Amina Begum ( bn, আমিনা বেগম, fa, ) was a Bengali aristocrat from the Nawab family of Bengal and mother of

Siraj ud-Daulah Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah ( fa, ; 1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of the East India Company over Beng ...

, the last independent Nawab of Bengal.

Early life and background

Amina Begum was the youngest daughter of Nawab

Alivardi Khan Alivardi Khan (1671 – 9 April 1756) was the Nawab of Bengal from 1740 to 1756. He toppled the Nasiri dynasty of Nawabs by defeating Sarfaraz Khan in 1740 and assumed power himself. During much of his reign Alivardi encountered frequent Mar ...

, the

Nawab of Bengal The Nawab of Bengal ( bn, বাংলার নবাব) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar, ...

, and Princess Sharfunnisa, the paternal aunt of

Mir Jafar Sayyid Mīr Jaʿfar ʿAlī Khān Bahādur ( – 5 February 1765) was a military general who became the first dependent Nawab of Bengal of the British East India Company. His reign has been considered by many historians as the start of the expan ...

. Her paternal grandfather was Mirza Muhammad Madani, who was of either

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

or Turkic descent, the son of a foster-brother of the Mughal emperor

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

. Her paternal grandmother belonged to the Turkic Afshar tribe of

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

. Through her, she was a relative of

Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan ( bn, সুজাউদ্দীন মুহম্মদ খাঁন, fa, ) was the Nawab of Bengal. He married Zainab un-nisa Begum and Azmat un-nisa Begum, the daughters of Murshid Quli Khan by Nasiri Banu Beg ...

, the two having shared a common ancestor in Nawab Aqil Khan. She married

Zain ud-Din Ahmed Khan Zain ud-Din Ahmad Khan, also known as Mirza Muhammad Hashim, was an aristocrat from the Nawab of Bengal family and the father of Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal. Early life and background Mirza Muhammad Hashim was the young ...

, who was appointed as the

Naib Nazim Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who was ...

(governor) of

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

by her father, Nawab Alivardi Khan. They had two sons, Ikram ud-Daulah and

Later life

In contrast to her elder sister

Ghaseti Begum Mehar un-Nisa Begum ( fa, ), better known as Ghaseti Begum ( bn, ঘসেটি বেগম, Ghôśeṭi Begôm), was the eldest daughter of Alivardi Khan, Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa during 1740–1758. Early life Ghaseti Begum was the ...

, Amina Begum was not very much involved in politics. In 1748, Amina was captured along with her two sons by the Afghan rebels of Mustafa Khan after they had killed her husband,

, in an attempt to take control of Bihar. They were rescued by her father, Nawab

, in 1751, who drove also drove out the Afghan rebels. After the death of her father in 1756, her son Siraj succeeded the throne as the next Nawab of Bengal. Siraj was defeated by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

in the

Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The victory was made possible by the defection of Mir Jafar, ...

in 1757 partly due to the treachery of Amina's maternal cousin

. Amina Begum was subsequently imprisoned along with her other family members including her mother, sister, and daughter-in-law. They were exiled from

Murshidabad Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district. During ...

on a boat travelling to Jahangirnagar (Dhaka) in 1758, and were kept confined in the

Jinjira Palace Jinjira Palace ( bn, জিঞ্জিরা প্রাসাদ), also spelt Zinzira Palace, is a late 17th century Mughal-era palace in Keraniganj, Bangladesh on the southern banks of the Old Ganges or Buriganga River. It was built by Ibrah ...

Death

Mir Miran, the son of

, later ordered for some of them to be released and recalled back to Murshidabad in 1760. On their way from Dhaka by boat, Amina Begum died when her boat was sunk on the orders of Miran. She was buried beside her family in Khoshbagh, Murshidabad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begum, Amina 1760 deaths Nawabs of Bengal Year of birth unknown Indian Shia Muslims People from Murshidabad district Indian princesses 18th-century Indian women