Sikandar Zamani Begum, also known as Nawab Mahal Begum, was born in September 1857 and was the daughter of the Prime Minister of Alwar State. Her prestigious lineage positioned her within the elite circles of princely India, connecting her to both the political nobility of Alwar and subsequently to the influential aristocracy of Hyderabad State. On July 28, 1876, in Delhi, she married her cousin Nawab Agha Mirza Beg Khan, known by his title Sarvar ul-Mulk (Server-ul-Mulk/Jung) Bahadur. This marriage united two distinguished families and established her place within Hyderabad’s ruling elite.
Her husband, Agha Mirza Beg (1848-1933), was a prominent noble who served the 6th Nizam of Hyderabad, Asaf Jah VI (Mir Mahbub Ali Khan). Agha Mirza Beg initially served as the young Nizam’s tutor and later became his secretary and most trusted confidant. This appointment brought the family to establish their base in Hyderabad, where they became integral members of the state’s administrative and social hierarchy. The couple’s marriage was particularly significant, as it represented the connection between two princely states, Alwar and Hyderabad, and demonstrated the interconnected nature of Indian aristocratic families during the late 19th century.
Sikandar Zamani Begum was blessed with a large family, being the mother of at least ten children from her union with Agha Mirza Beg. Among her children was the notable Akhtar al-Nisa Begum, who later became known as Begum Sarbuland Jang after her marriage to Nawab Muhammad Hamidullah Khan Sarbuland Jang (1864-1935).
Her daughter, Akhtar al-Nisa Begum, achieved prominence in her own right, becoming the wife of the Chief Justice of Hyderabad and an accomplished travel writer who documented her journey to Mecca and Europe in 1909-10. This travel diary, later translated and published, provides insights into the life and perspectives of elite Muslim women of the period.
Living through the transformative period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikandar Zamani Begum witnessed the height of the Hyderabad State under the 6th Nizam. Her family was part of the educated, reform-minded elite that engaged with both traditional Islamic culture and modern Western education. Her daughter’s extensive travels and literary pursuits suggest that Sikandar Zamani Begum was part of a progressive family that encouraged women’s education and cultural engagement, even while upholding traditional values and customs befitting their social standing.
Sikandar Zamani Begum’s life exemplifies the quiet but foundational role played by women of India’s princely elite in sustaining kinship networks, household education, and reformist values. Through her daughter, Akhtar al-Nisa Begum, and the Sarbuland Jang family, she became linked to the Aligarh reformist movement, to Hyderabad’s ruling establishment, and to transnational currents of Muslim modernity. Her story, though less documented in her own voice, endures in the achievements of her children and in the cultural networks she helped sustain.