Bahu Begum

Umat-ul-Zohra Begum (1727–1815), popularly known as Bahu Begum, was the chief consort of Shuja-ud-Daula, the third Nawab of Awadh in northern India. She was an influential political figure in Awadh during his reign and after his death, when her only son, Asaf-ud-Daula, succeeded him. Bahu Begum controlled several jagirs which she governed through a network of officials. Both her father and brother Najm-ud-Daula were close to the emperor Muhammad Shah.

Last will and testament Incensed by actions taken by Saadat Ali Khan, Bahu Begum took the highly unusual step of meeting personally with James Lumsden, the resident of Oudh. Only her minister Jawahir Ali Khan was present at the interview. In the meeting, she declared that she would bequeath all her property to the British government. Several years later, Bahu Begum sent Captain John Baillie her will listing her final wishes to be fulfilled, including the construction and maintenance of a mausoleum over her grave, donations to shrines in Kerbala, and allowances her minister and relatives, after which the rest of her property would belong to the British. However, the will lacked any detailed description of her assets.

As her health declined in her final years, Baillie was sent to visit Bahu Begum and ask for an accurate statement of her property and where it was held. Although she expressed disgust at the suggestion that she invest in the East India Company while she was still alive, he eventually convinced her that the British government would be unable to fulfill her wishes without more information. She eventually furnished a deed of disposal revising certain terms in her original will and describing where her money, jewels, and other property were kept.

Death and legacy

Bahu Begum outlived Saadat Ali Khan by over one year. British officials prevented his son and successor Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah from seeing her in her final days, to prevent her from changing her mind about her will.

She died in 1815 at the age of 88. She became feverish after her annual visit to her nephew during Muharram to see the tazia of Imam Husayn. Before she died, she repeated that "the great Nawab" had come to take her, a reference to her late husband Shuja-ud-Daula. Her steward Darab Ali Khan conducted the funeral rites.