INDIA
The Timurid Dynasty
GENEALOGY
1837 - 1858 H.M. Abu'l-Muzaffar Siraj ud-din Muhammad Bahadur Shah II Padshah Ghazi, King of Delhi. b. at Delhi, 24th October 1775, educ. privately. Appointed as Heir Apparent and formally invested by his father, with the title of Wali Ahad Bahadur and style of His Royal Highness 16th January 1810 (recognised by the HEIC). Proclaimed on the death of his father, at the Red Fort, Delhi, 29th September 1837. Deposed after the conquest of Delhi, 29th March 1858. Tried and convicted for his part in the Indian Mutiny, but his life spared. Exiled to Rangoon, Burma in Burma, 4th December 1858. A highly reputable Persian scholar and Urdu poet under the nom de plume “Zafar”. m. (first) Nawab Zakiat un-nisa Begum Sahiba (b. 1778; d. at Delhi, before 1838), daughter of Shahzada Mirza Muhammad Sulaiman Shikoh Bahadur. m. (second) (div.) Nawab Taj Mahal Begum Sahiba (b. 1824; d. after 1863), a Muslim of the Domni caste. m. (third) Nawab Sharafat ul-Mahal Begum Sahiba [Moti Begum]*, a Sayyidani. m. (fourth) at Delhi, 19th November 1840, H.M. Malika-i-Zamani Nawab Zinat Mahal Begum Sahiba (d. at Rangoon, Burma, 17th July 1886, bur. near the Mazar of Bahadur Shah, No. 6 Theatre Road), née Zinat un-nisa Begum, daughter of Amir ul-Mulk, Samsam ud-Daula, Nawab Ahmad Quli Khan Bahadur, Muzaffar Jang, sometime Muhktar us-Sultanat, from the Bhicknapahari Nawab family of Patna, Bihar. m. (fifth) Nawab Musahib Mahal Begum Sahiba [Piari Bai] (b. 1824; d. after 1863). m. (sixth) Nawab Nur Mahal Begum Sahiba [Piari Bai] (b. 1803; d. after 1863). m. (seventh) Nawab Azmat Mahal Begum Sahiba (b. 1819; d. after 1863). m. (eighth) at the Red Fort, Delhi, 1847, Nawab Akhtar Mahal Begum Sahiba, previously a concubine named Man Bai. * one of these ladies being a daughter of Nawab Akhund Muhammad Ayaz Khan. m. (a) Rahim Bakhsh Bai. m. (b) Moti Bai (b. 1799; d. after 1863). m. (c) Khayum Bai [Nawazish Bai] (b. 1806; d. after 1863). m. (d) Daulat Qadam, Mahdi Husain Bahadur. m. (e) Afzal un-nisa Khanum. m. (f) Raj un-nisa Khawas [Rajun Khawas]. m. (g) Mubarak un-nisa Khanum (d. after 1863). m. (h) Islam un-nisa. m. (i) Sujjan Bai. m. (j) Dil Ruba. m. (k) Ishrat. m. (l) Aram un-nisa (b. 1824; d. after 1863). m. (m) Dil Aram (b. 1818; d. after 1863). m. (n) Sultan Bai (b. 1814; d. after 1863). m. (o) Taharat Fahim (b. 1824; d. after 1863). m. (p) Husain Bakhsh (b. 1788; d. after 1863). m. (q) Jahan Bakhsh Bai (b. 1789; d. after 1863). m. (r) Zahur un-nisa (b. 1798; d. after 1863). m. (s) Chain Bakhsh (b. 1797; d. after 1863). m. (t) Dubir un-nisa [Biwapis] (b. 1798; d. after 1863). m. (u) Gauhar Afshar. m. (v) Hamida Bai (b. 1808; d. after 1863). m. (w) Maha Kaur (b. 1808; d. after 1863). m. (x) Latif Bai (b. 1808; d. after 1863). m. (y) Sati Maryam (b. 1808; d. after 1863). m. (z) Uchpul Bai (b. 1809; d. after 1863). m. (aa) Sati Sulaiman (b. 1809; d. after 1863). m. (bb) Busti (b. 1809; d. after 1863). m. (cc) Didar Bakhsh (b. 1809; d. after 1863). m. (dd) Rahim un-nisa (b. 1810; d. after 1863). m. (ee) Aziz un-nisa (b. 