Zinat-un-Nissa Begum ( fa, زینت النساء بیگم 5 October 1643 – 7 May 1721) was a Mughal princess and the second daughter of 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 ...

and his chief consort,

Dilras Banu Begum Dilras Banu Begum (; 1622 – 8 October 1657) was the first wife and chief consort of Emperor Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor. She is also known by her posthumous title, Rabia-ud-Daurani (" Rabia of the Age"). The Bibi Ka Maqbara in Auranga ...

. Her father had conferred upon her the honorable title of ''

Padshah Begum Padshah Begum was a superlative imperial title conferred upon the empress consort or 'First Lady' of the Mughal Empire and was considered to be the most important title in the Mughal harem or ''zenana''. This title can be equivalent with "empress" ...

''.

Life

Zinat-un-Nissa Begum ("Jewel among Women") was born on 5 October 1643, probably in

Aurangabad Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is th ...

, to Dilras Banu Begum, Aurangzeb's first wife and chief consort. Her mother was a princess of the prominent

Safavid dynasty The Safavid dynasty (; fa, دودمان صفوی, Dudmâne Safavi, ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of th ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and was a daughter of

Mirza Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi (died 1659) was a prince of the Safavid dynasty of Persia and a powerful ''amir'' at the Mughal court during Emperor Shah Jahan's reign. He is better known by the title Shahnawaz Khan or Mirza Deccan. Shahnawaz Khan was the fa ...

, the

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. Her paternal grandfather was the fifth Mughal emperor

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 ...

during whose reign she was born. Zinat-un-Nissa had in-depth knowledge of the doctrines of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, just like her elder sister, Princess

Zeb-un-Nisa Zeb-un-Nissa ( fa, زیب النساء ) (15 February 1638 – 26 May 1702) was a Mughal princess and the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort, Dilras Banu Begum. She was also a poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Makh ...

and her younger sister, Princess Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum. She was educated by private tutors and scholars, and refused to marry, choosing to remain single her entire life. Zinat was a partisan of her youngest step-brother,

Muhammad Kam Bakhsh Muhammad Kam Bakhsh ( fa, محمد کامبخش; 7 March 1667 – 14 January 1709) was the youngest son of Emperor Aurangzeb, born to his wife Udaipuri Mahal. Early life Kam Bakhsh was born on 7 March 1667 at Delhi. He was the fifth son of six ...

, for whom she gained pardon from her father on several occasions. Though her full brother,

Azam Shah Qutb-ud-Din Muhammad Azam (28 June 1653 – 20 June 1707), commonly known as Azam Shah, was briefly the Mughal emperor who reigned from 14 March 1707 to 20 June 1707. He was the third son of the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his chief cons ...

, had a strong disliking for him. She was her father's sole companion during the later part of his reign, along with his concubine

Udaipuri Mahal Udaipuri Mahal (died July 1707) was a concubine of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Life Described as 'the darling of Aurangzeb's old age', Udaipuri Mahal had been a slave girl in the harem of Prince Dara Shikoh, and before entering his harem, she ...

. She was the superintendent of her father's household in the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...

for a quarter of a century till his death in 1707. She survived him many years, enjoying the respect of his successors as the living memorial of a great age.

Contributions to architecture

Zinat-un-Nissa is known to have built fourteen

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

s. At the age of thirty-seven, she undertook a project to construct a number of inns of the highway linking Awadh with Bengal. This effort of hers earned her the praise of her father. She also had the

Zeenat-ul-Masajid The Zeenat-ul-Masajid, also written as Zeenat-ul-Masjid and popularly known as the Ghata Masjid (), is an 18th-century Mughal mosque located in Delhi, India. The mosque was commissioned by Zeenat-un-Nissa, second daughter of the Mughal emperor Au ...

("Ornament of Mosques") constructed at her expense in c.1700 by the riverside wall of the

Red Fort The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift hi ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, where she was buried. Tradition goes that she demanded the amount of her dowry from her father, and spent it in building the mosque. Zeenat ul masjid

Death

Zinat-un-Nissa Begum died at

on 18 May 1721 at the age of 77 years.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinat-un-Nissa 1643 births 1721 deaths Mughal princesses Indian female royalty Women of the Mughal Empire Timurid dynasty 18th-century Indian Muslims People from Aurangabad, Maharashtra People from Marathwada 17th-century Indian women 17th-century Indian people 18th-century Indian women Daughters of emperors

Life

Contributions to architecture

Death

Ancestry

See also

References