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Zēb-un-Nisā ((ペルシア語:زیب النساء مخفی)) *〔Also romanized as Zebunnisa, Zebunniso, Zebunnissa, Zebunisa, Zeb al-Nissa. ''Zēb'' means "beauty" or "ornament" in Persian and ''Nissa'' means "women" in Arabic, ''Zebunnisa'' means "most beautiful of all women"〕 (15 February 1638 – 26 May 1702) was an Imperial Princess of the Mughal Empire as the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his Empress consort Dilras Banu Begum. She was also a poet, who wrote under the pen name "Makhfi" (, "Hidden One"). Imprisoned by her father in the last 20 years of her life at Salimgarh Fort, Delhi, Princess Zeb-un-Nissa is remembered as a poet, and her writings were collected posthumously as ''Diwan-i-Makhfi''.〔 ==Biography== Zeb-un-Nissa, the eldest child of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (known as Alamgeer), was born during the reign of her grandfather, Emperor Shah Jahan. Her mother was Dilras Banu Begum, daughter of Mirza Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi (titled Shah Nawaz Khan), and a princess of the prominent Safavid dynasty, the ruling dynasty of Iran (Persia).〔Lal, p. 7〕〔(The Nation: Aurangzeb daughter's monument in a shambles (16 July 2009) )〕 Zeb-un-Nissa was her father's favourite child, and because of this she could compel him to pardon people who had offended him. Her father charged Hafiza Mariam, one of the women of the court, with the education of Zeb-un-Nisa. She seems to have inherited her father's keenness of intellect and literary tastes because Zeb-un-Nissa memorised the Quran in three years and became a ''Hafiz'' at age seven. This occasion was celebrated by her father with a great feast and public holiday.〔Lal, p. 8〕 The princess was also given a reward of 30,000 gold pieces by her delighted father. Zeb-un-Nisa then learned the sciences of the time with Mohammad Saeed Ashraf Mazandarani. She learned philosophy, mathematics, astronomy,〔(WISE: Muslim Women: Past and Present – Zebunnisa )〕 literature, and was a mistress of Persian, Arabic and Urdu.〔(Sacred-texts.com: The Diwan of Zeb-un-Nissa (Index) – Magan Lal and Jessie Duncan Westbrook (1913) )〕 She had a good reputation in calligraphy as well.〔 Her library surpassed all other private collections, and she employed many scholars on liberal salaries to produce literary works at her bidding or to copy manuscripts for her.〔 Zeb-un-Nissa started to narrate poems in Persian from the age of 14, but as her father did not like poetry, she used to write secretly. Ustad Bayaz, one of her teachers, found her poems and encouraged her to continue narrating them. It is reported that in the court of Aurangzeb, there used to be hidden literary and poetic parties among "great" poets like Ghani Kashmiri, Naimatullah Khan and Aqil Khan Razi, and Zeb-un-Nissa participated secretly in these parties. When Aurangzeb became the emperor after Shah Jahan, Zeb-un-Nissa was 21 years old. Aurangzeb found out about the talent and capacity of his daughter and began to discuss the political affairs of his Empire with her, listening to her opinions. It has been mentioned in some books that Aurangzeb sent all the royal princes for the reception of Zeb-un-Nissa each time she entered the court. Zeb-un-Nissa had four other younger sisters: the princesses, Zinat-un-Nissa, Zubdat-un-Nissa, Badr-un-Nissa and Mehr-un-Nissa. Among them, Zinat-un-Nissa and Zubdat-un-Nissa wrote poems too. Zeb-un-Nissa did not get married and remained single her whole life, despite the fact that she had many suitors. Her grandfather, Emperor Shah Jahan, had betrothed her to her first cousin, Prince Sulaiman Shikoh, the eldest son of her paternal uncle, Crown Prince Dara Shikoh. Shah Jahan had intended for her to become a future Mughal Empress as Sulaiman was the heir to Dara Shikoh, who was next in line for succession to the Mughal throne after Shah Jahan. The marriage would've been a perfect match but did not, however, take place due to Aurangzeb's reluctance, who hated his eldest brother, Dara Shikoh. Zeb-un-Nissa spent all her life on literary works and poetry, as she herself said: In some books it has been written that there was a secret love affair between Zeb-un-Nissa and Aqil Khan Razi, a poet and the governor of Lahore. However, others disagree with the prior theory. For example, in her poetic book (''Diwan''), some would argue that one cannot find a single Ghazal which supports this point and that all of her poems are based on the Sufi concept of the ''Love of God''. According to certain sources, "dehumanizing" scandals (created and/or written by some foreigners) regarding the lives of Mughal ladies were not uncommon (during the post-Renaissance era). For example, a claim of: "A sordid episode of () carnal romance with Aqil Khan Razi and his death inside a hot cauldron with burning fire under it, gained wider currency and was eagerly picked up by the... populace." However, other sources state that Razi lived long (as a government official) and died naturally. Regarding her looks, "... she is described as being tall and slim, her face round and fair in colour, with two moles, or beauty-spots, on her left cheek. Her eyes and abundant hair were very black, and she had thin lips and small teeth. In Lahore Museum is a contemporary portrait, which corresponds to this description... In dress she was simple and austere; in later life she always wore white, and her only ornament was a string of pearls round her neck."〔(Sacred-texts.com: The Diwan of Zeb-un-Nissa (Introduction) – Magan Lal and Jessie Duncan Westbrook (1913) p.13-14 )〕 Zeb-un-Nissa lived in a period when many "great" poets were at the peak of their reputation; e.g. Mawlana Abdul Qader Bedil, Kalim Kashani, Saa'eb Tabrizi and Ghani Kashmiri. There is a noticeable influence of Hafez Sherazi's style on the poetry of Zeb-un-Nissa. However, she is considered as one of the poets of the Indian School of Poetry in Persian. Zeb-un-Nissa selected "Makhfi" (which means ''Hidden One'' in Persian) as her pen-name in her poetry. In addition to her poetic book or collection of poems, called ''Diwan'', which contains approximately 5,000 verses, she also wrote the following books: ''Monis-ul-Roh'', ''Zeb-ul Monsha’at'' and ''Zeb-ul-Tafasir''. In ''Maghzan-ul Ghara’eb'', the author writes that the poetic book of Zeb-un-Nissa contained 15,000 verses. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Zeb-un-Nisa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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