Talk:Nawabs of Bhopal

Merger proposal

I propose that Begum of Bhopal be merged into Nawab of Bhopal. There were only 4 reigning Begums of Bhopal, one being titular only. There's no point splitting the List of Muslim Sovereigns of Bhopal into two lists on the basis of gender. Ratibgreat (talk) 11:21, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

• Support. Both the articles are short. utcursch | talk 14:35, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

Since there has been no opposition in the past month, I've been bold enough to merge the articles. utcursch | talk 13:56, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Lovely! Ratibgreat (talk) 12:40, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Pretender

The current pretender of the title should be Saif Ali Khan; the former pretender being Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. Do we expand the list to include pretenders? Or should we indicate that the Nawabi of Bhopal has been fused with the Nawabi of Pataudi like England and Scotland, because of the marriage of the two incumbents? Ratibgreat (talk) 12:40, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Material to be added

How the rule of “regents” was established

• Hayat Md Khan was nawab from 1777 to 1807.
• He had two son, Ghaus Khan and Taj Md. Taj Md had no sons, only one daughter, Malika Bibi.
• Ghaus Md Khan (b. 1767) became ruler in December 1807 when his father died.
• In 1808, after losing a battle, Ghaus accepted Scindia as overlord. He also accepted a distant but agnatic cousin, Wazir-ud-dowlah, as regent.
• Ghaus then retired to Raisen but remained nominal Nawab until his death in 1826
• In March 1816, Regent Wazir-ud-Dowlah died. His son Nasiruddin (b. 1793) became the regent.
• Note that the regents (father and son) belong to the same dynasty as the Nawab. They are distant but agnatic cousins.

How the regent family uses Qudsia Begum, so-called “first begum of Bhopal”

• Nawab Ghaus Khan had eight sons and eight daughters. Qudsia Negum was his youngest daughter
• In Feb 1818, Regent Nasiruddin (aged 25) married Qudsia Begum (aged 16)
• In 1819, a daughter named Sikandar Begum was born to them
• In Nov 1819, Regent Naseeruddin died in a "shooting accident." Actually he was assassinated.
• At this point, Qudsia Begum (aged 19) was proclaimed as Regent (to her own father!!). Her father, the actual Nawab, is alive and well, living in retirement in Raisen.
• Qudsia actually has no power, in fact she cannot step outside one portion of her own house. All power is in the hands of her husband’s brother, who may have had a hand in the murder of Regent Naseeruddin.

How regent family became royal family of Bhopal

• In 1826, Qudsia's father died and her eldest brother Muiz Md Khan was installed as Nawab.
• Qudsia continues as "Regent" for her elder brother. Qudsia and Muiz are the children of Ghaus Khan and they have the same mother, Zeenat Begum, who dies in 1827.
• In April 1835, Qudsia’s only child, her daughter Sikandar Begum (aged 16) is married to her cousin Jehangir Md Khan (aged 19). Jehangir is the third son of Regent Naseeruddin’s only brother, Mian Amir, who controls Regent Qudsia.
• Thus, Jehangir Md Khan is a grandson of the first regent (Wazir-ud-doulah) and nephew of the second regent (Naseeruddin, his own fatherin-law)
• In Nov 1837, three events occur:
  1. Qudsia "relinquishes" power to her son-in-law (who is also her husband's nephew)
  2. The very next day, Nawab Muiz Md Khan (Qudsia’s brother) is deposed and permanently disinherited. He has two sons and a daughter. He dies in 1869.
  3. Jehangir Md Khan is proclaimed Nawab of Bhopal. The throne is settled on him and his issue (by his wife! - whose mother is only a regent)

