Salima Sultan Begum (23 February 1539 – 2 January 1613)[1] was the third wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Akbar,[2] and the granddaughter of Babur.

Salima was the daughter of Akbar's paternal aunt, Gulrukh Begum, and her husband, the Viceroy of Kannauj, Nuruddin Muhammad Mirza.

The couple, who had a considerable age difference of approximately forty years, were married in 1557 after Akbar had succeeded Humayun as the third Mughal emperor.

Gulrukh Begum, who was known for her beauty and accomplishments in the imperial household,[10] died four months after giving birth to her daughter.

[citation needed] Abdus Hayy, the author of Ma'asir al-umara, quotes one of her famous couplets: In my passion I called thy lock the 'thread of life'I was wild and so uttered such an expression[19]Akbar's court historian, Bada'uni, in his book Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, gives one passage which throws light on Salima's love for books.

He adds that Abu'l Fazl did not lay his refutation before the Emperor, and he does not clear up the awkward doubt as to what he had done with Salima's desired book.

[20] At the age of 18, Salima Begum was married to the considerably older Bairam Khan (who was in his fifties)[15] on 7 December 1557 in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Salima's maternal uncle, Humayun, had promised Bairam that he would give his niece in marriage to him as soon as India was conquered (which was accomplished in Akbar's reign).

[3] Shortly before he died in 1561, Bairam Khan lost his prestigious position in the Empire as he was provoked into rebelling against Akbar by conspirators who wanted to ruin him.

As punishment for his rebellions, Bairam was stripped of all his privileges and Akbar gave him three options: of a handsome jagir in the sarkar of Kalpi and Chanderi, the post of the emperor's confidential advisor, and a journey to Mecca.

[26][27] Bairam Khan's camp was also put to plunder and the newly widowed, Salima Begum, along with her step-son, Abdul Rahim (aged four), reached Ahmedabad after suffering many hardships.

As per his orders, Salima and Abdul Rahim were brought under imperial escort to the Mughal court with great honour and respect.

Akbar himself married her on 7 May 1561 as a regard for the astute services offered by her late husband to the Mughal Empire and acknowledging her exalted lineage.

[2] The richly talented Salima was Akbar's only other wife apart from Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, who was of the most exalted lineage, being a granddaughter of Emperor Babur through her maternal line.

In 1575, Salima traveled to Mecca to perform the Hajj pilgrimage along with her aunt, Gulbadan Begum, and many other Timurid ladies.

They were said to have spent three and a half years in Arabia and made the hajj four times, returning home to Agra in March 1582.

[35]Jahangir was thus constrained to go to the female apartment, and on account of the pressure exercised by revered elderly women of Harem, he finally pardoned him.