[4] Bairam Khan was born in the region of Badakhshan in Central Asia, and belonged to the Baharlu Turkoman clan of the Kara Koyunlu confederation.

[6] His great-grandparents were Pirali Beg Baharlu and his wife, a daughter of the Kara Koyunlu ruler Qara Iskander; Piroli's niece through his sister Pasha Begum had been one of the wives of Babur.

Bairam Khan contributed greatly to the establishment of the Mughal empire under Humayun when he was entrusted with the position of muhardar (keeper of the seals) and took part in military campaigns in Benares, Bengal and Gujarat.

[11] In 1540, during the Battle of Kannauj, he was captured by Sher Shah Suri's men, but later managed to make an adventurous escape, and rejoined Humayun at Sindh in July 1543.

[13] At the time of Humayun's death at 27 January 1556, Bairam Khan was leading a campaign against Sikandar Shah Suri in Punjab (in present-day India) as the then Prince Akbar's ataliq (guardian) and sipahsalaar (commander-in-chief) of the Mughal army.

To consolidate the Mughal Empire, Bairam Khan kept Humayun's death a secret, sending reassuring messages of his recovery and having Mullah Bekasi, a loyal cleric in Delhi (who looked similar to Humayun) dressed up in the imperial robes and make the usual daily appearance before the people from the balcony of the fort, till Akbar's coronation.

[14] On 14 February 1556, Akbar was crowned as the new Mughal Emperor and his first deed was to appoint Bairam Khan as Vakil (Prime Minister) and grant him the lofty titles of Khan-i-Khanan and sipahsalaar itizad-i-daulat qahira (commander-in-chief of the army, mainstay of victorious dominion).

Under Bairam Khan's leadership, the Mughal army moved to Jalandhar, where they encamped for five months and managed to drive Sikandar Suri deeper into the Siwalik hills.

[21] Rejecting the advice of his close friends and supporters he decided not to rebel, but later his political opponents Maham Anga and her son Adham Khan sent Pir Muhammad to trail him and 'pack him off to Mecca'.

Bairam Khan left his family in the fortress of Tabar-e-Hind (in present-day Bathinda) and headed towards Jalandhar, intent on taking Lahore.

However, Bairam Khan managed to retreat with the majority of his force to Talwara-Hazipur adjoining Rey Shikargah (Mughal Imperial Hunting Grounds) from where he surrendered and was treated by Akbar with immense respect.

[23][24] While travelling through Gujarat he was assassinated on 31 January 1561[25] at Sahasralinga Tank, a religious site near Anhilwad Patan, by a group of Afghans led by Mubarak Khan Lohani, whose father had been killed while fighting with the Mughals at the Battle of Machhiwara in 1555.

He also promoted Sheikh Gadai, the son of Sikandar Lodi's court poet Jamali Kamboh, to the position of sadurat-i-mamalik (Chief Justice) in 1559.