Saif Ali Khan is the heir of the Pataudi royal dynasty, the whilom rulers of Bhopal. The city of lakes is the capital of Madhya Pradesh and, even after decades, holds indelible marks of the Pataudis. However, among the former rulers of Bhopal, one name is often overlooked as it remains lost in time. The name was of the historic empress of Bhopal, Begum Sultan Jahan.
Sarkar Amman, who was later known and remembered as Sultan Jahan, was born in Bhopal on July 9, 1858. She was the daughter of Nawab Begum Sultan Shah Jahan and her husband, Baqi Muhammad Khan Bahadur. As the only surviving child of Nawab of Bhopal, she was named the proclaimed heiress apparent to the musnaid of Bhopal. Sultan Jahan was the sole heir after her mother succeeded the throne in 1866 after the death of her grandmother, Sikander Begum.
After her mother's demise, Sultan Jahan ascended the throne of Bhopal in 1901 and became the Nawab Begum of Dar-ul-Iqbal-i-Bhopal. She was well known for being a visionary and a reformer, especially in the field of education. Sultan Jahan was the last female Nawab of Bhopal. She wanted to transform the historic capital into a European city and succeeded in doing so to some extent. However, she passed away in 1930, ending her reign of almost three decades.
Even years after Begum Sultan Jahan, historians remember her as a great reformer. She established key educational institutions in Bhopal and introduced free and compulsory primary education in the former princely state in 1918. The Nawab Begum was also a member of Bharat Stree Mahamandal (The Great Circle of Indian Women), which promoted girls' education.
Sultan Jahan was the last female Nawab of Bhopal and focused on making the city a progressive and modern princely state. In her three-decade reign, she focused on education, particularly for girls, built many schools and technical institutes across the city, and increased the number of qualified teachers in these institutions. The Nawab Begum was also the founding Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). She took on the role in 1920, becoming the first woman Chancellor of any Indian varsity.
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However, she did not just focus on education but also introduced various reforms in a spectrum of fields, including taxation, the army, police, the judiciary and the state's jail structure. Sultan Jahan also expanded agriculture in the state by developing extensive irrigation and public works systems. She further established an Executive and Legislative State Council in 1922 and began open elections for the municipalities. The first budget of Bhopal was brought during her reign in 1903.
Her developmental works included Lord Minto Hall, Central Library, and Bagh Farahat Afza, as well as dozens of factories. The Nawab Begum built a Yacht Club in Bhopal as an attempt to give the city a European makeover. Historians believe that Sultan Jahan would’ve been able to succeed in this transformation if she had lived for a few more years. The Nawab Begum had also imposed a liquor ban in the state.
Begum Sultan Jahan was known to have a deep passion for Rolls-Royce cars. They owned three of these expensive vehicles at a time when these machines were a rarity anywhere in the world. These cars reflected her royal lifestyle. However, she was not solely focused on her hobbies and gave great importance to education, which led to her name still being associated with education, progress and innovation.
Begum Sultan Jahan was the great-grandmother of Bollywood actor, Saif Ali Khan. The Nawab Begum’s only son, Hamidullah Khan’s daughter, Sajida Sultan was married to Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan of Pataudi, The latter was the grandfather of Saif Ali Khan, and father to Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, who married actress Sharmila Tagore.
Saif Ali Khan's great-grandmother, Nawab Begum Jahan, was a true visionary.
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