Zainabadi Mahal
Zainabadi Mahal, d.1653, mistress of Aurangzeb. Originally named Hira Bai, she was a slave-girl in the keeping of Mir Khalil the husband of a sister of Aurangzeb’s mother. She so charmed the youthful Aurangzeb who saw her unveiled in his aunt’s train at Burhanpur that he took her away from him in exchange for another girl from his harem. Aurangzeb was so much smitten by her charms that he was ready to drink the cup of wine offered by her but she snatched it away from his lips saving that she only wanted to test his love and that he should commit the sin of drinking. She died young, and Aurangzeb, prostrate with grief, buried her close to a tank in Aurangabad.
