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Archiver > INDIA-ROYALTY > 2005-07 > 1122616459


From: pabitra saha <>
Subject: Emperor of India
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 06:54:19 +0100 (BST)


Ziauddin Tucy talks of Moghuls, their grandeur, the last Moghul Emperor

Bahadur Shah Zafar and his four wives till the period of what is

called India's First War of Independence - the Mutiny of 1857. All

these not because the children have inclination for history of

Moghuls but because their grandmother herself is said to be the last

surviving member and direct descendant of Bahadur Shah Zafar and his

first wife, Begum Ashraf Mahal.

Eighty-year-old Begum Laila Umahani, who lives in Asmangarh, a small

city in Hyderabad, is this grandmother. She narrates the glorious

family history to her grandchildren, knowing that it won't have any

takers if she goes to tell it to people beyond the periphery of her

small house.

Begum Laila Umahani helps tracing it when she reveals that after Bahadur Shah Zafar's

exile to Burma by the British in 1857, his son Mirza Quaish - the

first generation -- managed to save his life and fled to Kathmandu.

After he secretly came back to India, he was given shelter by

Maharana of Udaipur. His son Mirza Abdullah -- the second generation

-- again a fugitive, went to Nagpur and then Aurangabad and finally

Hyderabad. Here, Nizam of Hyderabad helped him. His son Mirza Pyre

later married Habeeb Begum, hailing from the family of the sixth

Nizam of Hyderabad. One "Habeeb Mahal" near Char Minar in Hyderabad, belongs to her which is occupied by one family and they have moved High Court for its possession. Begum Laila Umahani, daughter of

Mirza is the fourth and only surviving Moghul from the family.





Begum Laila now lives in a rented house in Aamangarh with her two

sons, Ziauddin Tucy and Masiduddin Tucy -- the fifth generation. Her

husband died earlier. While Ziauddin Tucy is retired marketing

supervisor from Andhra Pradesh Government, Masiduddin Tucy is a food

consultant in Welcome Group of Hotels in Hyderbad.







Pakeeza Begum, claims to be the another direct descendant of

Bahadur Shah Zafar. A resident of Neeti Bagh in New Delhi -- her

ancestral house Chandni Mahal is in the Walled City. The heir apparent -

Vali Ahad -- was supposed to be one and Mirza Qwesh -- whom she

refers to as her forefather -- was never a crown prince. He wanted to be one and to do that he also accepted the humiliating conditions of the British but never succeeded. While he was only attempting to become one, the 1857

Mutiny broke out. My great grandfather Mirza Fatehul Mulk was the

heir apparent."

She narrates the historical background that she says is found in

record books too. "Mirza Fatehul Mulk Bahadur” alias Mirza Fakhruh was appointed the heir apparent in

1853. At the time of Mutiny, the son of Mirza Fakhruh, Mirza

Farkhunda Jamal was only four or five year old. When Major Hudson

killed the sons and grandsons of Bahadur Shah Zafar at Khooni

Darwaza, Delhi on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, and soon after this news

broke out, the nurse - Anna -- of Mirza Farkhunda Jamal took the

child secretly without even informing the family because those who

were responsible for the Mutiny were among the family only. For

years, she did not reveal his identity and nurtured him by doing

different work at different places. That is how she managed to save

the last successor."





Some time after the Mutiny the British announced that there would be

no killings and punishment, Anna brought the child back to the

mother. The British Government released political pension in favour

of Mirza Farkhunda Jamal as the heir apparent. After the death of

Mirza Jamal, the pension was received by his sons and daughters --

Qamar Sultan Begum -- daughter of Mirza Jamal who kept receiving

this share even after Independence. She refused to take it sometime

after the Independence saying now we are free citizens and everyone

is equal in this democratic country. Sultan Begum died in June 1993.

She had two daughters, Begum Tahira Sultan and Pakeeza Sultan Begum.

The former is settled in London while the latter lives in Delhi and

is also an ex-director ICCR and an expert on Africa.





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