Some Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Mughal Women's Names
by Ursula Georges
This is a short list of names from Table 1, Women Builders in Mughal Shahjahanabad, in Stephen Blake, "Contributors to the Urban Landscape: Women Builders in S.afavid Isfahan and Muchal Shahjahanabad", Women in the Medieval Islamic World, ed. Gavin R.G. Hambly (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998). The table omits accents.
Most of these women were royal; the title Begum indicates this. The sole exception is the dancer Nur Bai. The dates given are dates of the first constructed building.
- Jahanara Begum, daughter of Shahjahan, 1648
- Raushan Ara Begum, daughter of Shahjahan, 1650
- Fathpuri Begum, wife of Shahjahan, 1650
- Akbarabadi Begum, wife of Shahjahan, 1650
- Sirhindi Begum, wife of Shahjahan, 1650
- Aurangabadi Begum, wife of Aurangzeb, 1650
- Zinat al-Nisa Begum, daughter of Aurangzeb, 1707
- Fakr al-Nisa Begum, wife of Shuja'at Khan, 1728
- Nur Bai, a singer, 1730s
Copyright 2002 by Ursula Whitcher, alias Ursula Georges