Shahjahan Begum

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 #OTD 1838, Shahjahan Begum was born! 

Shahjahan Begum GCSI CI (1838 –  1901) was the Begum of Bhopal (the ruler of the Islamic principality of Bhopal in central India) for two periods: 1844–60 (her mother acting as regent), and secondly during 1868–1901. She was a popular ruler, and is today remembered as an effective leader, stateswoman, architect and writer.  




Born in Islamnagar, near Bhopal, Shahjahan was the only surviving child of Sikandar Begum of Bhopal, and her husband Jahangir Mohammed Khan. She was recognised as ruler of Bhopal in 1844 at the age of six; her mother wielded power as regent during her minority. However, in 1860, her mother Sikandar Begum was recognised by the British as ruler of Bhopal in her own right, and Shahjahan was set aside. Shahjahan succeeded her mother as Begum of Bhopal upon the death of the latter in 1868. Thus, she already had a powerful queen to look up to and emulate as she assumed control of her kingdom for real.  

Following her mother’s example, Shahjahan improved the tax revenue system and increased state intake, raised the salaries of her soldiers, modernised the military's arms, built a dam and an artificial lake, improved the efficiency of the police force and undertook the first census after the state suffered two plagues (the population had dropped to 744,000). She balanced her budget by beginning the farming of opium (a valuable investment in those days).

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She is also acknowledged as the author of several Urdu language books, including histories of her kingdom and an autobiography (that was later translated into English by her education advisor). She also wrote the Iffat-ul-Muslimaat, detailing the customs of purdah and veiling across Europe, Asia and the middle east, thus establishing herself as a keen herstorian.  

She was instrumental in initiating the construction of one of the largest mosques in India, the Taj-ul-Masajid, at Bhopal, however she died before it could be completed and work was not resumed until 1971. She also built the Taj Mahal palace at Bhopal (not the Taj Mahal, unfortunately). A devout Muslim, Shahjahan dreamed of performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, however her frail health and phobia of sailing made this impossible.   

Shahjahan Begum made sizeable donations towards the building of a mosque at Woking, Surrey in the UK, the first mosque to be established on British soil. She also contributed generously towards the founding of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, which developed into the Aligarh Muslim University. She also subsidised the cost of a railway to be constructed between Hoshangabad and Bhopal.

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In 1855, Shahjahan Begum married Baqi Muhammad Khan, a nobleman of middle rank of Bhopal, as his third wife. He died in 1867. Four years later, Shahjahan married Siddiq Hasan Khan of Kannauj in the then United Provinces. The second marriage was childless. In addition to the deaths of two husbands, Shahjahan also experienced the deaths of two granddaughters. 

Shahjahan Begum's final years were spent in leadership of a reasonably stable and effective state.  

In 1901, she was diagnosed with mouth cancer. She issued a public proclamation asking her people’s permission for any sins she had committed against them. The people were heartbroken, as she was a beloved and popular ruler. One person she did not endear herself too, however, was her daughter, Sultan Jehan, whom Shahjahan had been estranged from for 13 years after blaming her for the death of her granddaughter (I don’t know the circumstances, but this reeks of internalised misogyny and somewhat dampens her legacy – although we have to remember that in these times medical knowledge left a lot to be desired and it was not uncommon for women to be blamed for the death of a child). Shahjahan refused to “forgive” her daughter when she visited on her deathbed, and died shortly thereafter on 6 June 1901. Her daughter assumed the throne, continuing the tradition of string female rulers of Bhopal.

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