Beginning of the era of the Begums

• Nawab Jehangir and his wife Sikandar Begum have only one daughter, Shah Jehan Begum
• Nawab Jehangir Md Khan also has a bastard son by a dancing girl.
• In December 1844, aged 28, Nawab Jehangir dies. There is turmoil in the state at this point
  1. Upon Jehangir’s death in Dec 1844, his father (Mian Amir) and others try to put Jehangir’s bastard son, Mian Alamgir, on the throne. This is unsuccessful.
  2. Jehangir's father (Mian Amir) seizes Kaliakheri fort and attempts to seize power in 1846. He is defeated and imprisoned in Asirgarh. He died 1854.
• In April 1845, four months after the death of her father, Shah Jehan Begum (b. July 1838, aged seven years) is proclaimed ruler BY THE BRITISH.
• At the same time, her mother Sikandar Begum is named Regent. The bastard son is put away.
• Poor old Mian Amir is clearly disempowered and disgruntled. For many years, he was the real power in Bhopal and he had controlled his brother’s widow Qudsia. Now his own grand-daughter is on the throne, but he is out of power. He tries futile rebellion in 1846, is defeated and imprisoned. He spends the last eight years of his life in prison and dies in 1854.

Sikander Jehan and Shah Jehan

• So by 1846, the BRITISH are firmly in control, the seven-year-old child Shah Jehan is the Nawab of Bhopal, and her mo4ther Sikandar Begum is the regent, taking all the advice and orders given by the British Resident Sahib.
• In 1855, Nawab Shah Jehan Begum (aged 18) became the third wife of Baqi Md Khan (aged 33). Baqi Md Khan is NOT otherwise related to the Bhopal royals.
• Baqi's first wife, Malika Bibi, was the only child of Nawab Ghaus' brother Taj Md Khan. Thus, Malika and granny Qudsia are first cousins, and Shah Jehan is married her grand-aunt’s husband.
• In 1858 and 1860, two daughters were born to Shah Jehan and Baqi. The younger daughter died as a child and only one daughter, Kaikhusrau Jehan, survived.
• The Regency was to end when Shah Jehan turned 21. However, in the run-up to this date, her mother Sikandar Begum petitioned the British to be made ruler herself.
• The British emissary met the young Shah Jehan privately. She told him that she wished to abdicate of her own free will. The British Raj accepted.
• In 1860, Sikandar Jehan replaced her daughter Shah Jehan as Nawab of Bhopal. Shah Jehan, until now the Nawab, was named heir-apparent.
• This happened because Regent Sikandar demanded the throne for herself and the British complied. Various good reasons were given by her.
• In 1867, Shah Jehan's first husband (Baqi Md) died.
• In 1868, her mother Nawab Sikander Jehan died and Shah Jehan became Nawab
• In 1871, Shah Jehan married a second time. She became the second wife of her second husband, Saddiq Hasan Khan.
• At this time, Shah Jehan was already pregnant with Saddiq's child.
• However, Shah Jehan had no surviving children by her second husband. Her only surviving child was her eldest daughter, Kaikhusrau, born 1858.

Kaikhusrau Jehan Begum, last female Nawab

• In 1874, Kaikhusrau (aged 18) married Ahmed Ali Khan, an agnatic descendant of Dost Mohammed Khan.
• It should be noted that Kaikhusrau's father was NOT an agnatic descendant of Dost Md Khan, who founded Bhopal. Her father, Baqi, belonged to some other family. However, her husband was a dynast of the founder.
• Kaikhusrau and her husband had three sons. All the sons married and had children of their own.
• Granny Qudsia Begum died only in December 1881, aged 80. She had certainly lived through history!

Messing with the succession

• In 1901, Shah Jehan died and was succeeded by her daughter Kaikhusrau Jehan Begum as Nawab of Bhopial
• In 1902, Kaikhusrau's husband died.
• During the year 1924, Kaikhusrau lost two of her three sons. Her two elder boys died that year.
• These boys had married two sisters, the daughters of their father's sister, Chanda Begum, famous mother of six or seven daughters.
• The elder son had two sons, both in their 20s. The second son had three sons, the youngest born in Nov 1907 (thus aged 17)
• All of these five boys, and their sisters, were disinherited in 1926 by their grandmother in 1926.
• Kaikhusrau personally and dramatically prevailed on George V to name her third and only surviving son as her heir.
• She said that this was as per islamic law (followed today in Saudi Arabia). Hamidullah Khan was duly accepted as heir apparent.
• To confirm the matter, Kaikhusrau abdicated the throne in April 1926. She died in 1930.
• Upon her abdication, her third and only survi

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