• From Encyclopaedia Iranica:

PĀD[E]ŠĀH ḴĀTUN, (پادشاه خاتون) ṢAFWAT-AL-DONYĀ WA’L-DIN, Qara Ḵetāy (b. 654/1256; d. Šaʿbān, 694/June 1295), ruler of Kerman (691-94/1292-95), the youngest daughter of Qoṭb-al-Din Moḥammad and Qotloḡ Tarkān Ḵātun (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši p. 35; Ḵˇāndamir, III, p. 270). After her father’s death in 655/1257, she grew up under the tutelage of her mother. Reportedly she was Tarkān’s favorite child and received an excellent education (Anonymous, pp. 137, 138; Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, p. 70). She was also praised for her skill in calligraphy (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, p. 70; Waṣṣāf, p. 292; Waziri, p. 459).

On 22 Šawwāl 670 (22 May 1272), at the age of 16, Qotloḡ Tarkān, accompanied by the dignitaries of Kerman, brought Pādšāh with great splendor to the Il-khanid court (ordu), where she was married to Abaqa (Pers. Abāqā), who also granted her the richly equipped household of his lately deceased mother, Yesünčin (Anonymous, pp. 140, 227, 228; Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, p. 71; Rašid-al-Din, II, p. 1098). During her marriage to Abaqa she frequently met with her mother and apparently acted as her representative at court. In 675/1276 she achieved reconciliation between Qotloḡ Tarkān and her stepson Ḥajjāj Solṭān (Anonymous, p. 254). Evidently, on Pādšāh’s prompting, an order was issued in 679/1280 prohibiting Soyurḡatmeš from interfering with Tarkān’s reign (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, p. 51).

After Abaqa’s death (680/1282) she remained at court. But when his successor, Aḥmad Takudār, deposed Qotloḡ Tarkān in favor of her stepson Soyurḡatmeš, Pādšāh traveled to Siāh Kuh, where she met her mother in Ṣafar 681/May 1282 and accompanied her to the Il-khan’s ordu. When Tarkān passed away the following summer (682/1283) with the succession in Kerman still undecided, Pādšāh did not escort her mother’s corpse to Kerman but stayed in the ordu to safeguard her own interests. Yet she sent her sister Bibi Tarkān with a wide range of power to Kerman to take care of her revenues and also transferred the rule of Sirjān to her. Soyurḡatmeš, however, ignored Pādšāh’s orders (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, pp. 52, 54-55). Seemingly she was still quite influential at court, because Arḡun, after his succession as the Il-khan in 683/1284, divided Kerman between Pādšāh and Jalāl-al-Din Soyurḡatmeš. Instead of accepting this decision, Pādšāh, allegedly on the instigation of her sister Bibi Tarkān, filed a complaint against Buqā Chingsāng, who had supported Soyurḡatmeš’s claim. This turned out to be a grave mistake. On Buqā’s request, she was married posthaste to Arḡun’s brother, Gayḵātu, and sent to Anatolia (Rum) with him (685/1286), thus removing her from the center of power, whereas Soyurḡatmeš was honored by marriage to Hülegü’s granddaughter Kürdüjin (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši p. 56, 71). He even succeeded in having Pādšāh’s personal dominion, Sirjān, assigned to himself in exchange for a dominion in Anatolia (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši p. 61). Waṣṣāf (p. 291) states that Gayḵātu held Pādšāh Ḵātun in great esteem and bestowed the most privileged status upon her. In 688/1289 she briefly visited Arḡun in Tabriz and successfully reclaimed Sirjān (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, p. 62).

With Arḡun’s death and Gayḵātu’s election as the Il-khan (690/1291), the tide began to turn. In 691/1292, Pādšāh finally returned from Anatolia, and her husband entrusted her with the rule of Kerman. Nāṣer-al-Din Monši states that, after some initial hesitation, Soyurḡatmeš finally submitted to her; but this is reasonably doubtful, especially since Pādšāh had him imprisoned after her rise to power in Ḏu’l-qaʿda 691/October 1292. With Kürdüjin’s help, Soyurḡatmeš managed to escape and make his way to Gayḵātu’s ordu. Complying with Pādšāh’s wish, Gayḵātu returned him to Kerman, where he suffered imprisonment again. Obviously on Bāydu’s request, who was about to marry Soyurḡatmeš’s daughter Šāh-ʿālam, Pādšāh subsequently released him. Reportedly a short-lived reconciliation took place between the siblings (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši pp. 69, 71-73; Šabānkāraʾi, p. 201). However, Pādšāh, apparently having reason to doubt Soyurḡatmeš’s submission, had him strangled on 27 Ramażān 693/21 August 1294 (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši p 73; Waṣṣāf pp. 292-93; Waziri, I, pp. 462-63). Shortly thereafter Gayḵātu granted her control over Yazd and Šabānkāra. She also intervened in the succession issue in Hormuz. She had Rokn-al-Din Masʿud, who had assassinated his own brother Sayf-al-Din Noṣrat to replace him as governor, brought to Kerman and installed Sayf-al-Din Ayāz as the new ruler of Hormuz (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, p. 75).