1813; d. after 1863). m. (ff) Subah Daulat (b. 1819; d. after 1863). m. (gg) Rahim Bakhsh (b. 1814; d. after 1863). m. (hh) Nagessur (b. 1819; d. after 1863). m. (ii) Rahmat un-nisa (b. 1817; d. after 1863). m. (jj) Chumbaili (b. 1813; d. after 1863). m. (kk) Amani Khanum (b. 1820; d. after 1863). m. (ll) Rahim un-nisa (b. 1818 d. after 1863). m. (mm) Umda Khanum (b. 1823; d. after 1863). m. (nn) Amir Bai (b. 1820; d. after 1863). m. (oo) Taj Bai (b. 1824; d. after 1863). m. (pp) Gul Rung (b. 1819; d. after 1863). m. (qq) Rushika Gul (b. 1823; d. after 1863). m. (rr) Muhammadi Bai (b. 1821; d. after 1863). m. (ss) Amir un-nisa (b. 1818; d. after 1863). m. (tt) ‘Umar un-nisa (b. 1823; d. after 1863). m. (uu) Karim Bakhsh (b. 1828; d. after 1863). m. (vv) Fazilat (b. 1828; d. after 1863). m. (ww) Mahabat Mere [Mahabat Kaur] (b. 1828; d. after 1863). m. (xx) ‘Umrao Bai (b. 1828; d. after 1863). m. (yy) Suttar Bai (b. 1828; d. after 1863). m. (zz) Zinat un-nisa (b. 1826; d. after 1863). m. (aaa) Qutb un-nisa (b. 1823; d. after 1863). m. (bbb) Piya Bai (later seduced by Tanras Khan). m. (ccc) Chand Bai. m. (ddd) Sultani. m. (eee) Ashraf un-nisa Fl 1858. He d. at Rangoon, Burma, 7th November 1862 (bur. there at the Mazar of Bahadur Shah, No. 6 Theatre Road), having had issue:
* Amongst the many false claiments to Mughal descent is a woman named Sultana Begum of Calcutta. In her correspondence with Sonia Gandhi the lady asserts that her late husband, a supposed second son of Jamshid Bakht:"Bedar Bukht was the descendant of Bahadur Shah Zafar and Zeenat Mahal. When the emperor was exiled in Rangoon in 1857, he was kept in confinement along with Zeenat Mahal and only surviving son Jawan Bukht. After the death of the emperor, Jawan Bukht married while still under house arrest. A son, Jamshed Bukht, was born to him. He later married Nadir Jahan, daughter of Piare Mian, a small-time hardware merchant of Lucknow. Their son, born in 1920, is Sultana's husband Bedar Bukht." It is told that Piare Mian smuggled in Bedar Bukht into India. And, young Bedar grew up in Kolkata with his identity under wraps for fear of incurring the wrath of the British. It was only after Independence that Bedar revealed his identity”. While all that may neatly explain away the actual fact that are no records of this Bedar Bakht in the official papers of pre-independence India or Burma, it does not quite explain away the supposed need for secrecy in the first place. Prince Jamshed, Prince Sikandar and Princess Raunaq Begum were well known in Rangoon cicles. They were in receipt of British government pensions, managed the Mazar of Bahadur Shah Zafar, participated in legal actions in the Burmese courts and municipality and socialised with British officials. None of those who have taken up or given credence to her story seem to have stopped themselves to ask why the need for secrecy over this particular child or why would he have been in any greater danger than his supposed elder brother or other supposed near relatives.
Copyright©Christopher Buyers, October 2003 - May 2012