New Delhi, March 21: Their forefathers once ruled the Indian subcontinent, now a trust has been formed to help the descendants of Mughals break out of a life of penury.

The Mughal India Trust was formed last week with the objective of identifying the descendants and rehabilitating those in need.

“Our primary initiative would be to trace out these descendants as they are spread all over the world. Only then can we think about rehabilitating those who face hardships,” said Gulzar Dehlavi, a champion of Urdu and one of the members of the trust.

Sultana Begum, who claims to be the widow of the great-grandson of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, welcomed the trust and hoped it would help her family. Sultana used to run a tea stall in Howrah’s Foreshore Road after her husband died in 1980, but that was pulled down when the road was being widened two years ago.

“I get a pension of Rs 400 from the Government of India because of the family lineage. But I have to look after my daughter Madhu Begum, who is 30 but whom I haven’t been able to marry off because of lack of funds. I also care for my 16-year-old granddaughter Roshanara, who wrote her Madhyamik exams this year, and 10-year-old grandson Arshad Ali, who goes to a special school,” she said.

“I sometimes do odd jobs like wedging stones in bangles for Rs 20 or 25 a day. Often my brothers have to pitch in. But it’s still an ordeal making ends meet,” Sultana added.

Her husband, Mirza Mohammad Bedad Baqht used to deal in semi-precious stones.

Mughal descendants are spread over several countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. In India, they are living mostly in Delhi, Aurangabad and Calcutta — the trust has already “identified” 200 families in Aurangabad and nearly 70 in Calcutta.

However, there are disputes about who the real descendants of the Mughal dynasty are, with many staking claim to the lineage. The trust, which plans to send a team to other countries as well, will locate the descendants by tracing the “shijras” or the family tree.

“Once the list of descendants of the Mughal dynasty is prepared, then the trust will put the demand in front of the government for their rehabilitation. If the government fails to do so, then the trust would take up this project on its own,” its chairman Shahid Ali Khan said.

The trust is the brainchild of Khan, a businessman, and already has Rs 30 lakh collected from “like-minded souls who are concerned about the plight of Mughal descendants”.

Aslam Pervez, a retired Urdu professor, is another member of the trust.

The trust also wants the government to shift the mausoleum of Bahadur Shah Zafar from Yangon to India.

“The government had promised to do so years back. But so far nothing has been done,” Khan said.

It would like the government to make an effort to bring back to India the Mughal treasures housed in various museums across the world. Some have gone under the hammer at various auction centres.

A few years back, Christie’s had auctioned Mughal treasures taken to Britain by Robert Clive, which included a rare 17th century jewelled jade flask that was part of the collection at the imperial court in Delhi.