Zinat-un-Nissa Begum ( 5 October 1643 – 7 May 1721) was a

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 ...

princess and the second daughter of 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 ...

and his Chief consort

Dilras Banu Begum Dilras Banu Begum (; 1622 – 8 October 1657) was the first wife and chief consort of Emperor Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor. She is also known by her posthumous title, Rabia-ud-Durrani ("Rabia of Basra, Rabia of the Age"). The Bibi Ka Maq ...

. Her father had conferred upon her the honorable title of ''

Padshah Begum Padshah Begum () was a superlative imperial title conferred upon the empress consort or 'First Lady' of the Mughal Empire and was considered to be the most important title in the Mughal harem or '' zenana''. This title can be equivalent with "e ...

''.

Life

Zinat-un-Nissa Begum ("Jewel among Women") was born on 5 October 1643, probably in Aurangabad (present-day Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar), to Dilras Banu Begum, Aurangzeb's first wife and chief consort. Her mother was a princess of the prominent

Safavid dynasty The Safavid dynasty (; , ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from Safavid Iran, 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of History of Iran, modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder em ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and was a daughter of

Mirza Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi (Persian: بدیع‌الزمان صفوی; died 1659) was a prince of the Safavid dynasty of Persia and a powerful ''amir'' at the Mughal court during Emperor Shah Jahan's reign. He is better known by the title Shahnawaz Khan ...

, the

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. Her paternal grandfather was the fifth Mughal emperor

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

during whose reign she was born. Zinat-un-Nissa had in-depth knowledge of the doctrines of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, just like her elder sister, Princess

Zeb-un-Nisa Zeb-un-Nissa () (15 February 1638 – 26 May 1702) was a Mughal princess and the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort, Dilras Banu Begum. She was also a poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of Makhfi (, "Hidden, Disguised, Co ...

and her younger sister, Princess

Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum Zubdat-un-Nissa Begum (; 2 September 1651 – 17 February 1707) was a Mughal princess, the third daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb and his wife Dilras Banu Begum. Life Zubdat-un-Nissa was born on 2 September 1651 in Multan. Her father Aurangzeb was ...

. She was educated by private tutors and scholars, and refused to marry, choosing to remain single her entire life. Zinat was a partisan of her youngest half-brother,

Muhammad Kam Bakhsh Mirza Muhammad Kam Bakhsh (; 7 March 1667 – 14 January 1709) was the youngest son of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, born to his wife Udaipuri Mahal. Early life Kam Bakhsh was born on 7 March 1667 at Delhi. He was the fifth son of sixth Mughal e ...

, for whom she gained pardon from her father on several occasions. Though her full brother,

Azam Shah Mirza Abu'l Fayaz Qutb-ud-Din Mohammad Azam (28 June 1653 – 20 June 1707), commonly known as Azam Shah, was briefly the seventh Mughal emperor from 14 March to 20 June 1707. He was the third son of the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his ...

, had a strong disliking for him. She was her father's sole companion during the later part of his reign, along with his concubine

Udaipuri Mahal Udaipuri Mahal (died July 1707) was a concubine of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Life Described as 'the darling of Aurangzeb's old age', Udaipuri Mahal had been a slave girl in the harem of Aurangzeb's elder brother Prince Dara Shikoh, and befo ...

. She was the superintendent of her father's household in the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

for a quarter of a century till his death in 1707. She survived him many years, enjoying the respect of his successors as the living memorial of a great age.

Contributions to architecture

Zinat-un-Nissa is known to have built fourteen

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...

s. At the age of thirty-seven, she undertook a project to construct a number of inns of the highway linking Awadh with Bengal. This effort of hers earned her the praise of her father. She also had the

Zeenat-ul-Masajid The Zeenat-ul-Masajid, also written as Zeenat-ul-Masjid and popularly known as the Ghata Masjid (), is an 18th-century Mughal Empire, Mughal mosque located in Daryaganj, Central Delhi, India. The mosque was commissioned by Zeenat-un-Nissa, the ...

("Ornament of Mosques") constructed at her expense in c.1700 by the riverside wall of the

Red Fort The Red Fort, also known as Lal Qila () is a historic Mughal Empire, Mughal fort in Delhi, India, that served as the primary residence of the Mughal emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1639, fo ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, where she was buried. Tradition goes that she demanded the amount of her dowry from her father, and spent it in building the mosque.

Death

Zinat-un-Nissa Begum died at

on 18 May 1721 at the age of 77 years.

Ancestry

Movies

* She was portrayed by

Diana Penty Diana Penty (; born 2 November 1985) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Hindi films. She began her modelling career in 2005 when she was signed up by Elite Models India. Penty then made her acting debut with the romantic comedy fil ...

in the 2025 Hindi film ''

Chhaava ''Chhaava'' () is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language historical action film based on the life of Sambhaji Maharaj, the second ruler of the Maratha Empire, who is played by Vicky Kaushal. An adaptation of the Marathi novel ''Chhava'' by Shivaji Sa ...

''.

References