Aurangabadi Mahal
Aurangabadi Mahal, d. 1688, Mughal princess. One of the wives of Emperor Aurangzeb, she was so called because the Emperor- had married her at Aurangabad. She bore him a daughter, Mihr-un-Nissa. Aurangabadi Mahal died of plague at Bijapur, in 1688.
Avadh, Begums of, widows of Nawab Shniard-Daula (d. 1775) and mother (Bahu Begum, d. 1816) and aunts of his son and successor Asaf-ud-Daula of Avadh. They had inherited extensive jagirs from their husband and were believed to be very wealthy, and lived at Faizabad, U.P. They were pressed, in 1775, by the British Resident to hand over, Rs. 3,00,000 to Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula, in addition to Rs. 2,50,000 which they had given earlier. Despite the undertaking that no further demands would be made, the Nawab, hard pressed for money by the governor-general, Warren Hastings, sought his help in seizing the wealth of the Begums. The soldiers of the East India Company were sent to Faizabad (1781) who imprisoned the ladies and subjected them to gross indignities. They surrendered the money only on the threat of flogging. The ill treatment of the Begums of Avadh formed a subject of the impeachment of Warren Hastings. Though the jagirs were restored to them in 1784, they had to make a large loan to the Company again in 1814. One of the Begums (Bahu Begum) is buried under a splendid mausoleum at Faizabad.
