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{{Short description|Princess Suraya Jah, Nawab Gowhar-i-Taj (1913–2002)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{use Indian English|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Abida Sultan Begum
| title = [[Princess]] Suraya Jah, Nawab Gowhar-i-Taj
| succession =
| reign =
| image = PRINCESS ABIDA OF BHOPAL (21250881074).jpg
| caption =
| native_lang1 = [[Urdu]]
| birth_date = 28 August 1913
| birth_place = [[Bhopal]], [[Bhopal State]], [[British India]]
| death_date = 11 May 2002 (aged 88)
| death_place = [[Malir Town|Malir]], [[Karachi]], [[Sindh]], Pakistan
| coronation =
| predecessor =
| spouse = Mohammad Sarwar Ali Khan
| successor =
| issue = [[Shahryar Khan]]
| royal house = [[Nawab of Bhopal]]
| father = [[Hamidullah Khan]]
| mother = Maimoona Sultan
| religion =
| burial_place = [[Karachi]], [[Sindh]], Pakistan
}}
Princess '''Suraya Jah, Nawab Gowhar-i-Taj''' (born '''Abida Sultan Begum Sahiba'''; 28 August 1913 – 11 May 2002), also known as '''Abida Sultaan''', was the eldest daughter of [[Hamidullah Khan]], the last [[Nawab of Bhopal|Nawab]] of the [[Bhopal (state)|Bhopal state]], and his wife Begum Maimoona Sultan.

==Early life and royal family==
[[File:Bhopal Royal Family.jpg|thumb|Bhopal royal family. L to R: Nawab [[Hamidullah Khan]], his wife Maimoona Sultan, their daughters – Rabia Sultan, Abida Sultan, [[Sajida Sultan]], in [[London]], 1932]]
Abida Sultan Begum Sahiba (begum being a [[Muslim]] woman of high rank<ref name=bbc/>) was born on 28 August{{cn|date=November 2024}} 1913,<ref name=bbc>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn017r4zw3wo|website=BBC News|title=India's 'rebel' Muslim princess who shot tigers and drove a Rolls-Royce|first=Cherylann|last= Mollan|date=23 Nov 2024| access-date=27 December 2025|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250102083549/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn017r4zw3wo}}</ref> the daughter of [[Hamidullah Khan]], the [[Nawab of Bhopal]] and Begum Maimoona Sultan. She was the eldest of three children; she had two younger sisters [[Sajida Sultan]] and Rabia Sultan.<ref name=interview/>

The [[Begum of Bhopal]], [[Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal|Sultan Jahan]], was her grandmother,<ref name=interview/> and her predecessor [[Shah Jahan Begum of Bhopal|Shah Jahan Begum]] was her great-grandmother. Her grandmother brought her up, and her own mother "had nothing to do with [her]". Her grandmother, who was nearly 70 when Abida was born, brought her up very strictly in the Islamic tradition. She had to rise at 4am to read the [[Quran]], and had to do menial duties such as sweeping the floor. She was also allowed to do all the same activities as the boys did, including sports, music, and horse riding.<ref name=interview/><ref name=bbc/>

From the age of nine, Abida drove a [[Rolls-Royce]].<ref name=bbc/>

She was also known as Abida Sultaan.<ref name=interview>{{Cite web|url=http://old.harappa.com/abida/abidatext.html|author=Omar Khan|title=Seven interviews with Princess Abida (Sultan of Bhopal State) - (Summary of all 7 interviews by Omar Khan)|date=1990–1991|website=Harappa.com website|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 June 2016|access-date=27 December 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613023836/https://old.harappa.com/abida/abidatext.html}}</ref><ref name=bbc/>

