Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal
Sultan Jahan GCSI GCIE GBE GCStJ CI (9 July 1858 – 12 May 1930) was the ruling Begum of Bhopal between 1901 and 1926.[ 1] [ 2] [ 3]
Sarkar Amman[ 4] known better as Sultan Jahan, was born at Bhopal, the elder and only surviving child of Nawab Begum Sultan Shah Jahan and her husband Baqi Muhammad Khan Bahadur (1823–1867). In 1868, she was proclaimed heiress apparent to the Bhopal musnaid following the death of her grandmother, Sikander Begum and her mother's succession to the throne. In 1901, Sultan Jahan succeeded her mother at her death, becoming Nawab Begum of Dar-ul-Iqbal-i-Bhopal.
A great reformer in the tradition of her mother and grandmother, she was a member of Bharat Stree Mahamandal (The Great Circle of Indian Women) which promoted girls education.[ 5] Sultan Jahan founded several important educational institutions in Bhopal, establishing free and compulsory primary education in 1918.[ 6]
During her reign, she had a particular focus on public instruction, especially female education.[ 6] She built many technical institutes and schools and increased the number of qualified teachers. From 1920 until her death, she was the founding Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. As of 2020, she is the only women to have served as Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. She was also the first Woman Chancellor of any Indian University and was appointed in 1920. [ 7]
