Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal

Biography

Early life

Sarkar Amman known better as Sultan Jahan, was born at Bhopal, the elder and only surviving child of Nawab Begum Sultan Shah Jahan and her husband Baqi Muhammad Khan Bahadur (1823–1867). In 1868, she was proclaimed heiress apparent to the Bhopal musnaid following the death of her grandmother, Sikander Begum and her mother's succession to the throne. In 1901, Sultan Jahan succeeded her mother at her death, becoming Nawab Begum of Dar-ul-Iqbal-i-Bhopal.

Nawab Begum

A great reformer in the tradition of her mother and grandmother, she was a member of Bharat Stree Mahamandal (The Great Circle of Indian Women) which promoted girls education. Sultan Jahan founded several important educational institutions in Bhopal, establishing free and compulsory primary education in 1918.

During her reign, she had a particular focus on public instruction, especially female education. She built many technical institutes and schools and increased the number of qualified teachers. From 1920 until her death, she was the founding Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. As of 2020, she is the only women to have served as Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. She was also the first Woman Chancellor of any Indian University and was appointed in 1920 and served in that position until 14 May 1930.

Not just a reformer in the field of education, the Nawab Begum reformed taxation, the army, police, the judiciary and the jails, expanded agriculture, and constructed extensive irrigation and public works in the state. Also, she established an Executive and Legislative State Council in 1922 and began open elections for the municipalities.

In 1914, she was the President of the All-India Muslim Ladies' Association. She was also a patron of the National Council of Women in India. Sultan Jahan's primary legacy, though, was in the field of public health, as she pioneered widespread inoculation and vaccination programs and improved the water supply and standards of hygiene and sanitation. A prolific author, she wrote several books on education, health and other topics, including Hidayat uz-Zaujan, Sabil ul-Jinan, Tandurusti (Health), Bachchon-ki-Parwarish, Hidayat Timardari, Maishat-o-Moashirat. Owing to her numerous activities, she was the recipient of numerous honours and awards.

In 1912, she published the Gauhar-i-Iqbal, which detailed the first seven years of her reign and the socio-political conditions of Bhopal at that time. An English translation, An Account of My Life, was written by C.H. Payne, Sultan Jahan's education advisor. A follow-up book, Akhtar-i-Iqbal, was published in 1922, with the final part published in 1927. In 1918, she wrote the Iffat-ul-Muslimaat, where she compares the notions of purdah and hijab with similar concepts in Europe, Asia, and Egypt.

In 1926, after a reign of 25 years, Sultan Jahan abdicated the throne in favour of her youngest child and only surviving son, Hamidullah Khan. She died four years later, aged 71.