Sher Afghan Quli Khan

Ali Quli Istajlu, 'Sher Afgan Khan', also mentioned as Ali Quli Khan Istaju 'Sher Afgan Khan' () was a Mughal courtier, earlier serving in Persia, who became the jagirdar of Burdwan in West Bengal (1605–1607). He was also the first husband of Nur Jahan (Mehrunissa), who later married Jahangir and became Empress of India.

He was given the title Sher Afgan Khan, by Prince Salim, Jahangir, after his meritorious actions, during a war with the Rana of Mewar . Ali Kuli Istaju, was educated under the instructions of Shah Ismail II of Safavid dynasty in Iran The History of India, Sir H. M. Elliot, London, 1867–1877, Volume 6, chpt. 148. Like his wife, Sher Afgan was also an <!-- Pashtun he was Persian immigrant like Ghias--> immigrant from Persia, who fled from Iran, to Kandahar, then in India .

He was the father of Mehrunissa's only child, a daughter, also called Mehurinissa, like her mother, though later called Ladli Begum, after she married Prince Shahryar, the fifth and youngest son of Jahangir and rival to Shah Jahan Ain-i-Akbari, by Abul Fazl, tr. H. Blochmann, The Asiatic Society of Bengal., Calcutta, 1873. Volume I, chpt. 310, "'Alí Q.'s daughter, who, like her mother, had the name of Mihrunnisa, was later married to Prince Shahryar, Jahángír's fifth son.". Istajlu (Ustajlu), a Turkmen tribe surname.

Biography

Ali Quli Khan Istaju was the safarchi...
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