Zeenat Mahal; (1823 – 17 July 1886) was the only wife and
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
regent of the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
on behalf of her husband, the Mughal emperor
Bahadur Shah Zafar
Bahadur Shah II, usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' Victory) was born Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad (24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862) and was the twentieth and last Mughal Emperor as well a ...
.
Biography
Zeenat Mahal married
Bahadur Shah II at
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 ...
on 19 November 1840 and had a son with him,
Mirza Jawan Bakht.
She greatly influenced the emperor and, after the death of crown prince
Mirza Dara Bakht, she began promoting her son Mirza Jawan Bakht as heir to the throne over the Emperor's remaining eldest son
Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur. But due to the
primogeniture
Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
policy of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
, this was not accepted. She was suspected of poisoning the British Resident in Delhi,
Thomas Metcalfe, in 1853 for meddling too much in palace affairs.
![Zeenat%20Mahal%20at%20Lal%20Kuan%20in%20Old%20Delhi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Zeenat_Mahal_at_Lal_Kuan_in_Old_Delhi.jpg)
She resided at her own ''
haveli
A ''haveli'' is a traditional townhouse, mansion, manor house, in the Indian subcontinent, usually one with historical and architectural significance, and located in a town or city. The word ''haveli'' is derived from Arabic ''hawali'', mean ...
, Zeenat Mahal,'' in
Lal Kuan,
old Delhi
Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. T ...
.
1857 rebellion
During the
Indian rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
, she kept her son out of contact with the rebels in an attempt to secure the throne for him. With the British victory, the emperor's two other sons were shot for supporting the rebels; however, her son did not become heir. In 1858, her husband was deposed by the British, bringing the Mughal empire to an end, and she was exiled to
Rangoon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
with her husband. After her husband's death in 1862, the British banned anyone from claiming the title of Emperor in an attempt to dissolve the monarchy.
Death
She died on 17 July 1886. Another source says that she "died more than 20 years after her husband." She was buried in her husband's tomb in
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
's
Dagon Township near the
Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...
. The site later became known as
Bahadur Shah Zafar
Bahadur Shah II, usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' Victory) was born Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad (24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862) and was the twentieth and last Mughal Emperor as well a ...
Dargah.
The grandchild of her and Bahadur Shah II is also buried alongside the couple.
[ After remaining lost for many decades, the tomb was discovered during a restoration exercise in 1991.]
Gallery
File:Marriage certificate of the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah II (r. 1837-57) to Zinat Mahal Begam, on 18 November 1840.jpg, ''Kabin-name'' (Marriage Certificate) of Bahadur Shah and Zeenat Mahal
File:Zinat mahal.jpg, A portraiture of Zeenat Mahal
File:Zeenat Mahal, wife of Bahadur Shah II.jpg, A portraiture of Zeenat Mahal
File:Zinat Mahal.jpg, A portraiture of Zeenat Mahal
File:Upper Floor of Mazar of Bahadur Shah Zafar.jpg, Zeenat Mahal's tomb in Yangon
File:Zeenat Mahal at Lal Kuan in Old Delhi.jpg, Zeenat Mahal's haveli at Lal Kuan in Old Delhi
See also
* Zeenat-un-Nissa
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 and his chief consort, Dilras Banu Begum. Her father had conferred upon her the honorabl ...
References
External links
The Prime Minister at Bahadur Shah Zafar's Dargah (Video)
at CNN-IBN
CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...
, May 30, 2012.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinat Mahal
Indian exiles
1823 births
1886 deaths
Mughal royal consorts
Timurid dynasty
19th-century Indian women
19th-century Indian people