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 Mariam uz-Zamani Begum Sahiba (often shortened to Mariam-uz-Zamani), née Rajkumari Hira Kunwari Sahiba, alias Harkha Bai,, (October 1, 1542 - 1622), was a Rajput princess who became the Mughal Empress, and the eldest daughter of Kacchwaha Rajput, Raja Bharmal, Raja of Amber, the older name of the Rajput State of Jaipur.

Her notability arises from her marriage to the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar. She was also the mother of emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir, her husband's heir.

Her name as recorded in Mughal chronicles was Mariam-uz-Zamani. This is why the mosque of Mariyam Zamani Begum was constructed in Lahore, Pakistan, in her honour. She has been also referred to as Jodha Bai or Jodhabai in modern times, although she was never known as such during her lifetime. Hira Kunwar, Akbar's first Rajput wife, was the eldest daughter of Raja Bhar Mal of Amer. She was also the sister of Bhagwandas and the aunt of Man Singh I of Amber, who later became one the nine jewels (Navaratnas) in the court of Akbar. .

Mosque of Mariyam Zamani Begum built by her son Nuruddin Salim Jahangir, is situated in the Walled City of Lahore, Pakistan, while Mariam's Tomb is situated one km away from Tomb of Akbar the Great, at Sikandra, near Agra.

Life
Hira Kunwari (her maiden name) was married to Akbar on January 20, 1562, at Sambhar, near Jaipur. She was Akbar's third wife and one of his three chief queens. She was 22 days older than her husband. Akbar's first queen was the childless Ruqaiyya Begum, and his second wife was Salima Sultan, the widow of his most trusted general, Bairam Khan. After her marriage, Hira Kunwari was given the title Mariam-ul-Zamani ("Mary of the Age").

Maryam-uz-Zamani and dynastic politics
Maryam-uz-Zamani is said to have been politically involved in the court until Nur Jahan became empress. However, the two ladies with the greatest clout at court were apparently Akbar's mother, and Akbar's second chief queen, Salima Sultan, who both encouraged Akbar to forgive his errant son Salim in 1604. (Salima was also mother of Akbar's deceased second son Murad who died 1599, while Maryam-uz-Zamani was apparently mother of Jahangir and Daniyal). She arranged the betrothal and then the first marriage on 13 February 1585 of her son, Prince Salim (later Jahangir) then aged 15-16, to her niece, Manbhawati Bai (d. 16 May 1604 of suicide by poison), daughter of Raja Bhagwant Das of Amber. The two were first cousins, and the marriage carried no obvious political benefit, except to Maryam-uz-Zamani and her kin who wanted to ensure the Mughal-Amber connection persisted to the next generation. This cousin-wife was the mother of Jahangir's eldest son Prince Khusrau Mirza ((August 16, 1587 Kabul - January 26, 1622, murdered on the orders of his brother Khurram), who however failed to win the throne during Akbar's last years (when his father had revolted) or in the early years of Jahangir's reign. Thus, although Maryam-uz-Zamani's son and descendants became emperors, her match-making was unsuccessful.

As it happened, Jahangir preferred another wife Princess Manmati or Manavati (13 May 1573 – 18 April 1619, Agra; buried Sohagpura), his second or third wife, the daughter of the Rathore ruler of Jodhpur, whom he married 21 January 1586. She was later called Taj Bibi Bilqis Makani Begum Sahiba Jodh Bai, née Rajkumari Shri Manavati Baiji Lall Sahib, and was sometimes known as Jagat Gosain and became Jahangir's favourite wife until he married Nur Jehan (1577-1645) on 25 May 1611, a lady in waiting to his stepmother Ruqaiyya Sultan, first and chief wife of Akbar. Princess Manmati, alias Jagat Gosain, alias Jodh Bai, was the mother of Khurram, his third and favourite son (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) who ascended the throne as Shah Jahan in 1627.

Commercial activities
Like a very few other women at the Mughal court, Maryam-uz-Zamani could issue official documents (singularly called farman), which was usually the exclusive privilege of the emperor. Maryam Zamani used her wealth and influence to build gardens, wells, and mosques around the country.

Maryam Zamani owned and oversaw the ships that carried pilgrims to and from the Islamic holy city Mecca. In 1613, her ship, the Rahīmī was seized by Portuguese pirates along with the 600-700 passengers and the cargo. When the Portuguese officially refused to return the ship and the passengers, the outcry at the Moghul court was quite severe. Zamani's son, the Indian emperor Jahangir ordered the seizure of the Portuguese town Daman. This episode is considered to be an example of the struggle for wealth that would later ensue and lead to colonization of India.

Maryam Zamani died in 1622, having outlived her husband Akbar, her niece cum daughter-in-law Manbhagwati (who commited suicide in 1604), and her eldest grandson Khusrau. As per her last wishes, a vav or step well was constructed by Jahangir. Her tomb, built in her lifetime in 1611, is on the Delhi-Agra National Highway, near Fatehpur Sikri. She was buried according to Islamic custom.

The misnomer Jodha Bai
There is popular perception that the Rajput wife of Akbar, mother of Jahangir, was known as "Jodha Bai", and this error is continued by guides at Fatehpur Sikri.

In Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri, the autobiography of Jahangir, she is referred to as Mariam Zamani, rather than as Mariam-uz-Zamani.. Tuzk-e-Jahangiri doesn't mention Jodha Bai either (she was his favourite wife until Nur Jahan). Neither the Akbarnama (a biography of Akbar commissioned by Akbar himself), nor any historical text from the period refer to her as Jodha Bai.

The error appears to have been made by the soldier-historian James Tod, probably based on oral histories that confused Akbar's first Rajput wife, a princess of Amber, with Jahangir's favourite Rajput wife, a princess of Jodhpur. According to the historian Imtiaz Ahmad, the director of the Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library in Patna, the name "Jodha" was used for Akbar's wife for the first time by Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod, in his book Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan.

This is confirmed by other Indian historians. According to Professor Shirin Moosvi, a historian of Aligarh Muslim University, the name "Jodha Bai" was first used to refer to Akbar's wife in the 18th and 19th centuries in historical writings. According to Professor N R Farooqi, a historian of Allahabad Central University, Jodha Bai was not the name of Akbar's Rajput queen; it was the name of Jahangir's Rajput wife Princess Manmati of Jodhpur, whose real name was Jagat Gosain.

Protests against the film Jodhaa Akbar
The controversy over the name "Jodha Bai" is a matter of historical debate in Rajasthan, with various Rajput organisations taking the field against the director of the movie, Ashutosh Gowariker, for not portraying history correctly.

In 2008, a section of the Rajput community in Rajasthan protested against the Hindi film, Jodhaa Akbar, released on 15 February 2008, which is about Akbar and his wife Hira Kunwari/Mariam-uz-Zamani. The wife of Akbar has been referred to as "Jodha Bai" in the movie, which has led to much controversy as a similar sounding name "Jodh Bai" was the alternate name of Princess Manmati of Jodhpur, the wife of Jahangir (Akbar and Mariam-uz-Zamani's son) and mother of emperor Shahjahan.

However, Mariam-uz-Zamani was mentioned by the same name "Jodha Bai" in the 1960 movie Mughal-e-Azam, and there were no protests at the time.