| Qudsia Begum | |
|---|---|
 Miniature painting showing Qudsiya Begum being entertained with fireworks and dance (1742 CE by Mir Miran) | |
| Died | fl. 1768 Delhi, Mughal Empire |
| Spouse | Muhammad Shah |
| Issue | Ahmad Shah Bahadur |
| House | Timurid (by marriage) |
Qudsia Begum, born Udham Bai (fl. 1768 [1] ) was a wife of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah and mother of emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur. She was early born an administrator and served as de facto regent from 1748 to 1754. [2] [3]
A Hindu by origin, Udham Bai Chauhan been formerly a public dancing girl. [4] She had a brother named Man Khan. [5] She was introduced to Muhammad Shah's attention by Khadija Khanum, the daughter of Umdat-Ul-Mulk, Amir Khan. [6] The emperor was so fascinated by her, that he raised her to the dignity of an empress. [7] [8]
She gave birth to Muhammad Shah's only surviving son, Ahmad Shah Bahadur on 23 December 1725. [9] Her son was, however, brought up by Muhammad Shah's empresses Badshah Begum [10] and Sahiba Mahal. [11]
In April 1748, Muhammad Shah died. Her son, Ahmad Shah Bahadur, who was in camp with Safdar Jang near Panipat to return to Delhi and claim the throne. On Safdar Jang's advice, he was enthroned at Panipat and returned to Delhi a few days later. [12] Ahmad Shah Bahadur proved to be an ineffective ruler and was strongly influenced by his mother. A series of defeats and internal struggles led to his downfall. [13]
She was successively given [14] the titles of Bai-Ju Sahiba, Nawab Qudsiya, Sahiba-uz-Zamani, Sahibjiu Sahiba, Hazrat Qibla-i-Alam, and Mumtaz Mahal. [15] She was known for her generosity. [16] She gave pension to the Begums and the children of the late emperor not only from the government's purse but also from her own funds. She, however, behaved ruthlessly with Badshah Begum and Sahiba Mahal. [17]
Imperial officials used to sit down at her porch daily and she would hold discussions with them from behind a screen or through the medium of eunuchs. There, officials passed her petitions of the state in envelopes, and eunuchs read them aloud for the Begum to listen and deliver her approvals and judgments and she would pass orders on them without consulting anyone. At the zenith of her power, she displayed levels of magnanimity and charity unheard of in those times. Any person who could manage to get his or her case heard by her was sure to get some benefit or help. A court historian once lamented, "Oh God! That the affairs of Hindustan should be conducted by a woman as foolish as this!" [18]
She had an affair with the eunuch Javed Khan Nawab Bahadur. [14] [19] He had been an assistant controller of the harem servants and manager of the Begums' estates during the late reign. [20] Javed Khan was assassinated by Safdar Jang on 27 August 1752. [21] She and her son grieved him deeply. It is said that she put on white robes and discarded her jewels and ornaments like a widow. [22]
The mansab of commanding 50,000 horse was conferred upon her, and her birthday was celebrated with greater pomp than that of the Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur himself. Her brother, Man Khan, a vagabond haunting the lanes and occasionally following the profession of a male dancer in a supporting role for singing girls, was created a mansabdar of 6,000 with the title of Mutaqad-ud-Daulah Bahadur. [14] At a time when the soldiers were mutinying nearly every day due to overdue payments and the Mughal court could not raise even two hundred thousand rupees for this purpose, Qudsia Begum spent two crore rupees in celebrating her birthday on 21 January 1754. [14]
On 26 May 1754, Ahmad Shah Bahadur, camped with his army in Sikandrabad was defeated by a Maratha force led by Malhar Rao Holkar [8] [23] and the former Mughal Grand Vizier Imad-ul-Mulk. The emperor fled to Delhi with Qudsia Begum, his son Mahmud Shah Bahadur, his favourite wife Inayetpuri Bai, and his half-sister Hazrat Begum, leaving behind other wives and a retinue of 8,000 women. [19]
Imad-ul-Mulk and Maratha chieftain Raghunath Rao followed the emperor to Delhi. [24] Ahmad Shah Bahadur was deposed on 2 June 1754 and arrested with his mother. [25] Imad-ul-Mulk was reinstated himself as the Mughal Grand Vizier and dispatched a Mughal army to capture Bhurtpore, which was then controlled by Suraj Mal. Imad-ul-Mulk intercepted letters from Ahmad Shah Bahadur to Suraj Mal, claiming to encourage the Jats to fight in exchange for aid. Imad-ul-Mulk made peace with Suraj Mal, returned to Delhi, and had Ahmad Shah Bahadur and Qudsia Begum blinded. [1]
Qudsia Begum commissioned various public and private works in Delhi. The Sunehri Masjid near the Red Fort was constructed between 1747 and 1751 for Nawab Bahadur Javid Khan. [26] In 1748, emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur commissioned a garden, known as Qudsia Bagh for her. It consisted of a stone barahdari and a mosque inside it. [27]
Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah was the thirteenth Mughal emperor from 1719 to 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. After being chosen by the Sayyid Brothers of Barha, he ascended the throne at the young age of 16, under their strict supervision.
