Born to Rule : Begums of Bhopal

200 years ago, a Begum named Kutia Begum became the Nawab of Bhopal. This started a lineage of powerful daughters who ruled Bhopal. Sikandar Begum, the daughter of Kutia Begum, became the Nawab after her husband's death. She made alliances with the British during the 1857 revolt and managed to keep her throne. Sikandar was a progressive ruler, implementing reforms and establishing schools and institutions. Her daughter Shahjaha Begum succeeded her and continued the modernization of Bhopal. Shahjaha built mosques, improved transportation, and promoted education. Sultan Jahan, Shahjaha's daughter, became the last female monarch of Bhopal and focused on education and public health. She abdicated the throne in favor of her son, ending the reign of the Begums. The current Begum of Bhopal is Saba Ali Khan, who has a connection to film and cricket. The Begums of B It all started 200 years ago when a Begum decided to become a Nawab. Haan haan, ek Begum ne decide kara Nawab banne ke liye. Kutia Begum took over the throne of Bhopal after her husband's death in 1819. Little did she know or anticipated it will start an unbroken royal lineage of valorous daughters who would become the Nawab of Bhopal. Hello, this is Anushka Jain, founder of En Route Indian History and you are listening to Badass Begum. If you are listening to this podcast on Amazon Music, Spotify, Jio Sawant, please don't forget to rate, share and subscribe. The story starts in 1819 when Gauhar Mahal later known as Kutia Begum decided to Baat shuru hoti hai 1819 ke andar jab Gauhar Mahal later known as Kutia Begum after the death of her husband Nazar Muhammad Khan decided to rule for her daughter. Her daughter was born in 1816 and she was named Sikandar Begum. After the marriage of Sikandar Begum, it was her husband who ruled the Bhopal state. But that ruling was very short lived. On 18th April 1835, Sikandar married Nawab Jahangir Muhammad Khan. Begum Sikandar Begum gave birth to her daughter, the famous Shahjaha Begum. On 3rd January 1847, when Shahjaha Begum was just 9, the Nawab of Bhopal died, making Sultan Jahangir Begum the Nawab of Bhopal. In July of the same year of 1847, East India Company Governor Joseph Cunningham decided that until Shahjaha becomes of age, Begum Sikandar Begum would become the regent of her daughter. The Governor General bestowed the state's executive powers on her. This was all well 10 years before 1857 Gadar ki Ladai. Ab hua ye, in 1857 the famous revolt against the British happened. The British were smart. The Begums were smart. They decided to side with East India Company rather than rebel against the ruling power. Ab Gadari bolo ya samajdari, one thing was clear. The Begums managed to keep their throne and their kingdom. Jahan poora desh Gadar ki Ladai ki aag mein jhooch raha tha, Begum Sikandar ka dimaag kahin aur chal raha tha. To prevent rebellion in Bhopal, she banned the publication and circulation of anti-British pamphlets, strengthened her intelligence network and even bribed anti-British soldiers to switch sides. Unka pro-British stance kab ko pasan nahi aaya. 1857 August mein a group of sepoys attacked British garrison in Sehore and Berasia. The same group of sepoys, encouraged by Sikandar's mother, surrounded her palace in December. Sikandar sent her son-in-law Umrao Daulah to negotiate with them. The soldiers entered their siege when she announced that their salaries would be increased. Hoi na Chalati ki baat? In 1861, Sikandar received Knight Grand Commander Award for her pro-British stance during the mutiny. The British recognized Sikandar as Nawab of Bhopal on 30th September 1860 and her military salute was increased to 19 guns the following year. Sultan Sikandar Begum thi toh apni maa jaisi, magar na toh wo nakab pehenti thi, na hi parde mein rehti thi. She had excellent swordship and was skilled archer. Sikandar commanded an army and personally inspected courts, offices, minted treasury. Unhone bohot saare reforms bhi initiate kare, jaisi ki divided the state into three districts and 21 sub-districts. A revenue officer was appointed for each district and an administrator for each sub-district. She repaid the state's debt. Sikandar also established a custom office, a secretariat and an intelligence network. She also established a mint, a postal service which connected the state with the rest of India. She also established a modern judiciary with a court of appeal. Given her extremely forward and modern way of thinking, she established Victoria School of Girls and at least one Urdu and Hindi middle school in each district of the state. Sikandar introduced Majlis-e-Shura, iska matlab hai Parliament in 1847, consisting of nobles and intellectuals. Its purpose was to pass and recommend laws and to suggest reforms. In 1862, she replaced Persian with Urdu as the court language. Unhone commission kara Moti Masjid, which was built in red sandstone and marble in Bhopal, wo abhi bhi exist karta hai. Agar itna sab kaafi nahi tha, toh Sikandar Begum ne ek aur fateh payi. She became the first Indian monarch to perform Hajj in 1863 and wrote a memoir in Urdu. An English translation of the Urdu memoir was published in 1870. She was accompanied by around 1,000 people, mostly