Quite obscure, but, I was looking through the Turkestan Album and one of the pieces of architecture is the mausoleum of Emir Timur Kuragan's great-granddaughter Rabichi Begim. I have tried finding information on her life online, I figured there must be something, given she was important enough to warrant an ornate resting place, however I have failed to dig up much at all. I think the variance in latinisation of names is hindering me somewhat. Could anyone help provide me with information?
Her name is romanised variously: Rabi'a Sultan Bigum, Rabii Sultan Begim, Rabigha-Sultan Begum, Rabi'i Sultan Begum, Rabichi Begim.
There is little to be found about her achievements. She was the 4th daughter of Ulugh Beg, grandson of Timur and sultan. Ulugh Beg is perhaps best known as an astronomer-sultan rather than as a successful sultan. His reign was characterised by civil war, and he was overthrown and imprisoned by his son in 1449 (and then released and assassinated, still in 1449). The civil war didn't end with his death. Abu Sa'id Mirza, a great-grandson of Timur (and the grandfather of Babur, Moghul conquerer of (part of) India), based in Bukhara, invited Abu'l-Khayr, an Uzbek khan (indeed, khagan), to help him fight Abdullah Mirza, also a great-grandson of Timur, based in Samarkand. Together, Abu Sa'id Mirza and Abu'l-Khayr Khan took Samarkand in 1451, and killed Abdullah Mirza (the commander of the Uzbek forces might have been Abu'l Khayr's grandson, Mohammed Shaibani AKA Muhammed Shahi Beg (later, Shaybani Khan), acting on his behalf). Abu Sa'id Mirza wanted Samarkand for himself, took the Timurid throne, and richly reward Abu'l-Khayr Khan, including giving him Ulugh Beg's daughter, Rabi'a Sultan Begum, as a wife.
Abu'l-Khayr Khan died in 1468, and the next khan of the Transoxiana branch of the Uzbeks was his son, Shah Budagh Khan. He only ruled for a year before dying in battle, and the Uzbek state disintegrated in war. Muhammed Shahi Beg, grandson of Abu'l-Khayr Khan and son of Shah Budagh Khan, struggled for decades to rebuilt his grandfather's state, finally doing so in 1500 with the conquest of Bukhara and Samarkand. In the process, he pushed Babur into Kabul, and on the path to his conquest of India. He ruled for 10 years as Shaybani Khan, until he was killed in battle in 1510.
Söyünch (Suyunjuq) Muhammed Khoja, second-oldest prince of the dynasty and son of Abu'l-Khayr Khan and Rabi'a Sultan Begum, was elected as the next khan, and ruled for about 1 year. During his brief rule, his mother was described in a history as
the noble-born Rabi῾a Sultan Bigum, Ulughbeg's fourth daughter and mother of the greatest Khaqan
where the "greatest khagan" is Söyünch Khan. Söyünch Khan was succeeded by the oldest prince of the dynasty, Kochkunju Muhammad, also a son of Abu'l-Khayr Khan, who was one of the longest-reigning khans of the Shaybanid dynasty, ruling from 1512-1531.
Rabi'a Sultan Begum died in 1485, in the tumultuous time between the reigns of Shah Budagh Khan and Shaybani Khan. Her burial honours are quite in line with her status as a wife of the first and greatest of the Uzbek khans of Transoxiana and mother of princes (later to become khan).
For the history of Transoxiana at this time and the Shaybanids, see
For a primary source (from which the above quote comes), see