Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan

Bairam Khan's widow and child (Rahim) being escorted to Ahmedabad, in 1561, after his assassination, Akbarnama

Abdul Rahim was born in Delhi,[3] the son of Bairam Khan, Akbar's trusted guardian and mentor, who was of Turkic ancestry. When Humayun returned to India from his exile, he asked his nobles to forge matrimonial alliances with various zamindars and feudal lords across the nation. Humayun married the elder daughter of Khanzada Jamal Khan of Mewat (now the Nuh district of Haryana) and he asked Bairam Khan to marry the younger daughter.

The Gazetteer of Ulwur (Alwar) states:

After Babur's death, his successor, Humayun, in 1540 was supplanted as ruler by the Pathan Sher Shah Suri, who, in 1545, was followed by Islam Shah. During the reign of the latter, a battle was fought and lost by the emperor's troops at Firozpur Jhirka, in Mewat. However, Islam Shah did not lose his hold on power. Adil Shah, the third of the Pathan interlopers, who succeeded Islam Shah in 1552, had to contend for the empire with Humayun.[4]

In these struggles for the restoration of Babur's dynasty the Khanzadas apparently do not figure at all. Humayun seems to have conciliated them by marrying the elder daughter of Khanzada Jamal Khan, nephew of Babur's opponent, Khanzada Hasan Khan Mewati, and by requiring his minister, Bairam Khan, to marry the younger daughter of the same Mewati.[4]

The Khanzadas,[5] the royal family of Muslim Jadon (also spelt as Jadaun) Rajputs, converted to Islam after Islamic conquest of northern India.[6] Khanzada, is the Persian form of the Indic word 'Rajput'. The Khanzadas were believed to have converted to Islam from a branch of Hindu Rajputs. They were the Mewatti chiefs of the Persian historians, who were the representatives of the lords of Mewat State.[7]

Khanzada, or "the son of a Khan" is precisely the Musalman equivalent to the Hindu Rajput or "son of a Raja " ...

— From Punjab Castes by Denzil Ibbetson[8]

After Bairam Khan was murdered in Patan, Gujarat, his first wife and young Rahim were brought safely from Delhi to Ahmedabad and presented at the royal court of Akbar, who gave him the title of 'Mirza Khan', and subsequently married him to Mah Banu (Moon Lady) sister of Mirza Aziz Kokah, son of Ataga Khan, a noted Mughal noble.[3]

Later, Bairam Khan's second wife, Salima Sultan Begum (Rahim's stepmother) married her cousin, Akbar, which made Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khan also his stepson, and later he became one of his nine prominent ministers, the Navaratnas, or nine gems. Aside from being a poet, Rahim Khan was also a general and was sent to deal with the rebellions in Gujarat and later served as the overall commander in the campaigns in Maharashtra.

He received the position and title of Khan-i-Khanan (Generalissimus, Persian خان خانان, DMG khān-i khānān, meaning "Khan of Khans").

Abdul Rahim was known for his strange manner when giving alms to the poor. He never looked at the person he was giving alms to, keeping his gaze downwards in all humility. When Tulsidas heard about Rahim's behaviour when giving alms, he promptly wrote a couplet and sent it to Rahim:-

"ऐसी देनी देंन ज्यूँ, कित सीखे हो सैन
ज्यों ज्यों कर ऊंच्यो करो, त्यों त्यों निचे नैन"

"Why give alms like this? Where did you learn that? Your hands are as high as your eyes are low"

Realising that Tulsidas was well aware of the reasons behind his actions, and was merely giving him an opportunity to say a few lines in reply, he wrote to Tulsidas saying:-

"देनहार कोई और है, भेजत जो दिन रैन
लोग भरम हम पर करे, तासो निचे नैन"

"The Giver is someone else, giving day and night. But the world gives me the credit, so I lower my eyes."

He was considered a Persophile.[9]

In 1580, Rahim was appointed as the chief of Ajmer by Akbar. Around the same time, Akbar appointed him to lead another campaign against Maharana Pratap in order to capture or kill him. Rahim placed his family in Sherpura and advanced against Mewar. Pratap took up a position on the hilly pass of Dholan to check the Mughal advance. Meanwhile, his son Prince Amar Singh invaded Sherpura and succeeded in capturing the women of Rahim's family and brought them to Mewar. However, Pratap rebuked his son for capturing the women and ordered him to return them back with honour to Rahim.[10]

Apart from writing various dohas, Rahim translated Babar's memoirs, Baburnama, from the Chagatai language to the Persian language, which was completed in 1589–90. He had an excellent command of the Sanskrit language.[11]

In Sanskrit, he wrote two books on astrology, Khetakautukam (Devanagari: खेटकौतुकम्) and Dwatrimshadyogavali (Devanagari: द्वात्रिंशद्योगावली).

