Qudsia Begum

Qudsia Begum (1801 – 17 December 1881), born Gauhar Begum, was the Nawab of Bhopal in central India from 14 November 1819 until her abdication on 29 November 1837 — the first of the women who ruled that state. ^{1 2} The Urdu article gives her birth in the Hijri year 1215 and her death in 1299 at about eighty-four years of age. ³

She was the daughter of Nawab Ghous Mohammad Khan of Bhopal, and in 1817 she married Nazar Mohammad Khan, who succeeded her father as nawab. ¹ Widowed in 1819 — the Urdu article adds that her father also died that year — she succeeded her husband as Nawab of Bhopal, leaving a young daughter, Sikandar Begum. ^{1 3} The Urdu article credits her rule with Bhopal's great Jama Masjid and a waterworks that brought water to the city's people at a cost of lakhs of rupees. ³

In 1837 she abdicated in favour of her daughter and son-in-law; the Urdu account, which dates the separation to 1252 AH, tells of a quarrel and armed clash with the son-in-law, Jahangir Mohammad Khan, settled by British mediation with a jagir of four lakhs assigned to her. ^{1 3} She nevertheless continued to influence the affairs of state in Bhopal during the reigns of her son-in-law, her daughter Sikandar Begum, and her granddaughter Shah Jahan Begum. ¹ The Urdu article remembers her personal devotion — rising near two in the morning for recitation, prayer and remembrance until eight, keeping the night vigil and urging prayer on her household — and her open-handed feeding of the poor. ³