An 18th century painting of Bahu Begum . Source - Google Images

 

The twin cities of Faizabad and Ayodhya, has of late making headlines for religious issue but once upon a time, in the crumbling times of Mughal empire during the mid 18^th century, one of the most fertile and important provinces of Sunni Mughal India, near the heart of the capital of Delhi was Awadh whose founders were a Shia dynasty. The dynasty of the Nawabs of Awadh stretched from 1822 to 1856. It faced many survival glitches during its lifetime. Women from the Awadh family played a major role in the continuation of the dynasty. Two prominent women who played the survival support system were Nawab Begum and Bahu Begum. It was Bahu Begum who witnessed the entry and exit of five Nawabs during her lifetime.

Nawab Wazir Shuja-ud-Daulah. Wikimedia Commons

Bahu Begum, or the Queen Bride was the widow of the 3^rd Nawab Wazir of Awadh, Shuja-Ud-Daulah who was famous in Indian history for his defeat against the English East India Co in the Battle of Buxar in 1764. Originally from Persia, Janab Aliya Mutaliya Amat-uz-Zehra, better known as Bahu Begum was born to Nawab Mutaman-ud-Dowlah Muhammed Ishak Khan, a Noble in the court of Mughal emperor Muhammed Shah, as his only daughter. Father of Ishak Khan was the chief householder under Emperor Aurangzeb. Ishak Khan was the Diwani Khalsa or Comptroller General of the Public Revenues of The Empire. Bahu Begum married Shuja-ud-Daulah in 1746 at the age 17. Shuja-ud-Daulah was the son of the architect of Safdar Jung and the builder of the city of Faizabad. As both Safdar Jung and Ishak Khan were great confidants of Emperor Muhammed Shah, hence they were great friends too. The marriage of Bahu Begum was fixed with Shuja-ud-Daulah in their infancy but Ishak Khan was not so lucky to witness the marriage of his daughter.

 

Nawab Shuja-ud-Daulah with his 10 sons. A painting by artist Tilly Kettle, 1772. Victoria and Albert Museum.

 

After the death of Ishak Khan, his eldest son and brother of Bahu Begum, Nawab Najm-ud-Daulah adopted his sister and raised him along with his 2 other legitimate children. Najm-ud-Daulah spent his entire fortune behind the expenses of the marriage of Bahu Begum and Shuja-ud-Daulah which were almost more than 2 crores worth of Rs in 1746 which surpassed the cost of the wedding of Dara Shikoh. The correspondences of Capt. J. Baillie, Resident at Lucknow gives a detailed description of the wedding in 1746 including the size of the dowry she received. He described it as an occasion of ‘uncommon splendor and extra ordinary expense under the personal charge of the Emperor’. Among the presents, the bride received 1000 silver cups, each weighing 100 Rupees, a jagir consisting of parganas of Salone which yielded an annual income of 9 lakhs of Rupees.

 

Nawab Shuja-ud-Daulah with his sons and military officers. Artist Tilly Kettle, 1772. Source - Wikimedia Commons.

 

Though the Nawabs of Awadh lived in their palaces in Lucknow, which were typically the male quarters or mardana, but here there was an unique feature. The female quarters or zenana was not located beside or near male quarters, not even in the same city but in another city nearby, which was Faizabad. Shuja-ud-Daulah stayed in Lucknow till 1764 but after his defeat in the Battle of Buxar, he started living in Faizabad till his death in 1775. The wealth of Bahu Begum was enormous which was of great importance to her son Asaf-ud-Daulah to Governor General of Bengal Warren Hastings which mainly comprised from her dowry and independently, she was financially strong enough to save Awadh from many negative clutches.

Her financial strength saved the throne of Shuja-ud-Daulah after his defeat in the Battle of Buxar against the English East India Co in 1764. The English calculated that Shuja-ud-Daulah owed the East India Co four million Rupees. If he is unable to cough it up, his territories will be ceded. It was at this juncture Bahu Begum helped him with money, gold and jewelry and his mother gave him two million Rupees with which he could repay of the amount in just few months. This gesture of Bahu Begum won her the confidence of her husband who began trusting her on financial matters. As a result, he shifted to Faizabad and entrusted the entire financial and Awadh treasury to Bahu Begum after his death.

 

Nawab Wazir Asaf-ud-Daulah. Souce - Google Images

 

Shuja-ud-Daulah had such high regards for Bahu Begum that his other junior begums couldn’t influence him much against her and had to respect her. He entrusted her with the seals of his Govt in her custody and allowed her to enjoy a perquisite derived from a ‘tax of twenty fourth part of the yearly pay of every officer and soldier of the cavalry. Further, she was granted an additional Jagir of the extensive district of Gonda for the payments of the establishments of ‘Khas and Khurd Mahals’. When Shuja-ud-Daulah became a new Nawab Wazir of Awadh, the brothers of Bahu Begum received Jagirs which initially yielded 3 lakh Rupees as revenue and later rose up to 6 lakh Rupees which was an indication of the influence of Bahu Begum on her husband.

