Mehar un-Nisa Begum (), better known as Ghaseti Begum (), was the eldest daughter of

Alivardi Khan Alivardi Khan (1671 – 9 April 1756) was the fourth Nawab of Bengal from 1740 to 1756. He toppled the Nasiri dynasty of Nawabs by defeating Sarfaraz Khan in 1740 and assumed power himself. During much of his reign Alivardi encountered frequen ...

Nawab of Bengal The Nawab of Bengal (, ) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa which constitute the mod ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

during 1740–1756.

Early life

Ghaseti Begum was the eldest daughter of Nawab

, the

, and Princess Sharfunnisa, the paternal aunt of

Mir Jafar Mir Jafar ( – 5 February 1765), was a commander-in-chief or military general who reigned as the first dependent Nawab of Bengal of the British East India Company. His reign has been considered by many historians as the start of the expansion ...

. Her paternal grandfather was Mirza Muhammad Madani, who was of either

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

or Turkic descent, the son of a foster-brother of the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

emperor

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

. Her paternal grandmother belonged to the Turkic Afshar tribe of

Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...

. Through her, she was a relative of

Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan was the second Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. He married Zainab un-nisa Begum and Azmat un-nisa Begum, the daughters of Murshid Quli Khan by Nasiri Banu Begum. Shuja-ud-Din's third wife was Durdana Begum Sahiba. ...

, the two having shared a common ancestor in Nawab Aqil Khan. Ghaseti Begum married her paternal cousin,

Nawazish Muhammad Khan Nawazish Muhammad Khan (; died 1755), also known as Mirza Muhammad Raza, was a Mughal aristocrat and the deputy governor of Dhaka in the 18th century. Biography Mirza Muhammad Raza was the son of Haji Ahmad, the elder brother of Alivardi Khan. R ...

, who was the

Naib Nazim of Dhaka The Naib Nazim of Dhaka, officially the Naib Nazim of Jahangir Nagar, was the chief political officer in the city of Dhaka, the present-day capital of Bangladesh, between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries. It was the second-highest office in th ...

. Being childless, the couple adopted Ikram ud-Daulah, the son of her younger sister

Amina Begum Amina Begum (, ) was a Bengali aristocrat from the Nawab of Bengal, Nawab family of Bengal and mother of Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal. Early life and background Amina Begum was the youngest daughter of Nawab Alivardi Kha ...

. But Ikram ud-Daulah died of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

at a young age. Soon after Nawazish Muhammad also died from grief. Ghaseti Begum inherited vast wealth from her husband.

Conspiracy against Siraj ud-Daulah

After the death of Nawab Alivardi Khan, Ghaseti Begum tried to enthrone Shaukat Jang, the son of her second sister Maimuna Begum. But Siraj ud-Daulah managed to ascend to the power of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

. Eventually she secretly conspired against him with the help of

, the chief of Alivardi Khan's army, along with the merchants

Omichund Omichund, Omichand, or Umichand (, ; died 1767) was a merchant and broker during the Nawabi period of Bengal. He was one of the principal authors of the conspiracy against Siraj-ud-Daulah and associated with the treaty negotiated by Robert Cliv ...

and

Jagat Seth Jagat Seth was a wealthy merchant, banker and money lender family from Murshidabad in Bengal during the time of the Nawabs of Bengal. Though not at the same scale, but the influence exercised by this family in the finances of the Mughal Empir ...

Death

After the fall of Siraj ud-Daulah in the

Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company, under the leadership of Robert Clive, over the Nawab of Bengal and his French Indies Company, French allies on 23 June 1757. The victory was made possible by the de ...

in 1757, Ghaseti was imprisoned in the Jinjira Palace by Mir Jafar. But sensing danger, Miran, son of Mir Jafar, moved Ghaseti to

Murshidabad Murshidabad (), is a town in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. This town is the headquarters of Lalbag subdivision of Murshidabad district. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river, Bhagirathi Riv ...

in 1760.Murshidabad History
/ref> She was believed to have been drowned in the

Buriganga River Buriganga (; ) is a river in Bangladesh which flows past the southwest outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka. It ranks among the most polluted rivers in the country. Importance The Buriganga is economically very important to Dhaka. Launches a ...

on the way by order of Miran.

References

{{Murshidabad topics Nawabs of Bengal Indian Shia Muslims 18th-century Indian women People from Murshidabad district

Early life

Conspiracy against Siraj ud-Daulah

Death

See also

References