Zinat-un-Nissa Begum

Zinat-un-Nissa Begum ("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.[3] Her paternal grandfather was the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan during whose reign she was born. Zinat-un-Nissa 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 Begum.[4] She was educated by private tutors and scholars, and refused to marry, choosing to remain single her entire life.

Zinat 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.[5] 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.[2]^: 282

The Zeenat-ul-Masajid built by Zeenat-un-Nissa, located in Daryaganj, Delhi.

Zinat-un-Nissa is known to have built fourteen caravanserais. At the age of thirty-seven, she undertook a project to construct a number of inns of the highway linking Awadh with Bengal. This effort of hers earned her the praise of her father.[6] She also had the Zeenat-ul-Masajid ("Ornament of Mosques") constructed at her expense in c.1700 by the riverside wall of the Red Fort in Delhi, where she was buried.[7] Tradition goes that she demanded the amount of her dowry from her father, and spent it in building the mosque.[6]

Zinat-un-Nissa Begum died at Delhi on 18 May 1721 at the age of 77 years.[8]

• Zeenat Mahal