Ghaseti begum

Ghaseti Begum

In the 1700 plus period the mughal empire ruled from delhi was slowly disintegrating. Regional governers were growing in strength & autonomy. Nawab alivardi khan was the nawab of bengal. He was a holy man with a lot of qualities and sympathetic towards his subjects ruling from his palace hazarduari(thousand gates) in murshidabad.

Ghaseti begum alias mihrunnisa was the eldest of the three daughters of nawab alivardi khan. The nawab got them married to the three sons of his elder brother haji ahmed. Ghaseti was married to nawazish muhammad shahmat jang who was appointed naib nazim of dhaka. Mihrunnisa was alivardi’s favourute offspring. Being close to the nawab mihrunnisa got a good exposure to politics as well. She had a very strong influence on the nawab like jahan ara had on emperror shajehan. But unlike jahan ara mihrunnisa had different ambition & aspirations.

Being close to the nawab she was aware of an illness taking over the aged nawab. Having her husband posted as the naib of dhaka she set her eyes on the huge revenue that passed through her husband’s hand. Now she started her calculations. To achieve what she wanted would cost her money. No conspiracy can ever be hatched with out money changing hands and not just money but big money.

About one and a half kilometre south of lalbagh and about three kilometres south-east of hazarduari palace was the lake called motijheel or pearl lake. The horse-shoe shaped lake was one of the meandering courses of the bhagirathi that once flowed near this area. Within the bend of the lake ghaseti begum’s husband built a beautiful palace called 'sang-i- dalan' (stone palace), a lofty gateway, a mosque and some other impressive structures. The palace was built using materials, especially the black basalt pillars brought from the ruins of gaur. This isolated palace was the venue where the grand conspiracy was to be launched. Huge amount of wealth was siphoned off the revenue moving through dhaka and found its way to this palace. The palace was heavily guarded by her trusted troops. Soon her husband passed away and the immense wealth of her husband came to her hands.

The nawab’s health was failing. Ghaseti begum tried all her influence on the nawab and tried to place shawkat jang, the son of her second sister, on the throne instead of sirajuddaula, the son of nawab’s youngest daughter. Mir jafar, the chief of alivardi's army, also felt uneasy at the accession of sirajuddaula. Ghaseti leagued herself secretly with mir jafar. She distributed money lavishly wherever she thought it would be effectual against siraj. Jagat sheth and umichand, the merchants who controlled the economy, also joined hands with ghaseti and mir jafar.

Siraj, however, ascended the masnad and almost immediately took steps against ghaseti. Sirajuddaula also demanded a statement of the dhaka treasury. Mir jafar now placed himself squarely on siraj’s side. Finally sirajuddaula stormed the motijheel palace and seized enormous amount of treasures in 1756 ad. The begum was kept confined.

While all this was going on mir jafar, jagat seth and umichand were noticing another interesting thing. The ships and canons of the east india company. The steady march of the union jack. People like mir jafar is always on the wining side. By the time one conspiracy ended another began behind closed doors.

Betrayed my his military head and financiers the nawab was defeated in the battle that ensued and fled from the battlefield. Thus the english won the victory at palashi not merely because of the strength of their forces but because of the strength of the conspiracy and the treason within sirajuddaula's camp.

Mir jafar was then the nawab of bengal. It should have brought relief and happiness to the original conspirator ghaseti begum but treachery is found side by side with conspiracy.

Mir jafar first imprisoned ghaseti along with amina begum, the mother of the fallen nawab, in murshidabad. Thereafter they were shifted to dhaka and locked up in the jinjira palace.

The hunt for siraj who was barely in his twenties had begun. Mir jafar let the hounds loose. Murshidabad to patna was a long way. One of the hounds found its prey. The last independent nawab of bengal was stabbed to death.

Miran the son of mir jafar felt that both ghaseti begum & amina begum were dangerous even in imprisonment. So he ordered their return to murshidabad. Sailing over the lazy booriganga on a dark night towards murshidabad a boat sank.

The hazarduari palace and the motijheel palace now stand abandoned like a mute witness of all the intrigues, conspiracies, lust, violence, passion of those yesteryears. Occasional visitors on an excursion or young lovers from kolkata set their foot there.