making. The first part of her story deals with Humayun’s rule after her father’s death and the travails of Humayun after his defeat. She had written little about her father Babur, as she was only aged eight when he died. However, there are anecdotes and stories she had heard about him from her companions in the Mahal (harem) that she included in her account. The latter part also deals with life in the Mughal harem.
Gulbadan recorded one light-hearted incident about Babur. He had minted a large gold coin, as he was fond of doing, after he established his kingdom in India. This heavy gold coin was sent to Kabul, with special instructions to play a practical joke on the court jester Asas, who had stayed behind in Kabul. Asas was to be blindfolded and the coin was to be hung around his neck. Asas was intrigued and worried about the heavy weight around his neck, not knowing what it was. However, when he realized that it was a gold coin, Asas jumped with joy and pranced around the room, repeatedly saying that no one shall ever take it from him.
Gulbadan Begum describes her father’s death when her brother had fallen ill at the age of twenty-two. She tells that Babur was depressed to see his son seriously ill and dying. For four days, he circumambulated the bed of his son repeatedly, praying to Allah, begging to be taken to the eternal world in his son’s place. As if by miracle, his prayers were answered. The son recovered and the forty-seven year old father died soon after.
Soon after his exile, Humayun had seen and fallen in love with a thirteen year old girl named Hamida Banu in the harem of Shah Husain Mirza. At first she refused to come to see the Emperor, who was much older than she was. Finally she was advised by the other women of the harem to reconsider, and she consented to marry the Emperor. Two years later, in 1542, she bore Humayun a son named Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal rulers. Gulbadan Begum described the details of this incident and the marriage of Humayun and Hamida Banu with glee, and a hint of mischievousness in her manuscript.
Gulbadan also recorded the nomadic life style of Mughal women. Her younger days were spent in the typical style of the peripatetic Mughal family, wandering between Kabul and Delhi. During Humayun’s exile the problem was further exaggerated. She had to live in Kabul with one of her step brothers, who later tried to recruit her husband to join him against Humayun. Gulbadan Begum persuaded her husband not to do so.
Gulbadan Begum described in her memoir a pilgrimage she took to Mecca, a distance of three thousand miles, crossing treacherous mountains and hostile deserts. Though they were of royal birth, the women of the harem were hardy and prepared to face hardships, especially since their lives were so intimately intertwined with the men and their fortunes. Gulbadan Begum stayed in Mecca for nearly four years and during her return a shipwreck in Aden kept her from returning to Agra for several months. She finally returned in 1582, seven years after she had set forth on her journey.
Akbar had provided for safe passage of his aunt on her Hajj and sent a noble as escort with several ladies in attendance. Lavish gifts were packed with her entourage that could be used as alms. Her arrival in Mecca caused quite a stir and people from as far as Syria and Asia Minor swarmed to Mecca to get a share of the bounty.
If Gulbadan Begum had written about the death of Humayun, when he tumbled down the steps in Purana Qila in Delhi, it has been lost. The manuscript seems to end abruptly in the year 1552, four years before the death of Humayun. It ends in mid-sentence, describing the blinding of Prince Kamran. As we know that Gulbadan Begum had received the directive to write the story of Humayun’s rule by Akbar, long after the death of Humayun, it is reasonable to believe that the only available manuscript is an incomplete version of her writing. It is also believed that Akbar asked his aunt to write down from her memory so that Abul Fazl could use the information in his own writings about the emperor Akbar.
When she was seventy, her name is mentioned with that of Muhammad-yar, a son of her daughter, who left the court in disgrace. Again, she and Salima join in intercession to Akbar for Prince Salim. Again, with Hamida, she receives royal gifts of money and jewels.
Her charities were large, and it is said of her that she added day unto day in the endeavor to please God, and this by tending to the needs of the poor and needy.
When she was eighty years old, in February, 1603, her departure was heralded by a few days of fever. Hamida was with her to the end, and it may be that Ruqaiya, Hindal’s daughter, also watched her last hours. As she lay with closed eyes, Hamida-banu spoke to her by the long-used name of affection, "Jiu!" (elder sister). There was no response. Then, "Gul-badan!" The dying woman opened her eyes, quoted the verse, "I die—may you live!" and died.
Akbar helped to carry her bier some distance, and for her soul's repose made lavish gifts and did good works. He will have joined in the silent prayer for her soul before committal of her body to the earth, and if no son were there, he, as a near kinsman, may have answered the Imam’s injunction to resignation: "It is the will of God."
It is said that for the two years after her death, Akbar lamented constantly that he missed his favorite aunt, until his own death in 1605.
Gulbadan was also said to have been a poet, fluent in both Persian and Turkish. None of her poems have survived.
For much of history the manuscript of Gulbadan Begum remained in obscurity. There is little mention of it in contemporary literature of other Mughal writers, especially the authors who chronicled Akbar’s rule. Yet, the little known account of Gulbadan Begum is an important document for historians, with its window into a woman’s perspective from inside the Mughal harem.
Begam, Gulbadan see Gulbadan Begam
Begum, Gulbadan see Gulbadan Begam
Gulbadan Begum see Gulbadan Begam
Gulshani
Gulshani (Gulsheni) (Ibrahim Gulshani) (Ibrahim Gulsheni) (c.1435-1534). Turkish mystic and prolific poet. He wrote in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and constructed a convent in Egypt for the order named after him, which is a branch of the Khalwatiyah.
The Gulshani (Turkish: Gülşenî) is a Halvatî (Khalwati) sub order founded by Pir Ibrahim Gulshani, a Kurdish sufi sheikh from Eastern Anatolia who died in Egypt.
When the Ottomans conquered Egypt the Gulshani order became popular with serving soldiers of the Ottoman army in Egypt. The order was later carried back to Istanbul where several zawiyas or tekkes were established.
Gulsheni see Gulshani
Ibrahim Gulshani see Gulshani
Ibrahim Gulsheni see Gulshani
Gulseni see Gulshani
Gulshani (Gulsheni) (Ibrahim Gulshani) (Ibrahim Gulsheni) (c.1435-1534). Turkish mystic and prolific poet. He wrote in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and constructed a convent in Egypt for the order named after him, which is a branch of the Khalwatiyah.
The Gulshani (Turkish: Gülşenî) is a Halvatî (Khalwati) sub order founded by Pir Ibrahim Gulshani, a Kurdish sufi sheikh from Eastern Anatolia who died in Egypt.
When the Ottomans conquered Egypt the Gulshani order became popular with serving soldiers of the Ottoman army in Egypt. The order was later carried back to Istanbul where several zawiyas or tekkes were established.
Gulsheni see Gulshani
Ibrahim Gulshani see Gulshani
Ibrahim Gulsheni see Gulshani
Gulseni see Gulshani
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