The tomb of Rahim in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, India

His tomb is situated in Nizamuddin East on the Mathura road, near Humayun's Tomb, in New Delhi. He built it for his wife in 1598, and his body was placed in it in 1627.[12] In 1753–54, marble and sandstone from this tomb was used in the construction of Safdarjung's Tomb, also in New Delhi.[12][13][14][15]

In 2014, the InterGlobe Foundation and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture announced a project to conserve and restore Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan's tomb.[16]

The tomb sits prominently along the Mathura Road, formerly the Mughal Grand Trunk Road, and lies close to the Dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya and Humayun's Tomb. In 2020, after six years of restoration work by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Rahim Khan's tomb was opened to the public.[17] It is one of the largest conservation projects ever undertaken on any monument of national importance in India. For its architecture and purpose, it has often been compared with Taj Mahal.[18]

[[File:Mousoleum of Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan.jpg|thumb|Mausoleum of Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khan

Rahim came to the royal court (Delhi) when he was 10, 5 years after the martyrdom of Bairam Khan. Akbar, the emperor at the time, as is chronicled in the Akbarnama, received the young Abdul Rahim with ‘inborn kindness’, ensuring that the child would be looked after. 

Subsequently, his schooling was left to Raja Man Singh and Mir Hakim Abul-Fath and scholars like Mullah Mohammad Andajani who typically taught the sons of nobles became his tutors. He would be expected to have some degree of expertise not just in multiple languages but also in sports like riding and wrestling in addition to military training. A quarter century later, his knowledge of Arabic and Persian would be admired even by his peers.

Over the years, Abdul Rahim cultivated a close connection with Raja Man Singh. Some attribute Khankhanan’s knowledge of Sanskrit and Hindi to Man Singh through which he could have accessed learned men and teachers. Although it is not confirmed, he may also have Sanskrit tutors. Some scholars who have dated his work assert that, by his adolescence, he was already composing verses in a mix of Persian and Hindi. During these years, he may also be influenced by poets of the Mughal court like Amir Khusrau whose work was owned by Bairam Khan’s (Abdul Rahim’s father’s) second wife, Salima Sultan Begum. This indicates that he was exposed to the works of different poets from an early age, especially considering that his Turkic father, Bairam Khan, was himself a lover of poetry. [19][20][21]

 Rahim translated Babar's memoirs, Baburnama, from the Chagatai language to the Persian language, which was completed in 1589–90. He had an excellent command of the Sanskrit language.

He was also deeply interested in studying astrology, and so in Sanskrit, he wrote two books on astrology, respectively titled Khetakautukam (Devanagari: खेटकौतुकम्) and Dwatrimshadyogavali (Devanagari: द्वात्रिंशद्योगावली).

Influences:

In one incident, his womenfolk were captured by Maharana Pratap but were safely returned to him. This gave him a push to understand the Hindu culture better. This also led him to become a devotee of Lord Krishna, for whom he wrote many great “dohas” and poems.

When writing about Krishna, he wrote mostly in the Hindi language. It was a time when the Hindu and Islamic cultures had mingled to form a combined art, form, and Abdul Rahim excelled in that. There were two schools of devotional thoughts: “Nirgun” and “Sagun.” Abdul Rahim excelled in “Sagun,” which claimed that Lord Krishna was a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu.

His writings were also inspired by ancient Hindu epics such as the ‘Ramayana,’ the ‘Bhagavad Gita,’ and the ‘Mahabharata.[22]

Rahim Khan-i-Khanam, popularly known as ‘Rahim’ within the emperor’s court, was known for his linguistic and poetic prowess. He was known to write extensively in Braj, Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian, and also spoke some Portuguese. Making use of his mastery, he was tasked with the translation of Babur’s autobiography, Baburnama from Turkish to Persian (article). Across Akbar’s court in particular, 

His original works, in particular his ghazals, were largely Sufi and Bhakti in nature, but he was especially known for his dohas (couplets). He is credited with the creation of over 700 couplets, under the title of Rahim-Das. His dohas remain known for their accessibility and exploration of the concerns and reflections of everyday life. In fact, he was one of the driving forces behind the movement to popularize ideas of accessibility and creative expression in ‘the people’s languages’ instead of the models of Persian and Turkish that dominated the Mughal court. 

