Asmat Begum

Asmat Begum was the daughter of Mirza Ala-ud-Daula Aqa Mulla{{cite book|last1=Shujauddin|first1=Mohammad|last2=Shujauddin|first2=Razia|title=The Life and Times of Noor Jahan|date=1967|publisher=Caravan Book House|page=1|language=en}} and a member of the illustrious Aqa Mulla clan.{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=9}} She was a wise, well-educated, accomplished and highly cultured lady.{{cite book|last1=Nath|first1=Renuka|title=Notable Mughal and Hindu women in the 16th and 17th centuries A.D.|date=1990|publisher=Inter-India Publ.|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788121002417|page=66|edition=1. publ. in India.}} She had a brother, Ibrahim Khan, who served as the governor of Bengal during Emperor Jahangir's reign.{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=180}}

Asmat Begum was married to the Persian noble, Mirza Ghiyas Beg, the youngest son of Khvajeh Mohammad-Sharif, a Persian noble of Tehran and a vizier to the governor of Khorasan.{{cite book|last1=Nadiem|first1=Ihsan H.|title=Gardens of Mughal Lahore|date=2005|publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications|page=71|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Latif|first1=Syad Muhammad|title=Lahore: Its History, Architectural Remains and Antiquities: With an Account of Its Modern Institutions, Inhabitants, Their Trade, Customs, &c|date=1892|author-link=Syad Muhammad Latif|publisher=Printed at the New Imperial Press|page=104|language=en}} The couple had seven children together: Mohammad Sharif, Ibrahim Khan, Itiqad Khan, Manija Begum, Asaf Khan, Sahlia and Mehr-un-Nissa (later Empress Nur Jahan).{{cite news|title=The Riverside Mansions and Tombs of Agra: New Evidence from a Panoramic Scroll Recently Acquired by The British Library|url= https://www.bl.uk/eblj/2017articles/pdf/ebljarticle92017.pdf|last1=Koch|first1=Ebba|last2=Losty|first2=JP}}

For unknown reasons, Ghias Beg and his family had suffered a reversal in fortune in 1576 and soon found circumstances intolerable in their homeland of Persia. Drawn to the favourable climate of Emperor Akbar's court in Agra, the family decided to migrate to India. Ghias Beg became a trusted minister under both Akbar and his son Jahangir and was awarded the title of 'I'timad-ud-Daulah' ("Pillar of the State") for his services.{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=24}}

However, while serving as the diwan to an amir-ul-umara in 1607, Ghias Beg was charged with embezzling Rs. 50,000, which led to a decrease in his rank and status at court.{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=32}} In 1611, Asmat Begum's second daughter, Mehr-un-Nissa, caught the eye of the reigning emperor Jahangir at the palace Meena Bazaar. The emperor proposed immediately and they were married within the same year.{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=3}} This marriage again led to a dramatic rise in the fortunes of Asmat Begum and Ghias Beg's family. Ghias Beg was given a substantial increase in mansab and made wazir of the whole dominion in 1611. Likewise, their sons Asaf Khan and Itiqad Khan were also given high positions and mansabs in the empire.{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=44}}

Mehr-un-Nissa (titled 'Nur Jahan' after her marriage) became Jahangir's most beloved and influential wife and soon became the real power behind the throne after their marriage. Nur Jahan formed a faction known as the junta which comprised her family members and her step-son, Prince Khurram (the future emperor Shah Jahan).{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=48}} This faction, led by Nur Jahan, took control of the government as Jahangir became increasingly addicted to opium and alcohol.

Asmat Begum, who was a wise and patient counsel in her own right, must certainly have been the nurturing hub of the junta in its heyday.{{cite journal |author=Ellison Banks Findly |title=Religious Resources for Secular Power: The Case of Nur Jahan |journal=The Colby Library Quarterly |date=1989 |volume=25 |issue=3 |page=143 |url=https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq/vol25/iss3/3 |publisher=Colby College}} She is also known to have taken a politically active role in the affairs of the court and served as a mother-figure to Jahangir and a counselor to Nur Jahan.{{cite book|last1=Hansen|first1=Waldemar|title=The peacock throne : the drama of Mogul India.|date=1972|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Delhi|isbn=9788120802254|page=44|edition=1. Indian ed., repr.}} However, Asmat Begum is perhaps best known for having invented the famous rose perfume called Jahangiri-itr, which was described by Jahangir as the discovery of his reign.{{cite book|last1=Bashir|first1=Hassan|last2=Gray|first2=Phillip W.|title=Deconstructing Global Citizenship: Political, Cultural, and Ethical Perspectives|date=2015|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9781498502597|page=244|language=en}}

File:Agra-Itmad ud Daulah mausoleum-Cenotaph of Asmat Begum and Mirza Ghiyas-20131019.jpg

Asmat Begum died in October 1621 in Agra.{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=291}} Upon her death, her son-in-law Jahangir, who was extremely fond of her, wrote: "Without exaggeration, in purity of disposition and in wisdom and the excellencies that are the ornament of women no Mother of the Age was ever born equal to her, and I did not value her less than my own mother."{{harvnb|Banks Findley|1993|p=165}}

Asmat Begum's death was a great blow to her family. Heartbroken over his wife's death, Ghias Beg also died a few months later in January 1622. Asmat Begum and her husband were buried in the same mausoleum, the Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah in Agra, which was commissioned by her daughter Nur Jahan, for both of her parents.{{cite book|last1=Ruggles|first1=D. Fairchild |author1-link=D. Fairchild Ruggles|title=Islamic gardens and landscapes|url=https://archive.org/details/islamicgardensla0000rugg|url-access=registration|date=2008|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=9780812207286|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamicgardensla0000rugg/page/100 100]}} Nur Jahan, who was extremely devoted to her parents, spent large sums on its construction.{{cite book|last1=Asher|first1=[by] Catherine B.|title=The new Cambridge history of India.|date=1992|publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521267281|page=130|edition=Repr.}}

• Asmat Begum is a character in Usha John's novel The Unknown Lover and Other Short Stories (1961).
• Asmat Begum is a principal character in Indu Sundaresan's award-winning historical novel The Twentieth Wife (2002) as well as in its sequel The Feast of Roses (2003).
• Asmat Begum is a pivotal character in Tanushree Podder's historical novel Nur Jahan's Daughter (2005).
• Suparna Marwah portrayed Asmat Begum in EPIC drama Siyaasat

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Banks Findley|first=Ellison|date=11 February 1993|title=Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India|location=Oxford, UK|publisher=Nur Jahan : Empress of Mughal India|isbn=9780195074888}}

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Category:1621 deaths

Category:16th-century births

Category:17th-century Iranian politicians

Category:Iranian emigrants to the Mughal Empire

Category:16th-century Iranian politicians

Category:17th-century Iranian women

Category:16th-century Iranian women

Category:16th-century Iranian people