Quick Facts
Biography
Zeenat-un-Nissa (5 October 1643 – 7 May 1721) was a Mughal princess, the second daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort Dilras Banu Begum. Her father conferred upon her the honorable title of Padshah Begum.
Princess Zeenat-un-Nissa is known by historians for her piety and extensive charity.
Life
Zeenat-un-Nissa ("Jewel among Women") was born on 5 October 1643, probably in Aurangabad to Dilras Banu Begum, Aurangzeb's first wife and chief consort. Her mother was a princess of the prominent Safavid dynasty of Persia and was a daughter of Mirza Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi, the Viceroy of Gujarat. Her paternal grandfather was the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan during whose reign she was born.
She had in-depth knowledge of the doctrines of Islam, just like her elder sister, Princess Zeb-un-Nisa and her younger sister, Princess Zubdat-un-Nissa. She was educated by private tutors and scholars, and refused to marry, choosing to remain single her entire life.
She was a partisan of her youngest step-brother, Muhammad Kam Bakhsh, for whom she gained pardon from her father on several occasions. Though her full brother, Azam Shah, had a strong disliking for him.
She was her father's sole companion during the later part of his reign, along with his concubine Udaipuri Mahal. She was the superintendent of her father's household in the Deccan for a quarter of a century till his death in 1707. She survived him many years, enjoying the respect of his successors as the living memorial of a great age.
Death
She had the Zeenat-ul-Masjid ("Ornament of Mosques") constructed at her expense in c.1700 by the riverside wall of the Red Fort in Delhi, where she was buried.