Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 29.2

29.2

RUZEEA BEGUM was possessed of every good quality which usually adorns the ablest princes; and those who scrutinise her actions most severely will find in her no fault but that she was a woman. She read the Koran with correct pronunciation. and in her father's lifetime employed herself frequently in the affairs of the government; a disposition which he rather encouraged in her than otherwise, so that during the campaign in which he was engaged in the siege of Gualiar, he appointed her regent during his absence. When asked by his officers why he appointed his daughter in preference to any of his sons, he replied, that he saw his sons gave themselves up to wine and every other excess, so that he thought the government too weighty for their shoulders; but that Ruzeea Begum, though a woman, had a man's head and heart, and was better than twenty such sons. Ruzeea Begum, on her accession, changed her apparel, assumed the imperial robes, and every day gave public audience from the throne, revising and confirming the laws of her father, which had been abrogated in the last short reign, and dispensing justice with impartiality.