The Mughal Harem

Last updated

The Mughal Harem is a book by historian K.S. Lal published in 1988 about the Mughal Harem. [1] Scholars perceive the work as communal propaganda, intended to exoticize the harem.

Contents

Contents

Based on contemporary sources, Lal studies queens, princesses, dancing girls, and slaves who belonged to Mughal harem from 15th to 18th century. [2] The political roles of Nur Jahan, Jahanara and Roshanara are described in detail. [2] The ladies were kept beside lawfully wedded wives for the sole purpose of sexual enjoyment by the Mughal emperors. [3] Moreover, no one was allowed to enter the harem except the emperor himself which primarily created the dearth of physical evidence. [4] Women played a vital role in the Mughal dynasty due to the diverse religio-political society of India. [5] Additionlly, women were used to exchange as a gift by the Mughal emperors. [6]

Reception

A. Jan Qaiser of Aligarh Muslim University was very dismissive of the book. [7] Ruby Lal noted Lal's work to be one of the few academic accounts on the topic but laden with oriental tropes of sexuality and seclusion. [8] Karuna Sharma shared Ruby Lal's concerns; K. S. Lal's was the first comprehensive study of the subject but it exoticized the Harem and failed to account for members, who did not have any sexual role. [9] Gianna Carotenuto found the work to be laced with "salacious tales and the sexy exploits of mythic heroes and heroines"; Lal's approach was intended to reinforce the oriental reputation of harem as a haven of sexual extremes and intrigues, and his laments about the evils of Harem being siphoned onto the society were reflective of personal and political agendas. [1]

Indrani Chatterjee remarked of Lal to have treated of Muslims as a "hermetically sealed" category, thereby producing a communalised historiography in pursuit of a political agenda. [10] Harbans Mukhia found Lal's account descriptive but stereotypical. [11] In a review of another work of Lal for the Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies, A. A. Powell noted his conclusion about the Mughals being responsible for religious persecution and socioeconomic exploitation of Hindus to have been in tune with his recent publications including The Mughal Harem. [12] Irfan Habib concured with the assessment of Chatterjee and Powell.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jahanara Begum</span> Mughal Princess from 1631 to 1658

Jahanara Begum was a princess of the Mughal Empire. She was the second and the eldest surviving child of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harem</span> Womens quarters in the traditional house of a Muslim family

Harem refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic servants, and other unmarried female relatives. In the past, harems also enslaved concubines. In former times some harems were guarded by eunuchs who were allowed inside. The structure of the harem and the extent of monogamy or polygamy has varied depending on the family's personalities, socio-economic status, and local customs. Similar institutions have been common in other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations, especially among royal and upper-class families, and the term is sometimes used in other contexts. In traditional Persian residential architecture the women's quarters were known as andaruni, and in the Indian subcontinent as zenana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarkali</span> Mughal 16th-century court courtesan

Anarkali is a legendary woman said to be loved by the 16th-century Mughal Prince Salim, who later became Emperor Jahangir. According to some accounts, Anarkali was the nickname of the tawaif Sharf-un-Nisa, though scholars hold varying opinions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zenana</span> Inner quarters where women lived in the Indian subcontinent

Zenana literally meaning "of the women" or "pertaining to women", in the Persian language contextually refers to the part of a house belonging to a Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu family in the Indian subcontinent, which is reserved for the women of the household. The zenana was a product of Indo-Islamic culture and was commonly found in aristocratic Muslim families. Due to prolonged interactions between Hindus and Muslims, upper-class Hindu households, inclined to imitate elite cultural trends, also embraced these designated spaces. The zenana were the inner rooms of a house where the women of the family lived and where men and strangers were not allowed to enter. The outer apartments for guests and men are called the mardana. Conceptually in those that practise purdah, it is the equivalent in the Indian subcontinent of the harem.

Kishori Saran Lal (1920–2002), better known as K. S. Lal, was an Indian historian. He is the author of several works, mainly on the medieval history of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariam-uz-Zamani</span> Empress Consort of Mughal Emperor Akbar

Mariam-uz-Zamani ;, commonly known by the misnomer Jodha Bai, was the chief consort and principal Hindu wife as well as the favourite wife of the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. She was also the longest-serving Hindu empress of the Mughal Empire with a tenure of forty-one years (1562–1605).

Darogas were police officials in the Mughal Empire and the British Raj. In the Mughal Empire, a daroga was superintendent of the "slaves" of a Mughal monarch.

Banarsi Prasad Saxena was an Indian historian associated with Allahabad University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jagat Gosain</span> Empress Consort of Mughal Emperor Jahangir

Manavati Bai, also spelled Manvati Bai,, better known by her title, Jagat Gosain, was the second wife and the empress consort of the fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir and the mother of his successor, Shah Jahan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salima Sultan Begum</span> Empress consort of Mughal Emperor Akbar (1539–1613)

Salima Sultan Begum was the third wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Akbar, and the granddaughter of Babur.

