Gulbadan Begum of Natore

For subject's ancestor and namesake, see Princess Gulbadan Begum of India.
Gulbadan Begum
গুলবদন বেগম
Spouse Mullah Shamez Uddin Ahmed
Full name
Sahibzadi Gulbadan Begum
Dynasty Timurid Dynasty
Father Jalaluddin Mirza
Religion Islam

Gulbadan Begum (Bengali: গুলবদন বেগম; 1923, Hulhulia, Natore – May 8, 2005, Dhaka) was a Bengali social worker, and former head of the princely Singranatore family, the eldest daughter of Jalaluddin Mirza, the Zamindar of Natore.

Biography

A marble plaque commemorating Gulbadan Begum's contribution to the first college in Singra.

Born in 1923 in the Bengal Presidency of the British Empire, she was named after her distant ancestor Princess Gulbadan Begum by her grandfather, zamindar (lord) Mirza Zafar of Natore. Her younger sister, who married a Sardar (regional chief) of Natore was named Gulchehra Begum after Princess Gulchehra Begum.

She was educated privately and in her teenage years she was married to Mullah Shamez Uddin Ahmed, the erstwhile Qadi of Natore and descendant of Mullah Shah Badakhshi. Her husband died in 1968 before the war of 1971. She had six children that survived to adulthood.

She died on May 8, 2005 at Army Cantonment and is buried at the Singranatore estate. At the end of 2005, following relinquishing command of the Bangladesh Army and upon military retirement, her third son (second surviving) Sahibzada Colonel Muhammad Shahid Sarwar Azam Shah Jahan assumed headship of the Singranatore family.

Family

The Senakendrio mosque in Dhaka was the site of the Salat al-Janazah of Gulbadan Begum after her death in 2005

Sources