Nazli Begum
Indian author and social reformer
Nazli Rafiya Begum, born Naazli Rafiya Sultana Hassanally Fyzee (1874-1968) was an Indian-born princess who later became a Pakistan Movement activist and moved to Pakistan after the partition.
Life
Nazli Fyzee was the sister of the writers Atiya Fyzee and Zehra Fyzee. In 1887, aged 15, she married Ahmad Khan, the Nawab of Janjira State, a small princely state near Mumbai. In 1908 she visited England with her husband and sister.
She encouraged female education in the state and was a member of the Bharat Stree Mahamandal (The Great Circle of Indian Women) which had been founded by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani in 1910.
Nazli and her husband were childless, and in 1913 the Nawab married another woman with Nazli's consent. After a son was born to this wife, Nazli moved to Bombay, with guards 'suitable to her rank' provided at state expense. In 1915 she relinquished a Rs 3,000 monthly allowance, and returned state jewellery, but maintained her guards.
After Ahmad Khan died in 1922, Janjira State subsequently stopped paying for her retinue of guards. In July 1926 she brought a complaint to the British government.
The public source identifies “Nazli Begum” as indian author and social reformer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Nazli, Begum and Indian.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28020121. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1874, 1968, 1887 and 1908.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nazli Begum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.