==Marriage and governing==
In 1926, at the age of 12, she was forced to get into an arranged marriage by her grandmother nicknamed ''Sarkar Amman'',<ref name=interview/> which was the normal custom at the time for Muslim females, with Nawab Mohammad Sarwar Ali Khan,<ref name=Dawn/> the ruler of neighboring [[Kurwai State]], who was a childhood friend. This marriage lasted for 9 years and the married life was not easy due to her young age. After the collapse of her marriage, Abida moved back to her home state, Bhopal. The married couple together had a son [[Shahryar Khan]] who was later brought up by Abida as a single mother.<ref name=bbc/>

She had been completely unprepared for her wedding day, and her marriage broke up after around 9 years. She later wrote that she had not realized that the consummation of her marriage would leave her "so horrified, numbed and feeling unchaste".<ref name=bbc/> She moved back to Bhopal, and an ugly custody dispute over the couple's son, [[Shaharyar Khan]], ensued. In March 1935, she drove for hours to the home of her ex-husband, gave him a gun and said that if he did not shoot her, she would shoot him.<ref name=bbc/>

In 1928,<ref name=Dawn/> at the age of 15, she was recognised as the heiress apparent to the Bhopal throne. She then managed her father's [[Cabinet (government)|cabinet]] from 1935 until 1949, when Bhopal was merged with the state of [[Madhya Pradesh]]. During this time, Abida attended some round-table conferences which were held in London and called by the British government. During those conferences, she met [[Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Motilal Nehru]], and his son, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], first prime minister of India.<ref name=bbc/>

==Move to Pakistan==
After the [[partition of India]] in 1947, she experienced discrimination, and witnessed violence between [[Hindu]]s and Muslims.<ref name=bbc/> She gave up her right to the throne and in 1950 emigrated to the newly-formed [[Pakistan#Post Independence|Pakistan]], aged 37, with her young son.<ref name=Dawn>{{cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1486294/the-remarkable-begums-who-defied-patriarchal-norms-to-rule-bhopal-for-more-than-a-century|title=The remarkable Begums who defied patriarchal norms to rule Bhopal for more than a century|date=3 June 2019|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 June 2019|newspaper=Dawn newspaper|author=Priya Mirza|access-date=27 December 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605235028/https://www.dawn.com/news/1486294/the-remarkable-begums-who-defied-patriarchal-norms-to-rule-bhopal-for-more-than-a-century}}</ref>

In Pakistan, she joined the [[Foreign Service of Pakistan|foreign service]]; the government of India responded by excluding her from the line of succession. Her younger sister [[Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopal|Sajida]] succeeded her instead upon her father's death in 1960, despite Abida Sultan contesting the succession in court.<ref name=Dawn/>

She spent the greater part of her life in [[Malir District]] in [[Karachi]], Pakistan.<ref name=Dawn/>

==Death==
Sultan died in Karachi in 2002. Her son, [[Shaharyar Khan]], became the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan and later the chairman of the [[Pakistan Cricket Board]].<ref name=Dawn/>

==Personal life==
The cricketer [[Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi]] was her brother-in-law through his marriage to Sajida, and the cricketer [[Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi]] is her nephew.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

During her life, she flew aeroplanes, played [[polo]], and wore her hair short.<ref name=bbc/>

She wrote an autobiography, ''Memoirs of a Rebel Princess'', which was published posthumously in 2004.<ref name=bbc/><ref>{{cite book|last=Khan|first=Omar|title=Memoirs of a Rebel Princess (Abida Sultan)|publisher=Oxford University Press via Google Books |series=Oxford Pakistan paperbacks|year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-579958-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KyFuAAAAMAAJ|page=(315 pages total in the autobiography)}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20250930192104/https://www.britannica.com/place/Bhopal-India Bhopal, India on Encyclopedia Britannica - Archived]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sultan, Abida}}
[[Category:History of Bhopal]]
[[Category:People from Bhopal State]]
[[Category:Muhajir people]]
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Karachi]]
[[Category:Pakistani princesses]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to Pakistan]]
[[Category:Indian people of Pashtun descent]]
[[Category:Begums of Bhopal]]

Abida Sultan - Revision history

Ab2030 at 04:56, 25 February 2026