Women empowerment, gender inequalities between men and women and discrimination against women have been hotly debated in many media and in newspapers all over the world, including India in the past a couple of decades. The position of Indian woman has shown upward mobility in the last decade, in spite of challenges being faced by them currently.Women freely compete with men in very sphere of life world over and also in India. Indian women now enjoy better educational and job opportunities and competently compete with men, in spite of certain hurdles in their path. There is no dearth of competent Indian women in the realm of politics where they have to tackle lots of sharks. Gutsy Indian women even looked skyward and scaled Mt. Everest and set several world records. Now, they fly commercial planes on many domestic routes. So, they have, to some extent, have attained economic independence, but unfortunately, this progress has also given rise to other social issues like compatibility between the couples, child-bearing, etc.
In the 19th century, the Indian scenario was a different one and women did not have enough freedom with men on equal terms. In the case of royal families, the rulers were mostly men. However, we come across a few efficient Indian women rulers of Indian kingdoms that did not have a male legal heir. These women were well trained by their father good enough to take the reins after their death. In the case of a Muslim ruler with no legal heir, the task of a woman who would sit on the throne as her father' successor, was a tough one. Besides wisdom and valor, she must be competent to run the kingdom to save the legacy of their clan and in the matter of governance of a state, they were no where inferior to men. In the case of 19th century women rulers of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, not only did they rule the kingdom competently, but also carved a niche for themselves in the history of the Indian subcontinent. One of the rulers Sultan Shahjahan Begum, who grew under the loving care of her mother was a true trailblazer and won the heart of her subjects by introducing various public schemes beneficial to them. Her name is interwoven with the city of Bhopal, now the sate capital. Sultan Shahjahan Begum GCSI CI (29 July 1838-16 June 1901) was the Begum of Bhopal (the ruler of the princely state of Bhopal in Central India) for two periods: 1844 -
60 (her mother acting as regent), and secondly during 1868–1901.
Born in Islamnagar near the city of Bhopal, Shahjahan, daughter of Sikandar Begum of Bhopal (her husband is Jahangir Mohammed Khan) was made a ruler of Bhopal in 1844 at a tender age six. Because of her minor status and legally could not be a ruler, her mother was the Regent during her minority. However, in 1860, Sikandar Begum was given full nonrecognition by the British Crown as a ruler of Bhopal in her own right, and Shahjahan Begum succeeded her mother as Begum of Bhopal only upon the death of her mother in 1868.
Sikandar Begum of Bhopal, realizing the unavoidable handicap of having no male heir to the throne to run the kingdom, brought up her daughter with as much love and affection as she could give her and at the same time saw to it that Shahjahan was fully exposed to the various aspects of civil and military administration. Being an intelligent woman and had the ability to adopt her skill in any field, she proved herself to be innovative and independent woman ruler of Bhopal.
Fascinating achievements of Shahjahan Begum :
01. To run the administration effectively, she introduced simple ways to improve the tax revenue system.
02. With better revenues, she raised the salaries of her soldiers and other administrators so that hey could function efficiently without financial worries.
03. Her motto was 'strong military means strong nation'. So, to face any eventuality like military attacks from neighboring countries, etc., she modernized the military and more arms and ammunition were made available to the military.
04. In order to keep the people happy and not to face any hardship in their living condition, she concentrated on the civil and agricultural works, that resulted in the building of a dam and many artificial lakes to store excess rain fall and to use them in case water scarcity.
05. Besides military forces, she also introduced police forces to patrol the towns and villages near by so that people in her kingdom could move around with out fear and anxiety. As a woman, she put the city of Bhopal and the surrounding places under a security blanket to cut down, thefts, murder, criminal activities, etc. Especially women were much safer as a result of this move. She took steps to improve the efficiency of the police force.
06. In those days epidemic like Plague was a challenge to the administration and The British Crown had a tough time to handle such emergencies. Begum Shahjahan's period saw a couple of plague epidemics and population came down drastically. This necessitated her to introduce, for the first time, Census surveys to keep a check on the population and its growth. In a way, she could tailor her civic projects, etc., based on population growth.
07. Begum never failed to check on her state's revenues and expenditure. Once she noticed unprecedented gap between revenue ans expenditure. To narrow down the gap and balance the budget, she took altogether a different step to make up the revenue loss. She encouraged farming of opium. That time The British was generating enormous income by exporting opium to overseas countries, in particular, to China. She was regarded as an effective and popular ruler.
08. Begum Shahjahan proved that she was not only a good queen, but also an intellectual. She became a prolific writer in Urdu and wrote sever books that have some literary value.
09. Nawab Shah Jahan Begum (Wife of Baqi Mohammad Khan) built the largest mosque in India, the Taj-ul-Masajid, at Bhopal. Unfortunately, her mammoth structure, following Hanafi Deobandi tradition of Islam did not see completion during her life time. The work stopped during the 1857 Sepoy rebellion and later due to lack of adequate funds. But, the work began in 1971 after a long gap and completed in 1985 by local Muslim leaders. The capacity of the mosque is mind-boggling 175,000 and the total interior area is roughly 400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft). Architecture is Mogul style.
10. Her keen desire to perform the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca did not happen owing to her poor health.
11. Shahjahan Begum was a philanthropist and made a huge donation for the construction of a mosque at Woking, Surrey in the UK. Also linked with her name is the oldest Muslim institution - the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh for which she gave big donation. That college later became the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
12. When the railway system was introduced, for the benefit of the state, she subsidized the cost of railway construction work between Hoshangabad and Bhopal.
