https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Zinat-un-Nissa_BegumZinat-un-Nissa Begum - Revision history2026-11-04T02:13:02ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zinat-un-Nissa_Begum&diff=546564&oldid=prevEldargvj: Creating the stub and citations...2026-02-24T07:52:38Z<p>Creating the stub and citations...</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Mughal princess (1643–1721)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2017}}<br />
{{Infobox royalty<br />
| name = Zinat-un-Nissa Begum<br />
| image = Painting inscribed as depicting Zeb-un-Nissa, daughter of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Deccan, ca.1680–1700.jpg<br />
| caption = Zinat and her sisters<br />
| title = [[Shahzadi]] of the [[Mughal Empire]]<br />
| succession = [[Padshah Begum]]<br />
| reign = 1681 – 7 May 1721<br />
| reign-type = Tenure<br />
| predecessor = [[Jahanara Begum]]<br />
| successor = [[Badshah Begum]]<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1643|10|5|df=yes}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Aurangabad, Maharashtra|Aurangabad]], [[Mughal Empire]], Now [[Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar]]<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1721|5|7|1643|10|5|df=yes}}<br />
| death_place = [[Delhi]], Mughal Empire<br />
| burial_date = <br />
| burial_place = [[Zeenat-ul-Masajid]], Delhi<br />
| full name = <br />
| house = [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]]<br />
| father = [[Aurangzeb]]<br />
| mother = [[Dilras Banu Begum]]<br />
| religion = [[Sunni Islam]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Zinat-un-Nissa Begum''' ({{langx|fa|{{Nastaliq|زینت النساء بیگم}}}}; 5 October 1643 – 7 May 1721) was a [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] princess and the second daughter of Emperor [[Aurangzeb]] and his Chief consort [[Dilras Banu Begum]]. Her father had conferred upon her the honorable title of ''[[Padshah Begum]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sir Jadunath Sarkar|title=Volumes 1-2 of History of Aurangzib: Mainly Based on Original Sources|year=1973|publisher=Orient Longman|page=38}}</ref><ref name="Sarkar">{{cite book|last=Sir Jadunath Sarkar|title=A short history of Aurangzib, 1618-1707|year=1979}}</ref>{{rp|14,318}}<br />
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==Life==<br />
Zinat-un-Nissa Begum ("Jewel among Women") was born on 5 October 1643, probably in Aurangabad, to Dilras Banu Begum, Aurangzeb's first wife and chief consort. Her mother was a princess of the prominent [[Safavid dynasty]] of [[Persia]] and was a daughter of [[Mirza Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi]], the [[Viceroy]] of [[Gujarat]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Captive princess: Zebunissa, daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb|last=Annie Krieger-Krynicki|year=2005| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=1}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather was the fifth Mughal emperor [[Shah Jahan]] during whose reign she was born. Zinat-un-Nissa had in-depth knowledge of the doctrines of [[Islam]], just like her elder sister, Princess [[Zeb-un-Nisa]] and her younger sister, Princess [[Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Schimmel|first=Annemarie|title=Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Volume 2, Issue 4, Part 3|year=1980|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004061170}}</ref> She was educated by private tutors and scholars, and refused to marry, choosing to remain single her entire life.<br />
<br />
Zinat was a partisan of her youngest half-brother, [[Muhammad Kam Bakhsh]], for whom she gained pardon from her father on several occasions. Though her full brother, [[Azam Shah]], had a strong disliking for him.<ref>{{cite book|last=Richards|first=J.F.|title=Mughal empire|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, Eng.|isbn=9780521566032|edition=Transferred to digital print.}}</ref> She was her father's sole companion during the later part of his reign, along with his concubine [[Udaipuri Mahal]]. She was the superintendent of her father's household in the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] 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.<ref name="Sarkar"/>{{rp|282}}<br />
