[10][11] In 1397, Timur married Tukal-Khanum, a daughter of the Mongol Khan Khizr Khoja, who skipped over several other wives due to her exalted lineage and took the second place in the harem, inferior in status only to Saray.

The Spanish ambassador, Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, who was sent by Henry III of Castile to visit Timur's court in 1405, called Saray, "The Grand Khanum".

It was the two Chingisid princesses' personal qualities and pedigree that allowed them to develop such a prestigious dynastic position, since with Timurid consorts maternity was not in itself a path to power.

[18] Upon the birth of Shahrukh's eldest son, Ulugh Beg, in 1394, he was also, like his father, placed in Saray's care and grew up under the supervision of the Empress.

As the ambassador of Henry III of Castile, Clavijo enjoyed generous access to the life and ceremony of the Timurid imperial court and left one of the most detailed and lengthy accounts of their settings.

She wore a complex headdress, fashioned from red fabric ornamented with pearls, rubies, turquoise, feathers, and held together with gold wire.

[21] The face that dimly showed beneath her veil was so thickly covered with white lead to protect from the Sun, that it looked as if it were made of paper.

[23] The madrasa was commissioned by Empress Saray in c. 1397 as she was interested in patronizing education and was built by her orders at the capital of the Timurid Empire: Samarkand.