Bega Begum was Empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 26 December 1530 to 17 May 1540 and 22 February 1555 to 27 January 1556 as the first wife and chief consort of the second Mughal emperor Humayun. She was known as Zan-i-Kalan being the first wife of Humayun and was also known as Haji Begum after she performed the Hajj pilgrimage.

Maham Begum or Mahim Begum was the Empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 20 April 1526 to 26 December 1530 as the third wife and chief consort of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire and the first Mughal emperor. She was the mother of Babur's eldest surviving son and eventual successor, Humayun.

Zainabadi Mahal was a concubine of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mughal Harem</span> Womens quarters in the Mughal court

The Mughal Harem was the harem of Mughal emperors of the Indian subcontinent. The term originated with the Near East, meaning a "forbidden place; sacrosanct, sanctum", and etymologically related to the Arabic حريم ḥarīm, "a sacred inviolable place; female members of the family" and حرام ḥarām, "forbidden; sacred". It has the same meaning as the Turkish word seraglio and the Persian word zenana. It is also similar to the Sanskrit word anthapura, meaning ‘the inner apartment’ of the household. It came to mean the sphere of women in what was usually a polygynous household and their segregated quarters which were forbidden to men.

Zainab Sultan Begum was Queen consort of Ferghana Valley and Kabul as the second wife of Emperor Babur. She like two of his other wives Aisha Sultan Begum and Masuma Sultan Begum was a direct cousin of the Babur.

During the Mughal Dynasty, urdubegis were the class of women assigned to protect the emperor and inhabitants of the zenana.

Hazrat Begum, also known as Hazrat Mahal and Sahiba Begum, was a Mughal princess, as the daughter of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. She was a wife of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the first emir of the Durrani Empire.

Bakht-un-Nissa Begum was a Mughal princess, the daughter of the Mughal emperor Humayun.

After the mid-16th century, many Rajput rulers formed close ties with the Mughal emperors and served them in various capacities. It was because of the Rajputs that Mughals were not able to conquer whole India. The vassals had their daughters and sisters married to the Mughal emperors and their princes. The successors of the Mughal emperor Akbar, the mothers of his son Jahangir and grandson Shah Jahan were Rajputs. The Sisodia Rajput family of Mewar made it an honor not to enter into matrimonial relations with the Mughals, and thus stood in contrast to all other Rajput clans. After this time, the marital relations between the Rajputs and the Mughals declined somewhat. Akbar's relations with the Rajputs began when he returned in 1561 from a visit by the Chisti Sufi Shaikh of Sikri, west of Agra. Then many Rajput princesses married Mughal emperor Akbar.

References

  1. 1 2 Carotenuto, Gianna M. (2009). Domesticating the harem: Reconsidering the zenana and representations of elite Indian women in colonial painting and photography of India, 1830–1920 (Thesis). University of California, Los Angeles. p. 59, 61-62.
  2. 1 2 Tahera Aftab (2008). Inscribing South Asian Muslim Women: An Annotated Bibliography & Research Guide. BRILL. p. 45. ISBN   978-90-04-15849-8.
  3. ↑ Bano, Shadab (1999). "Marriage and Concubinage in the Mughal Imperial Family". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 60: 353–362. ISSN   2249-1937.
  4. ↑ Parveen, Layma (November 2023). "The Two Shades Of Mughal Harem: Chastity And Debauchery" (PDF). International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts. 11 (11).
  5. ↑ Waheed, Usman; Numan, Muhammad (2024-03-30). "From Harems to Thrones: The Ascendancy of Women in Mughal Royalty" (PDF). Cognizance Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies. 4 (3): 107–126. doi:10.47760/cognizance.2024.v04i03.011.
  6. ↑ Lal, Ruby (2004). "Historicizing the Harem: The Challenge of a Princess's Memoir". Feminist Studies. 30 (3): 590–616. doi:10.2307/20458986. ISSN   0046-3663.
  7. ↑ Indian Historical Review, New Delhi, 1991
  8. ↑ Lal, Ruby (2004). "Historicizing the Harem: The Challenge of a Princess's Memoir". Feminist Studies. 30 (3): 592. doi:10.2307/20458986. ISSN   0046-3663. JSTOR   20458986.
  9. ↑ Sharma, Karuna (2009-07-10). "A Visit to the Mughal Harem: Lives of Royal Women". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 32 (2): 156. doi:10.1080/00856400903049457. S2CID   144568032.
  10. ↑ Chatterjee, Indrani (1996). Slavery and the household in Bengal, 1770-1880 (Thesis). School of Oriental and African Studies. p. 24.
  11. ↑ Harbans, Mukhia (2004), "Select Bibliography", The Mughals of India, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, p. 188, doi: 10.1002/9780470758304.biblio , ISBN   978-0-470-75830-4
  12. ↑ Powell, A. A. (June 1995). "K. S. Lal: The legacy of Muslim rule in India, vi, 406 pp. New Delhi, Aditya Prakashan, 1992". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 58 (2): 397–398. doi:10.1017/S0041977X0001123X. ISSN   1474-0699. S2CID   161966133.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.