The Enchanted Life and Quiet Rule of Begum Sarbuland Jang, 1876-1957
Prof. Daniel Majchrowicz (Northwestern University)
Tues, November 18, 2025 | 4:15 (CET) | University of Lausanne | Anthropole 4088
Among her family, Begum Sarbuland Jang (1876–1957) was renowned as the ghar ki malika, a woman who’s word was law. Outside the home, this veiled woman’s presence and shadowy influence straddled a dizzying array of courts in late colonial India. She was a direct descendent the Mughal line and immediately related by blood to two princely states. Her father, husbands, and brothers practically ran Hyderabad state for a period of fifty years. Begum Sarbuland herself was on friendly personal terms with the nizam, the king and queen of England, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and string of viceroys. Though her gender and lack of formal status means that Begum Sarbuland is all but unknown today, she exerted quiet influence in the world of princely India. In this paper, I read across and against various archival sources to exhume the story of a powerful but ephemeral figure and to consider how women like Begum Sarbuland could influence and shape decision-making in late colonial India.