Placing him within the context of his times, Rahim was held in the same space as figures such as Kabir, Tulsidas, Baba Farid and Vrind in terms of his form and creative significance. [23] [24]

Rahim’s dohas often deal with naturalistic images. These images imbue a quality of the divine to elements of nature, including trees and animals. These images also often have a didactic element to them, as is evident from the doha around the way in which a chandan tree is able to maintain its “essence” or its “purity” despite being surrounded by snakes. Over here, both the tree and the snake are personified to represent different characters to human nature. Another example of this is a doha where Rahim mentions birds flying off from a drying lake, to highlight the plight of the wingless fish. This again becomes a metaphor for larger power dynamics at play in nature, mapped onto, and sometimes mimicked in the material world. 

Similarly, the doha also has a spiritual quality to them, and become the guiding points for the way the average human is expected to perform in 

society, according to the virtues of either good, or evil. The transitory nature of the material world, and the ills associated with it are highlighted as a guide for how one should conduct themselves in their social relations, and with the world at large. 

The element of love assumes a spiritual, transcendental quality in Rahim’s work, where it contains certain healing properties. It can both make, and break social bonds. 

Lastly, Rahim, despite being a Muslim himself, also constantly evokes Hindu imagery regarding Ram, and the worship of Ram as the pathway to achieving salvation. 

The most famous of Rahim's dohas, which include topics like friendship, hatred, the highs and lows of life, family, relationships, etc., are simple lessons for everyday living. He uses a modern tone to address us across centuries. This is not the voice of a recluse or a philosopher, but rather someone who is thinking back on a life of success and failure, political intrigue and cold-blooded pragmatism.His writings were influenced by the Vaishnavite branch of the Bhakti movement as well as the well-known Sufi poet Amir Khusrau from the 13th century.[25][26]

Rahim Ke Dohe by Professor (Dr) Sanjeev Chaturvedi

An attempt to link the wisdom of Indian culture with modern times, Rahim Ke Dohe attempts to link the couplets of Khanzada Mirza Khan Abdul Rahim that are taught in Indian schools, to entrepreneurship.Prof (Dr) Sanjeev Chaturvedi is a Graduate in Economics, MBA in Marketing Management and has done his M.Phil in International Business. He has written 3 books on Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Written in Hindi-English, Rahim Ke Dohe contains 50 couplets which the writer tries to connect with lessons for entrepreneurs. [27]

Celebrating Rahim

As part of the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative implemented by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture alongside the Archaeological Survey of India and Interglobe Foundation, Celebrating Rahim was a festival held in 2017 to celebrate the works of Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan. The event included an international conference, publications and musical adaptations of the works of Khan-i-Khanan.

The conference discussed the importance of Khan-i-Khanan’s poetry in present context, which was followed by the launch of Celebrating Rahim, a book containing Khan-i-Khanan’s poems and dohas, especially those that were not very well known and lost over time, along with detailed research into his life. 

The musical adaptations of his verses were performed by classical performers Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Pandit Ritesh and Rajnish Mishra, and Swaransh Mishra. While folk music and qawwali were used by Devnarain Sarolia, Rahmat Khan Langa and Mohammaed Ahmad Warsi, guitar and percussion were used alongside dastango late Ankit Chadha to perform Rahim’s verses for the first time in the past century[28]. These audiotracks were also later compiled into a CD which accompanies the book launched at the festival.  These audio tracks are also available on the BooksPlus app for mobile devices[29].

Doha's - Stories for Children based on Famous Couplets of Tulsidas, Kabir & Rahim (Illustrated)

Based on 27 famous dohas, including those of Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan is designed to teach young children about the works of such poets in a fascinating way that is easy to understand, and also interesting to look at due to its colorful illustrations. It aims to help young minds benefit from the rich lessons that the works of poets like Khan-i-Khanan hold[30].

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan.

• Memoirs of Babur
• Works by or about Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan in libraries (WorldCat catalog)