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==Contributions to architecture==<br />
[[File:Zinat-ul-Masjid - 22972487693.jpg|thumb|The [[Zeenat-ul-Masajid]] built by Zeenat-un-Nissa, located in [[Daryaganj]], [[Delhi]].]]<br />
Zinat-un-Nissa is known to have built fourteen [[caravanserai]]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.<ref name="Mukherjee2001">{{cite book | author = Soma Mukherjee | date = 2001 | title = Royal Mughal Ladies and Their Contributions | publisher = Gyan Books | pages = 203–4 | isbn = 9788121207607}}</ref> She also had the [[Zeenat-ul-Masajid]] ("Ornament of Mosques") constructed at her expense in c.1700 by the riverside wall of the [[Red Fort]] in [[Delhi]], where she was buried.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Reaktion Books|author=Annemarie Schimmel, Burzine K. Waghmar|page= [https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne/page/154 154]|isbn=978-1-86189-185-3 }}</ref> Tradition goes that she demanded the amount of her dowry from her father, and spent it in building the mosque.<ref name="Mukherjee2001"/><br />
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==Death==<br />
Zinat-un-Nissa Begum died at [[Delhi]] on 18 May 1721 at the age of 77 years.<ref name="Irvine1971">{{cite book | author = William Irvine | date = 1971 | title = Later Mughal | publisher = Atlantic Publishers & Distri | pages = 2– | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ak5oFjTys8MC&pg=PA2}}</ref><br />
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==Ancestry==<br />
{{ahnentafel<br />
|collapsed=yes |align=center<br />
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;<br />
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;<br />
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;<br />
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;<br />
|1= 1. '''Zeenat-un-Nissa'''<br />
|2= 2. [[Aurangzeb|Muhi-ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor]]<br />
|3= 3. [[Dilras Banu Begum]]<br />
|4= 4. [[Shah Jahan|Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Shah Jahan I, Mughal Emperor]]<br />
|5= 5. [[Mumtaz Mahal]]<br />
|6= 6. [[Mirza Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi]]<br />
|7= 7. Nauras Banu Begum<br />
|8= 8. [[Jahangir|Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir, Mughal Emperor]]<br />
|9= 9. [[Jagat Gosain]]<br />
|10= 10. [[Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan]]<br />
|11= 11. Diwanji Begum<br />
|12= 12. [[Rustam Mirza Safavi|Mirza Rustam Safavi]]<br />
|13= <br />
|14= 14. Mirza Muhammad Sharif<br />
|15= <br />
|16= 16. [[Akbar|Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, Mughal Emperor]]<br />
|17= 17. [[Mariam-uz-Zamani]]<br />
|18= 18. [[Udai Singh of Marwar|Udai Singh]], Raja of [[Jodhpur State|Marwar]]<br />
|19=19. Manrang Devi of [[Gwalior]]<br />
|20= 20. [[Mirza Ghiyas Beg|I'timad-ud-Daulah]] (= 28)<br />
|21= 21. [[Asmat Begam]] (= 29)<br />
|22=22. Ghias ud-din ‘Ali Asaf Khan<br />
|23= <br />
|24=24. [[Soltan Hosayn Mirza Safavi|Sultan Hussain Safawi]]<br />
|25= <br />
|26= <br />
|27= <br />
|28= 28. [[Mirza Ghiyas Beg|I'timad-ud-Daulah]] (= 20)<br />
|29= 29. [[Asmat Begam]] (= 21)}}<br />
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== Movies ==<br />
* She was portrayed by [[Diana Penty]] in the 2025 Hindi film ''[[Chhaava]]''.<br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Zeenat Mahal]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist|2}}<br />
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{{authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinat-un-Nissa}}<br />
[[Category:1643 births]]<br />
[[Category:1721 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Mughal princesses]]<br />
[[Category:18th-century Indian Muslims]]<br />
[[Category:People from Aurangabad]]<br />
[[Category:People from Marathwada]]<br />
[[Category:17th-century Indian women]]<br />
[[Category:17th-century Mughal Empire people]]<br />
[[Category:18th-century Indian women]]<br />
[[Category:Daughters of emperors]]<br />
[[Category:18th-century Mughal Empire people]]</div>Eldargvj