The next Nawab Wazir was her only son Asaf-ud-Daulah from 1775 to 1797. Here Bahu Begum made a mistake as a mother due to short sightedness and emotional maternal weakness until her son started draining her legendary wealth which had a long term effect on the history of Awadh. Her step son Saadat Ali was much more capable than her son but she used her influence on her husband to declare Asaf-ud-Daulah as the 4^th Nawab Wazir of Awadh.

 

Cock fight  by Zoffany  showing Col Mordaunt and  Asad-ud-Daulah in 1795. Source Flickr

 

Asaf-ud-Daulah never got along with his mother. Even before the mourning period of his father could end in 1775, his took 6 lakh Rupees from his mother and this draining of the legendary wealth of Bahu Begum continue for the next few months, so much so that the English East India Co had to intervene from distant Calcutta to save the wealth from him. He was forced to sign a bond where he gave up all his rights in his mother’s estate. But again in 1781, he repeated the same mistake of extracting money from his mother. He solicited the help of the English who found it as an opportunity to lay their hands on the wealth of Bahu Begum. Around the same time, the rebellion of Chait Singh, Maharaja of Benaras was happening. Warren Hastings implicated a conjectured plot against Bahu Begum and her mother in law and with drew all the English protection. Later, both the women were arrested along with their courtiers and servants and the women were not released unless they handed over the treasury to Warren Hastings.

 

Warren Hastings by Joshua Reynolds. Source - Wikimedia Commons

 

Now humiliation of these royal women and violation of their privacy was even too much for the British in England. Warren Hastings had to face impeachment trial from 1788 to 1794. His second charge was ‘ The Spoliation of the Begum’ which was proved and regarded to be highly criminal. This charge made Edmund Burke and James Mill famous who were indicting Hastings.

 

Moti Mahal, residence of Bahu Begum. Source - Google Images

 

Bahu Begum lost her own son in 1797. Later in 1798, her stepson Sadat Ali became the Nawab Wazir of Awadh and superficially displayed very cordial relations with the Begum. But it later came out that there was a hidden motive behind his cordial attitude. It was usurping of the entire property of  Bahu Begum. Bahu Begum understood this folly and was always looking for an opportunity to save her estate from her stepson. The dirty intention of her stepson became absolutely clear when gave his own mother and co-wife of Bahu Begum, similar honors like Bahu Begum, closed Bahu Begum’s kitchen in Lucknow which displayed his jealousy. Therefore, this time Bahu Begum was forced to seek the help of the British.

 

Bahu Begum's mausaleum in Faizabad which is 200 years old. Source - UP Tourism

 

Bahu Begum made a will and left her entire estate worth of 7 million Rupees in cash and additional precious jewelry in the custody of the British as trustees. She allotted 3 lakh of Sicca Rupees to her minister Dorab Ali Khan to construct a mausoleum after her death on her grave. She donated 1 lakh Sicca Rupees to be donated at Karbala, Najaf-i-Ashraf, and 10 thousand Sicca Rupees for the feeding the poor. She also gifted generously to her loyal ministers, nephews from her brother’s side and servants. She clearly gave instructions that nobody from her marital family should be allowed to interfere in her matters and neither their claims on her property should be entertained.

 

Stucco inside the mausaleum. Source - Google Images

 

The death of Begum was a very peaceful one. She lived a long life of 88 years. According to the Tarikh-i-Farahbakhsh which was written by one of Begum’s entrusted servants, Mohd Faiz Bakhsh which was later translated by W.Hoey, he describes that Begum used to visit her nephew’s house every Muharram for 10 days. On the Muharram of 1816, after she returned from her nephew’s house, she had fever and cold which her weak structure couldn’t tolerate and succumbed to Mother Nature. Thus an exalted figure and the backbone of Faizabad came to an end which also pulled down the curtain of Faizabad.

 

Movie poster of 1960's Bahu Begum movie starring Meena Kumari. Source Google Images

 

When the prominence of Mughal Delhi was crumbling down, Faizabad became a prosperous city and almost rivaled Delhi. People from China, Turkey, and Europe used to settle in Faizabad and Asaf-ud-Daulah was a big Francophile. He had 200 French officers at his disposal. Nawab Wazirs of Awadh beautified Faizabad with some grand architecture. Moti Mahal was the residence of Bahu Begum and the Bahu Begum ka Maqbara or mausoleum, one of the best non Mughal architecture in India, still shines through its white marble.  Later in 1960’s the life of Bahu Begum was made alive in celluloid by Meena Kumari. The movie was a great success and immortalized Bahu Begum on screen.

 

Will of Bahu Begum mentioning gifts.