Mirza Aziz-ud-Din Muhammad, better known by his regnal name Alamgir II, was the fifteenth Mughal emperor from 1754 to 1759. He was the son of Jahandar Shah.
Shuja-ud-Daula was the third Nawab of Oudh and the Vizier of Delhi from 5 October 1754 to 26 January 1775.
Abul Mansur Mirza Muhammad Muqim Ali Khan Beg, better known as Safdar Jang, was the second Nawab of Kingdom of Awadh succeeding Saadat Ali Khan I in 1739. All future Nawabs of Awadh were patriarchal descendants of Safdar Jang. He was a major figure at the Mughal court during the declining years of the Mughal Empire.
Ahmad Shah Bahadur, also known as Mirza Ahmad Shah or Mujahid-ud-Din Ahmad Shah Ghazi, was the fourteenth Mughal emperor, born to Emperor Muhammad Shah. He succeeded his father to the throne in 1748, at the age of 22. When Ahmed Shah Bahadur came to power, the Mughal Empire started to decline. Furthermore, his administrative weakness eventually led to the rise of the usurping Imad-ul-Mulk.
The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of Bhopal, now part of Madhya Pradesh, India. The nawabs first ruled under the Mughal Empire from 1707 to 1737, under the Maratha Confederacy from 1737 to 1818, then under British rule from 1818 to 1947, and independently thereafter until it was acceded to the Union of India in 1949. The female nawabs of Bhopal held the title Nawab Begum of Bhopal.
Sultan Jahan was the ruling Begum of Bhopal between 1901 and 1926.
Feroze Jung III or Nizam Shahabuddin Muhammad Feroz Khan Siddiqi Bayafandi also known by his sobriquet Imad-ul-Mulk, was the grand vizier of the Mughal Empire when it was under Maratha suzerainty, making them the de facto rulers.
Mirza Mahmud Shah Bahadur, also known by his regnal name Shah Jahan IV, was the eighteenth Mughal emperor for a brief period in 1788 after Shah Alam II was deposed by Ghulam Kadir, Mahmud Shah Bahadur was the son of a former Mughal Emperor, Ahmad Shah Bahadur. He himself became emperor for a brief period in 1788 as a puppet of Ghulam Kadir, after Shah Alam II had been deposed and blinded. He was allegedly put to death in 1790 by order of Shah Alam II, supposedly for usurping his authority in 1788.
Rahmat-un-Nissa, better known by her title Nawab Bai, was a secondary wife of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. She gave birth to Aurangzeb's first two sons, including Bahadur Shah I, who became Mughal emperor in 1707. Nawab Bai was unpopular at the Mughal court and lost her husband's favour quite early on in her life while the misconduct of her sons, Muhammad Sultan and Muhammad Muazzam, embittered her latter life. She died in 1691 in Delhi after long years of separation from her husband and children.
Mirza Muhammad Sultan was the eldest son of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his second wife Nawab Bai. His younger brother Muazzam later became Emperor as Bahadur Shah I in 1707.
Sahiba Mahal was the second wife of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah.
Badshah Begum was from 8 December 1721 to 6 April 1748 as the first wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah. She is popularly known by her title Malika-uz-Zamani which was conferred upon her by her husband, immediately after their marriage.
Nur-un-Nissa Begum was the first wife and chief consort of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah I.
Mughlani Begum also known as Murad Begum, ruled Punjab from Lahore for a few months in 1753. She was known for playing her friends and foes against each other for her personal gains. She was the wife of Moin-ul-Mulk, who was Governor of the Subah of Lahore from 1748 to 1753, and who had endeared himself to Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Emperor of Afghanistan.
Hazrat Begum, also known as Hazrat Mahal and Sahiba Begum, was a Mughal princess, as the daughter of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. She was a wife of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the first emir of the Durrani Empire.
Mian-Moin-ul-Mulk also known by his title Mir Mannu was the Mughal and later Durrani governor of the Punjab between 1748 and 1753.
Intizam-ud-Daulah was a Grand Vizier during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur.
Sayyid Salabat Khan Zulfiqar Jang was a Mughal noble of Kashmiri descent and the Mir Bakhshi and Amir-ul-Umara of Ahmad Shah Bahadur.
Muhammad Ahmad Khan Bahadur Ghalib Jang or Ahmad Khan Bangash (1750–1771) was a Mughal nobleman and Nawab of Farrukhabad from the Hindustani Pathan Bangash dynasty. He was the second son of Muhammad Khan Bangash, a powerful Mughal nobleman. He took part in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 against the Marathas led by Sadashivrao Bhau.
Media related to Qudsia Begum at Wikimedia Commons