1/4 Anna - Sikandar Begam

Sikandar Begam ruled Bhopal as its third female Nawab — one of the few Muslim-majority princely states in British India where women held sovereign authority across successive generations. Her reign from 1844 to 1868 coincided with the 1857 uprising, during which she remained conspicuously loyal to the British, a political calculation that secured Bhopal's autonomy and likely kept its coinage in production without interruption.