Portrait of Begum Zeb Un Nissa

Begum Zeb-un-Nissa was the eldest daughter of Aurangzeb and was the most favoured of all his children. As was customary for the Royal ladies, her education was given the utmost care. She had a mystical bent of mind and often wrote the most beautiful poetry in Persian. Since Aurangzeb was not fond of poetry, she often had to write in secrecy. Deeply religious but not conventional, she was secular as only one who has thorough knowledge of religion can be. She was imprisoned for the last twenty years of her life by her father. Some say it was due to her alleged affair while some attribute it to her siding with the rebels against Aurangzeb.