Ghaseti Begum

Ghaseti Begum was the eldest daughter of Nawab Alivardi Khan, the Nawab of Bengal, and Princess Sharfunnisa, the paternal aunt of Mir Jafar. Her paternal grandfather was Mirza Muhammad Madani, who was of either Arab or Turkic descent, the son of a foster-brother of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.{{cite book|last=Sarkar|first=Jadunath|author-link=Jadunath Sarkar|title=The History of Bengal|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283729/page/n447/mode/2up|volume=II|year=1948|publisher=University of Dhaka|location=Dhaka|isbn=978-81-7646-239-6|page=436}}{{cite book|author=P. Sensarma|title=The Military History of Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l8ABAAAAMAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Darbari Udjog|location=Kolkata|page=172}} Her paternal grandmother belonged to the Turkic Afshar tribe of Khorasan. Through her, she was a relative of Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan, the two having shared a common ancestor in Nawab Aqil Khan.{{cite journal|last=Subhan|first=Abdus|title=Early Career of Nawab Ali Vardi Khan of Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=js8VAQAAMAAJ|journal=Journal of Indian History|volume=XLVIII|issue=III|year=1970|publisher=University of Kerala|location=Trivandrum|page=536}}

Ghaseti Begum married her paternal cousin, Nawazish Muhammad Khan, who was the Naib Nazim of Dhaka.{{cite Banglapedia|author=Iqbal, Shahriyar ZR|article=Ghaseti Begum}} Being childless, the couple adopted Ikram ud-Daulah, the son of her younger sister Amina Begum. But Ikram ud-Daulah died of smallpox at a young age. Soon after Nawazish Muhammad also died from grief. Ghaseti Begum inherited vast wealth from her husband.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

After the death of Nawab Alivardi Khan, Ghaseti Begum tried to enthrone Shaukat Jang, the son of her second sister Maimuna Begum. But Siraj ud-Daulah managed to ascend to the power of Bengal. Eventually she secretly conspired against him with the help of Mir Jafar, the chief of Alivardi Khan's army, along with the merchants Omichund and Jagat Seth.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

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After the fall of Siraj ud-Daulah in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Ghaseti was imprisoned in the Jinjira Palace by Mir Jafar. But sensing danger, Miran, son of Mir Jafar, moved Ghaseti to Murshidabad in 1760.[http://murshidabad.net/history/history-topic-alivardi-khan.htm Murshidabad History] She was believed to have been drowned in the Buriganga River on the way by order of Miran.{{cite book|last=Rabbani|first=Golam|title=Dhaka, from Mughal outpost to metropolis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9YLjAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=5 November 2012|year=1997|publisher=University Press Ltd.|isbn=978-984-05-1374-1|page=94}}

• Nawabs of Bengal
• History of Bengal
• History of Bangladesh
• History of India

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{{Murshidabad topics}}

Category:Nawabs of Bengal

Category:Indian Shia Muslims

Category:18th-century Indian women

Category:People from Murshidabad district