Rahim was a good poet as well as a warrior. He also had the rank of commander of a detachment of the army of the Mughal Sultanate. An anecdote is famous about Rahim that whenever he used to give alms to someone, he did not look at him.
Rahim was one of Akbar’s Navratnas
Started building a mausoleum for his wife in India Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khana He had built a mausoleum for his Begum Mahbano in 1598, 5 decades before the construction of the Taj Mahal by Shah Jahan. This mausoleum is situated near Humayun’s tomb in Delhi. Rahim was also buried here after his death in 1627. Here we are talking about the same Abdul Rahim who was included in Akbar’s Navratnas.
Rahim was a good poet as well as a warrior. He also had the rank of commander of a detachment of the army of the Mughal Sultanate. An anecdote is famous about Rahim that whenever he used to give alms to someone, he did not look at him. Today we talk about the same story.
Rahim was the son of Bairam Khan.
Abdul Rahim was born in 1557. He was the son of Bairam Khan. There Bairam Khan who was one of Humayun’s most trusted people. When Akbar was 13 years old, Humayun had given the responsibility of looking after Akbar to Bairam Khan. According to the Ulvoor (Alwar) Gazette, when Bairam Khan was murdered in Patan city of Gujarat, Rahim was only five years old. After this, Rahim was brought up under the supervision of Akbar.
One of the Navratnas of Akbar
After completion of education, Akbar gave the title of Mirza Khan to Abdul Rahim and then got him married to Mahbano. Akbar included him in his Navratnas, after which he also made him the commander of a squad of 5,000 soldiers. He also won some battles and got the highest title Mir Arz. In 1984, Akbar honored Rahim with the title of Khan-e-Khana. However, in the meantime, he also had to see defeat.
Historian Satish Chandra Quoting a BBC report, it is mentioned that once Amar Singh, son of Rana Pratap, had taken captive the women and children of the family of Khan-e-Khana, the governor of Ajmer. This Khan-e-Khana was Abdul Rahim only. In the same report, quoting historian Reema Huja, it is mentioned that when Maharana Pratap came to know about this, he immediately asked everyone to leave. Later, Rahim also wrote couplets in his praise.
Rahim did not look at the alms giver
Abdul Rahim was most talked about for his way of giving alms to the poor, it is said that he never looked at the beggar. Eminent critic Ramchandra Shukla has written that Rahim was considered as Karna of his time, no one used to return empty handed from his place. The special thing is that whenever he used to give alms to anyone, he used to look down very humbly. When Tulsidas ji came to know about this, he wrote a couplet and sent it to Rahim.
“Give like this, how much have you learned, San. No matter how high you are, you are always looking down.
(i.e. why do you give alms like this? Where did you learn this? Your hands are high, your eyes are low…)
On this Rahim wrote that
“Denhar koi aur hai, bheet hai din rain. People put illusions on us, they look down on us.
(i.e. the donor is someone else who is giving day and night, but the world gives credit to me, so I lower my eyes)
Rahim was a good poet
Abdul Rahim was a contemporary of Tulsidas, apart from writing double, he had experienced Baburnama from Chagatai language in Persian. Which could be completed in 1589-90. He had a good hold on Sanskrit. He also wrote two books on astrology, namely Khetakautukam and Dwatrimshadriyogavalli. The special thing is that despite being a follower of Muslim religion, Rahim has done a lot of work in Hindi literature.
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