women, for her Mecca journey. In the memoir, she wrote that the cities of Mecca and Jeddah were unclean and the Arabs and the Turks were uncivilized and possessed no religious knowledge. Also included in the memoir were anecdotes about her confrontation with Turkish custom officials who wanted to levy duties on everything she had brought. Unki beti Shahjaha Begum became the only surviving child of the royal family. She was born in Islamnagar, a few miles from Bhopal. At a young age of six, she was recognized as the ruler of Bhopal and her mother Sikandar Begum wielded power as regent for her. Magar Gadar ki 1857 ki ladai ke baad, the merit and the loyalty of Sikandar Begum was made very evident and clear to the East India Company. She was elected as a Nawab in her own right until her death in 1868. Usi ke baad unki beti Sultan Shahjaha Begum succeeded her mother. Sultan Shahjaha ne apni amma aur apni nani dono ko hi dekha tha ruling karte hue. Being a monarch came natural to her. On acquiring the throne, she recognized the army, modernized the military arms, increased the taxes and raised the salaries of army soldiers. She also increased the police force. Unhone design kara city ko apni tareeke se. She built artificial lake, built a dam and believe it or not she was the woman behind building one of the largest mosque in India, Taj-ul-Mazaj. However, the construction paused after her death and was taken over 100 years later in 1971. She truly meant the credit to her name Shahjaha and built the Taj Mahal Palace in Bhopal. Shahjaha unlike her mother did not perform Haj due to the fear of water but nonetheless that did not stop her from leaving a mark abroad. She commissioned a mosque in Woking, Surrey, UK that still exists. She also improved the transportation of Bhopal and laid railway tracks connecting it to Hoshinabad and Bhopal. Shahjaha ki talim or education was excellent. Having an educated grandmother and mother at that time certainly meant she understood and acknowledged the importance of being literate. She funded the modern Aligarh University that churned brilliant scholars. She also authored several books in Urdu. Among them is the famous Gohar-e-Iqbal which describes the major events between the 1st and the 7th year of her regime and the socio-political conditions of Bhopal at that time. If you want to read this book you can actually read an English translation of the book named An Account of My Life. Not only that but during her reign first census of Bhopal was held in 1877. She also issued the first postage stamp in 1876 and 1878. As much lavish and interesting her professional life was, Shahjaha's personal life was traumatic. She married in 1855 to her first husband as his third wife. At his death she married again this time to Siddiqui Hassan Khan of Kannauj who too died. The marriage ended childless. From her first marriage she did have children but only one survived. Both her granddaughters also tragically died. After her death in 1901 her daughter Sultan Jahan took over the reigns of the state of Bhopal as the fourth female monarch. She also became the last female monarch as the throne was taken over by her son Hameedullah Khan. Following her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother's footsteps she too was a reformer. She paid a lot of attention to female education. Under her rule primary education was made compulsory or completely free. She built many technical institutes and schools, increased the number of qualified teachers. From 1920 until her death she was also the first and the only chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. She was a prolific author and wrote several books on education, health and other topics. Not just a reformer in the field of education, the Nawab Begum reformed taxation, army, police, judiciary and jails. She even expanded agriculture and constructed extensive irrigation and public works in the state. But her greatest contribution was in politics. In 1914 she was the president of the All India Muslim Ladies Association. She was also the patron of the National Council of Women in India. Sultan Jahan's primary legacy was in the field of public health as she pioneered widespread inoculation and vaccination programs and improved the water supply and standards of hygiene and sanitation for women. In 1926 she abdicated the throne in the favor of her fourth and the youngest child Hami-ud-Dulla Khan. She died a natural death at the age of 71. Now the story becomes very interesting here. Hami-ud-Dulla Khan became the last ruling monarch of Bhopal until 1949. He was succeeded by his daughter Sultan Sajeeda who married Pataudi Iftikar Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi. Unke bethe the Mansoor Ali Khan who married the legendary actress Shyamila Tagore. Interestingly it is their eldest daughter Saba Ali Khan, sister of actor Saif Ali Khan who now keeps the honorific title of Begum of Bhopal and she is also the Mutwali of the Royal Trust of Bhopal. So the Begums of Bhopal ultimately have a very filmy connection and connection to cricket. It is amazing that apart from a short term period where men ruled twice in Bhopal, it was particularly ruled by women for 200 years. Truly these were Begums of Bhopal who were born to rule.