ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GUL BAH&#256R BEGAM (d. 1863)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="GUL,BAHR,BEGAM"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279GUL BAH&#256R BEGAM (d. 1863), a dancing girl from Amritsar, was married to Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh in 1832. Gul Begam had danced before the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's English guests at the time of his meeting with British Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, at Ropar in October 1831. Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh thereafter grew very fond of her, and eventually admitted her into his harem as a wedded wife. He subsequently visited the Golden Temple in an act of contrition for marrying a lady whose status did not match his own. Sohan L&#257l S&#363r&#299, the court diarist, recording on 27 September 1832 the marriage in his chronicle, writes: "The Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 put on saffron garments, decorated himself with ornaments and jewellery... Gul Begam was dressed in yellow garments, with her hands and feet decorated with henna and bedecked with bejewelled gold ornaments from hand to mouth... the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 took his seat in a chair and made Gul Begam sit in another. Garlands of roses interwoven with pearls were tied around the forehead of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 and a gold nose ring with a pearl was fixed in the nose of Gul Begam and lovely words of congratulations filled the heart of the audience with pleasure." Renamed Gul Bah&#257r Begam, she rode with the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 on the same elephant, sat in the <i>darb&#257r</i> without veil and dwarfed the influence of other wives on the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257. Popularly styled as Ahl-e-Nish&#257t (lit. <i>fille de joie</i>), Gul Bah&#257r Begam is stated to have the finest figure, the fairest hair and the darkest eyes. Having no issue of her own she adopted a Muslim boy, whose progeny still lives in Lahore. She also built a mosque, which is still extant.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gul Bah&#257r Begam survived the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 and was awarded an annual pension of Rs 12,380 by the British.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gul Bah&#257r Begam died at Lahore in 1863.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> S&#363r&#299, Sohan L&#257l, <i>'Umdat-ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i>, Lahore, 1885-89<BR> <li class="C1"> Waheed-ud-Din, Faqir Syed, <i>The Real Ranjit Singh</i>. Karachi, 1965<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Sard&#257r Si&#7749gh Bh&#257&#7789&#299&#257<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>