As for her personal life, it was not a happy one. Her second marriage was childless and she lost her two husbands and two granddaughters. She was not on a talking term with her daughter for a pretty long time. She died of mouth cancer on 6 June 1901 after having ruled the state in a splendid manner for which she received a lot of accolades. In 1876 postal stamp was issued during the Begum's reign. In1908, one Anna stamp of Bhopal State was issued. She received innumerable titles like Her Highness Nawab (title Sultan Shah Jahan Begum Sahiba, Nawab Begum of Dar-ul-Iqbal-i-Bhopal (1872–1877) and British titles like 1877- Empress of India Medal, 1878 - Companion of the Order of the Crown of India (CI), etc.
Her name will be ever associated with the city of Bhopal, the city that she cared for during her rule.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.o/wiki/Sultan_Shah_Jahan,_Begum_of_Bhopal
http://navrangindia.blogspot.in/2016/05/massive-and-impressive-taj-ul-masjid.html
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| :Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal, 1872.Wikimedia Commons |
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| Mother of Shah Jajan Begam.Nawab Sikandar Jehan Begum, Bhopal..geni.com/ |
Born in Islamnagar near the city of Bhopal, Shahjahan, daughter of Sikandar Begum of Bhopal (her husband is Jahangir Mohammed Khan) was made a ruler of Bhopal in 1844 at a tender age six. Because of her minor status and legally could not be a ruler, her mother was the Regent during her minority. However, in 1860, Sikandar Begum was given full nonrecognition by the British Crown as a ruler of Bhopal in her own right, and Shahjahan Begum succeeded her mother as Begum of Bhopal only upon the death of her mother in 1868.
Sikandar Begum of Bhopal, realizing the unavoidable handicap of having no male heir to the throne to run the kingdom, brought up her daughter with as much love and affection as she could give her and at the same time saw to it that Shahjahan was fully exposed to the various aspects of civil and military administration. Being an intelligent woman and had the ability to adopt her skill in any field, she proved herself to be innovative and independent woman ruler of Bhopal.
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| map of Madhya Pradesh. Maps of India |
Fascinating achievements of Shahjahan Begum :
01. To run the administration effectively, she introduced simple ways to improve the tax revenue system.
02. With better revenues, she raised the salaries of her soldiers and other administrators so that hey could function efficiently without financial worries.
03. Her motto was 'strong military means strong nation'. So, to face any eventuality like military attacks from neighboring countries, etc., she modernized the military and more arms and ammunition were made available to the military.
04. In order to keep the people happy and not to face any hardship in their living condition, she concentrated on the civil and agricultural works, that resulted in the building of a dam and many artificial lakes to store excess rain fall and to use them in case water scarcity.
05. Besides military forces, she also introduced police forces to patrol the towns and villages near by so that people in her kingdom could move around with out fear and anxiety. As a woman, she put the city of Bhopal and the surrounding places under a security blanket to cut down, thefts, murder, criminal activities, etc. Especially women were much safer as a result of this move. She took steps to improve the efficiency of the police force.
06. In those days epidemic like Plague was a challenge to the administration and The British Crown had a tough time to handle such emergencies. Begum Shahjahan's period saw a couple of plague epidemics and population came down drastically. This necessitated her to introduce, for the first time, Census surveys to keep a check on the population and its growth. In a way, she could tailor her civic projects, etc., based on population growth.
07. Begum never failed to check on her state's revenues and expenditure. Once she noticed unprecedented gap between revenue ans expenditure. To narrow down the gap and balance the budget, she took altogether a different step to make up the revenue loss. She encouraged farming of opium. That time The British was generating enormous income by exporting opium to overseas countries, in particular, to China. She was regarded as an effective and popular ruler.
08. Begum Shahjahan proved that she was not only a good queen, but also an intellectual. She became a prolific writer in Urdu and wrote sever books that have some literary value.
 |
| Taj-ul-Masajid, Bhopal built by Sultan Shah Jahan. Alamy |
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| Taj ul Masjid, Bhopal. .www.indiamike.com |
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| Taj-ul-masjid, Bhopal. theculturetrip.com |
10. Her keen desire to perform the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca did not happen owing to her poor health.
11. Shahjahan Begum was a philanthropist and made a huge donation for the construction of a mosque at Woking, Surrey in the UK. Also linked with her name is the oldest Muslim institution - the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh for which she gave big donation. That college later became the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
12. When the railway system was introduced, for the benefit of the state, she subsidized the cost of railway construction work between Hoshangabad and Bhopal.
As for her personal life, it was not a happy one. Her second marriage was childless and she lost her two husbands and two granddaughters. She was not on a talking term with her daughter for a pretty long time. She died of mouth cancer on 6 June 1901 after having ruled the state in a splendid manner for which she received a lot of accolades. In 1876 postal stamp was issued during the Begum's reign. In1908, one Anna stamp of Bhopal State was issued. She received innumerable titles like Her Highness Nawab (title Sultan Shah Jahan Begum Sahiba, Nawab Begum of Dar-ul-Iqbal-i-Bhopal (1872–1877) and British titles like 1877- Empress of India Medal, 1878 - Companion of the Order of the Crown of India (CI), etc.
Her name will be ever associated with the city of Bhopal, the city that she cared for during her rule.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.o/wiki/Sultan_Shah_Jahan,_Begum_of_Bhopal
http://navrangindia.blogspot.in/2016/05/massive-and-impressive-taj-ul-masjid.html
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