Maharani Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a prince. However, in late ancient India ...

Gulbahar Begum (died 1863) was a wife of

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia Misl ...

of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...

Life

Gul Begum was a

Punjabi Muslim Punjabi Muslims are Punjabis who are adherents of Islam. With a population of more than 112 million, they are the third-largest predominantly Islam-adhering Muslim ethnicity in the world, after Arabs and Bengalis. The majority of Punjabi Musl ...

dancing girl from

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

.Massy, Charles Francis, and Griffin, Lepel Henry. The Punjab Chiefs (rev. Edn.). Pakistan, Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1909. Ranjit Singh, on seeing her dance at

Ropar Rupnagar (; formerly known as Ropar) is a city and a municipal council in Rupnagar district in the Indian state of Punjab. Rupnagar is a newly created fifth Divisional Headquarters of Punjab comprising Rupnagar, Mohali, and its adjoining distr ...

, became captivated with her.Duggal, Kartar Singh. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Last to Lay Arms. India, Abhinav Publications, 2001. They married in 1833. Prior to the wedding there was opposition from orthodox quarters, who demanded that she needed to convert to

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

. The Maharaja however resisted, and she remained a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. At the wedding she was dressed in yellow garments, a gold nosering with a pearl was fixed to her nose, her hands and feet were dyed red in henna and she was bedecked in gold ornaments studded with diamonds. As part of the wedding celebrations, her brothers were granted a

jagir A jagir (), ( Hindustani: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr''), ( Marathi: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar ( Zamindar ...

and given a nawabi title. After their wedding, Ranjit Singh renamed her Maharani Gulbahar Begum and elevated her to a position above the other courtly women, who were now tasked with massaging her feet. She did not observe

purdah Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of sex segregation prevalent among some Muslim, Zoroastrian and Hindu communities. The purdah garment is the same as a burqa, or yashmak, i.e a veil ...

and was often seen on the royal elephant with the Maharaja during processions. She was given a

haveli A ''haveli'' is a traditional townhouse, mansion, or manor house, in the Indian subcontinent, usually one with historical and architectural significance, and located in a town or city. The word ''haveli'' is derived from Arabic ''hawali'', me ...

between Rang Mahal and Haveli Mian Khan, called

Haveli Barood Khana Haveli Barood Khana is an 18th-century haveli located in the Walled City of Lahore, Pakistan. It was built during the Sikh rule of Lahore. In recent times, the haveli has become a cultural symbol of Lahore. History Haveli Barood Khana was buil ...

now owned by Mian Yousaf Salli and family. When the Maharaja died in 1839 she offered herself for

sati Sati or SATI may refer to: Entertainment * ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi * ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike *Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer *Sati, a character in ''Th ...

, however was advised by a courtier that this was forbidden in Islam. After the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

annexed the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

in 1849 she was granted a pension of Rs. 12,380 for the remainder of her life. In later life she adopted a son, Sardar Khan, who cared for her. She spent her final years in the Miani Sahib area, and the area where she built a garden and mosque. She died at

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

in 1863.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begum, Gulbahar 1863 deaths Women from the Sikh Empire Indian queens consort 19th-century Indian women 19th-century Indian people