Pādšāh’s short reign is characterized as just and beneficial to her subjects (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, p. 70; Waṣṣāf p. 292), although little is known about her charitable activities. Yet, while living in Anatolia, she donated the Hatuniye Madrasa. It remained unfinished, because Pādšāh meanwhile had returned to Iran (Karamaǧlı, pp. 209-47). Therefore one may assume that she also initiated charitable foundations in Kerman. Pādšāh had her name read in the formal address (ḵoṭba) of Friday prayer and inscribed on minted coins. Waṣṣāf states that she used the title ḵodāvand-e ʿālam (lord of the world), which also appears on her coinage (Waṣṣāf, p. 292; Erman, pp. 136-38).

Being high spirited and literate, she sponsored scholars and poets (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, p. 73; Waṣṣāf p. 292). Under the pseudonym Lāla Ḵātun (Ṣadaqiāni, pp. 241, 244) or Ḥasanšāh (Waṣṣāf p. 292) she wrote poetry herself. Jahān Ḵātun, granddaughter of Rašid-al-Din Fażl-Allāh, mentions her in her divān (Ṣafā, III, p. 1047; for samples of his poetry, see Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, pp. 70-71; Mostawfi, p. 533; Waziri, I, pp. 260-62).

Bāydu’s uprising followed by the defeat of Gayḵātu and his assassination by Bāydu’s order (3 Jomādā I 694/21 March 1295) was crucial for Pādšāh Ḵātun’s reign. Instead of immediately leaving for Ḡazān Khan’s ordu, she remained in Kerman. Yet most of her supporters deserted her. Mongol troops took control of the city, and when Kürdüjin triumphantly entered Kerman the following day, Pādšāh’s fate was sealed. She was imprisoned and shortly afterward strangled in Kušk-e Zar in Šaʿbān 694/June-July 1295 (Waṣṣāf, p. 295; Faṣiḥ Ḵˇāfi, II, p. 370; Waziri, I, pp. 465) on her way to Bāydu’s court, in accordance with an order issued by Bāydu, probably at the prompting of Šāh-ʿālam and Kürdüjin. She was buried in Meskin (Meškin). Moẓaffar-al-Din Moḥammad Shah, the next ruler of Kerman, had her remains transferred to Kerman, where she was buried in the seminary founded by her mother, now known as Qobba Sabz (Nāṣer-al-Din Monši, pp. 75-77; Ḵˇāndamir, III, p. 270; Mirḵˇānd, IV, pp. 444-45).

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• From Women in World History:

The poet Padishah was a member of the Mongol Kutlugh-Khanid dynasty, who ruled in Persia and reigned over Kirman (in south-west Persia) in the 13th century. This dynasty was part of the Ilkhanate, one of the four divisions within the Mongol Empire. In the Ilkhanid period (1256-1353), both religious and secular arts flourished. Women of the elite class were accorded great respect, had a public presence, and were educated.

Padishah’s mother, Kutlugh Turkan, after the death of her husband ruled Kirman for 16 years, until 1282. She married Padishah to Abaka Khan, great grandson of Genghis Khan and son of Hulagu. Abaka did not live long, dying in 1282. Padishah, considered a prize for her beauty and ability as a poet, married again, this time to Gaykhatu, the fifth ruler of the Ilkhan dynasty and one of Padishah’s former husband’s sons. The marriage shocked the Muslims, although it was a relatively common practice among the Mongols.

Upon her marriage to Gaykhatu, Padishah moved quickly to insist that her husband, known for his dissolute and extravagant ways, give her mother’s old throne of Kirman to her as proof of his love. This he did, and Padishah became sixth sovereign of the Kutlugh-Khanid dynasty. Hulagu added to her power by granting her the powerful privilege of khutba (prayer for the sovereign) proclaimed in the mosques, the ultimate sign of legitimate reign. She also had gold and silver coins made in her name.

One of Padishah’s first acts as queen was to imprison her half-brother, Suyurghatamish, who had coveted the Kirman throne and meddled in its affairs. When he tried to escape, she had him strangled, an act that led to her own downfall. Gaykhatu was assassinated in 1295 and his successor, Baydu, influenced by Suyurghatamish’s widow, had Padishah Khatun put to death. Her violent demise was noted by Marco Polo who wrote that a lady known as the Padishah Khatun was “an ambitious, clever, and masterful woman, who put her own brother Suyurghatmish to death as a rival, and was herself ...put to death by her brother's widow and daughter.”

Sovereign Queen by Padishah Khatun:

“I am that woman whose works are good.
Under my veil is kingly power. The curtain of chastity is my strength where the idle westwind travelers cannot pass. I withhold the beauty of my shadow from the sun that gads about in the marketplace. I hold lordship over all the world yet before the Lord my business is to serve.

Two yards of veil won’t make any woman a lady nor a hat make any head worth of command. For whom should I remove my veil when in its place would be a priceless crown? I am a ruler from the dynasty of Ologh Soltan. If there is sovereignty in this world, it takes after us.”

Deirder Lashgari, translator

Sources

• The Forgotten Queens of Islam, Fatima Mernissi.
• Women Poets of the World, Joanna Bankier & Deirdre Lashgari, editors.

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Gaykhatu's wife, Padshah, was the daughter of Kütlugh Turkan (Turkan Khatun) of Kirman. Padshah had taken the title of Safwat al-dunya wa al-Din (literally, Purity of the earthly world and of the faith) after Djalal da-Din Abu'l-Muzzafar was deposed as head of the Mongol tribe that reigned in southeastern Iran. Padshah was known for the murder of her stepbrother, Suyurghatamish. One of his clansmen, Khurdudjin, managed to avenge him by putting her to death, with the tacit approval of the later Ilkhan, Baydu.