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Ghaseti Begum: The Begum of Motijheel

                          Clive meeting Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, (By Francis Hayman)

Ghaseti Begum, originally named Mehar un-Nisa, was the eldest daughter of Alivardi Khan, the Nawab of Bengal. She was married to Nawazish Muhammad Khan.

Ghaseti Begum went all out to conspire against her nephew Siraj-ud-Daula who was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. Siraj-ud-Daula was defeated by the British under Lord Clive in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and was killed on the orders of Miran, the son of Mir Jafar who was now made the Nawab of Bengal by the British.  

Ghaseti  Begum was called the Begum of Motijheel  due to her residence at the bend of this reservoir in Murshidabad. Motijheel or Pearl Lake is an oxbow lake in Murshidabad. The lake was created by her husband Nawazish Muhammad Khan.

Nawazish Muhammad Khan died of grief when his adopted son Ekram-ud-Daulah succumbed to smallpox at a young age. Ekram-ud-Daulah was the elder brother of   Siraj-ud-Daula. 

Ghasiti's hate for Siraj grew after Ekram died and Siraj was made heir apparent by Alivardi Khan. Siraj had also got Husayn Quli Khan (lover of Ghaseti Begum) killed.  

Along with Mir Jafar and his son Miran, Ghaseti was a part of the conspiracy against his nephew. But after the death of Siraj the two eventually betrayed her.

She was imprisoned in the Jinjira Palace in Bangladesh by Mir Jafar. She was drowned in the Buriganga River on a dark night in 1760 on the orders of Miran. 



 

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