Sati-un-Nissa, also known as Sati-un-nisa, Sati al-Nisa Khanam, Sati-al-Nesāʾ (born in

Amol Amol ( fa, آمل – ; ; also Romanized as Āmol and Amul) is a city and the administrative center of Amol County, Mazandaran Province, Iran, with a population of around 300,000 people. Amol is located on the Haraz river bank. It is less than ...

before 1580 — died in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, 23 January 1647) was an

Indo-Persian Indo-Persian culture refers to a cultural synthesis present in the Indian subcontinent. It is characterised by the absorption or integration of Persian aspects into the various cultures of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The earliest introductio ...

physician, a lady-in-waiting to

Mumtaz Mahal Mumtaz Mahal (/'/; ), born Arjumand Banu Begum (27 April 1593 – 17 June 1631) was the empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, oft ...

mahaldar Mahaldars in the Mughal Empire were the chief officers of the imperial harem. Chosen from the ranks of the darogha administrators of the zenana, the mahaldar was responsible for maintaining order in this large community of women. Niccolao Manucci ...

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

, and tutor to their daughters

Jahanara Begum Jahanara Begum (23 March 1614 – 16 September 1681) was a Mughal princess and later the Padshah Begum of the Mughal Empire from 1631 to 1658 and again from 1668 until her death. She was the second and the eldest surviving child of Emperor Shah ...

and

Gauhar Ara Begum Gauhar Ara Begum (; 17 June 1631 – 1706) was a Mughal princess and the fourteenth and youngest child of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Her mother died giving birth to her in 1631. Gauhar Ara, however, survived the ...

Life

Sati-un-Nissa was born in the Mazandaran province of Persia in a family of scholars and doctors.

Taleb Amoli Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Taleb Amoli known as Talib Amuli and Talib Amoli ( fa, طالب آملی, also aka ''Ashub'', ''Atash'', ''Taleba'' and ''Malek Al Shoara Taleb'') (b. Mazandaran 1586 - d. India 1627) Iranian Tabari poet was of the early 17th ...

was her younger brother, while her maternal uncle was chief physician to the Safavid Shah

Tahmasp I Tahmasp I ( fa, طهماسب, translit=Ṭahmāsb or ; 22 February 1514 – 14 May 1576) was the second shah of Safavid Iran from 1524 to 1576. He was the eldest son of Ismail I and his principal consort, Tajlu Khanum. Ascending the throne after t ...

. Little is known of her early life in Iran. She was likely born in or before 1580 as she is known to be older than Taleb whose birth is given around that year. Her brother had made his way to India, eventually becoming

Emperor Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...

's poet laureate (''malek al-šoʿarā'') in 1619. On his death in 1626 or 1627, Sati-un-Nissa adopted his two young daughters and brought them up as her own. There is a letter from Taleb to Jahangir asking permission to welcome his sister to India. Upon her husband Nasira's death in India, she joined the service of Mumtaz Mahal, the empress of Shah Jahan. With her knowledge of medicine and courtly etiquette, she was promoted to the head of the Empress' establishment, and named ''muhr-dar'', the bearer of her seal. She was a tutor to

, Mumtaz's daughter, whom she taught the

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...

. Under her tutelage, Jahanara became a respected poet. Sati-un-Nissa was an acclaimed reciter and teacher of Quran recitation. Sati-un-Nissa was appointed as ''Sadr-i-Nath'', an officer in charge of grants to the needy, by Shah Jahan. In particular, she was responsible for the disbursement of support to indigent women, especially unwed virgins who needed

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

for marriage, and to answer petitions by widows, scholars and theologians. As ''mahaldar'' (or chief matron), she was expected to be the Emperor's eyes and ears in the imperial harem. She would read to him the reports received from the public (''waqia-nawis'') and private (''khufyan-nawis'') news writers, and respond to them on his dictation. At Mumtaz Mahal's death during childbirth in 1631, Sati-un-Nissa escorted her body to Agra for burial. It is reported that Shah Jahan, bereft with grief, was unable to look on his newborn daughter, Gauhar Ara, who was then raised by Sati-un-Nissa. Jahanara became the female head of the imperial family. As her chief assistant, Sati-un-Nissa was expected to convey presents to the brides of the royal princes. Returning with the gifts from the brides' families, she organised displays of the amassed gifts in public exhibitions at

Agra Fort The Agra Fort is a historical fort in the city of Agra in India also known as the Red Fort. Rebuilt by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1565 and completed in 1573, it served as the main residence of the rulers of the Mughal Dynasty until 1638, when t ...

. Her younger daughter died from complications following childbirth. A broken-hearted Sati-un-Nissa did not recover from this grief, and died a few days later in Lahore on 23 January 1647. Shah Jahan ordered Rupees 10,000 to be spent on her funeral. A year later, her body was moved to

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

to be interred in a tomb built especially for her, near the outer quadrangle of the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

. The tomb is extant today, east of the Fatehpuri Mosque and southwest of the Taj's forecourt.

In popular culture

Nina Epton Nina Consuelo Epton (1913 – 29 October 2010) was a British radio producer, broadcaster and travel writer, particularly active in the 1950s and 1960s. She travelled alone through Spain, North Africa, and Indonesia. In the 1970s she published a ...

's novel ''Beloved Empress, Mumtaz Mahal'' is written from the point of view of Sati-un-Nissa. She also appears in

Kathryn Lasky Kathryn Lasky (born June 24, 1944) is an American children's writer who also writes for adults under the names Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann. Her children's books include several Dear America books, The Royal Diaries books, ''Sugaring Tim ...

's ''Jahanara, Princess of Princesses''.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nissa, Sati-un 17th-century Iranian physicians 17th-century Indian medical doctors People from Amol Iranian emigrants to the Mughal Empire Indian Shia Muslims 17th-century Indian women 17th-century Indian people Quran reciters