GENDER Mughal Historiography

GENDER
MUGHAL HISTRIOGRAPHY
RUBY LAL ARTICLE:
Ruby Lal’s book ‘Domesticity and power in Early Mughal world’ seeks to construct a history of
Mughal domestic life in the time of first 3 Mughal kings of India- Babur, Humayun and
Akbar(1556-1605). Mughal women and men were partners in the production not only of heirs
but also of imperial genealogies and new royal rituals. Women’s beauty gave them a power as
redefined as unique.
There is one sentence on the harem in the vol of Mughal India published in the New Cambridge
History of India: ‘Ideally harem provided a respite, a retreat for nobleman and his closest male
relatives- a retreat of grace, beauty and order designed to refresh males of the household’.
R.Nath description of the harem in his Private life of the Mughal’s is that the Mughal Harem
was a very delicate matter and it could only be described as fantastical. Akbar never indulged in
excessive sex, he had a taste for young beautiful women whose company he liked, he had
handsome concubines and slave girls for his pleasure in his harem and a dozen legally married
wives. Jahangir was a sensuous person and he excessively indulged both in women and wine.
This shows how over-indulged were they in sex and excessive engagement in harem.
Ellison Banks Findly remarks on the Mughal harem in her biography of Nur Jahan is the first
studies that engages critically with Nur Jahan’s life and her exercise of power and continues to
work a simple, stereotypical understanding of the harem. It is under Akbar that the harem
becomes a predominant symbol of Mughal domestic world. Harem is also described as
residential quarters of women- a practice that was hardly possible in Babur’s reign and still not
noticeable in Humayun’s .
Mainstream Mughal historiography continues to be engaged in a fairly conservative manner
with the pol and eco bases of Mughal power. More directly relevant to the subject of current
investigation is a second strand in Mughal social history, which is best described as belonging to
the genre of biographies of women worthies. Studies of this kind focus upon the visibility of
imperial women and their power. An interesting feature of this writing is that it has come to be
seen by male historians as sufficient to its subject (women). Bonnie G Smith points about
gender history in the west that prestigious professional history based on deep reflection and
weighty pol topics was for men, while women pursued more superficial kind of writing about
the past. He applies well in which Mughal women’s biographical accounts have been received
and it aimed at ‘bringing women to life’ which were never even thought as a mainstream nor
even imp part of thinking Mughal history. In biographies of Mughal women one finds to suggest
that royal women were a crucial component of the Mughal world.
Rekha Misra wrote an early book in this style of making women ‘visible’ in his book-Women in
Mughal India (1967)- It is a study of aristocratic Mughal women covering the reigns of grand
Mughals which gives details of their pol activities, commercial engagements, edu, artistic
talents etc. She wrote about women mentioned in imperial records & in narratives of European
travelers. In 1990 Renuka Nath contd to write in the biographical mode for elite women adding
more characters to Mishra’s list. Related to familial affairs and domestic conditions of the
Mughal royalty are the works of the Stephen Blake and Roselind O’Hanlon. The work of these
scholars demonstrates that the Mughal monarchy was a personalized one, much dependent on
household, the persona of the emperor and personal service. O’Hanlon draws attention to the
essential gender dimension in the investigation of imperial politics and identity. She shows the
development of patriarchy power in the 16thce & 17thce.
Cynthia Nelson made an early argument in Middle East that domestic concerns of women in
such societies were nothing if not pol & looked at wide ranging ethnographic instances to show
how women negotiated their social order. She emphasized women’s part in martial alliances,
their participation in welfare etc.
Kathryn Babayan’s investigation of the world of urban women in Isfahan through the Aqa’id’al-
Nisa (beliefs of women), a book of social critiques by females, probably written by a cleric called
Aqa Jamal Khwansari during the reign of Persian king, Shah Sulayman. Her article is on the
construction of pre-modern Muslim women’s spaces in Iran.
The place of women in obviously crucial. The activities of women, the very construction of more
permanent domestic quarters, conceptualization of the harem, all of these were part of making
of the new regime and establishing its power. Women eventually became Pardeh-giyan (veiled
ones) and were restricted to secluded quarters – Harem.
GAVIN R.G HAMBLY ARTICLE: Medieval Islamic women in historiography & history
Most general overviews of Islamic history and perhaps to which students are first introduced
have little or nothing to say about the lives of women. As Ronald C Jennings had described
stereotype in 1975- women have generally been considered by modern western observers to
occupy a despised and servile position in the social & eco order of Islamic civilization. Arabists
and anthropologists have seen in accord that Muslim women were virtually the property first of
their father, elder bro & husband, Muslim women were not able to manage or control any of
their own property & usually denied the inheritance. They even had no say in their marriage,
were sold by their fathers & guardians. From its beginning to present day Islam has heaped
indignities & scorn upon women. They have been unable to challenge or even ques the
authority of their father, elder bro & husband.
Historians have made ref to the status of women in Islamic society, law & beliefs and
emphasized the practice of hijab (veiling), polygamy (having more than 1 wife/husb at a same
time), concubinage (cohabitation without legal marriage) and harem. Travelers in 17 thce India
wrote about power & prestige of Nur Jahan, Jahangir’s wife & her neice- Mumtaz Mahal.
Scholars of Islamic past largely ignored existence of Women. Scholars of Islamic past have
largely ignored the existence of women. Muslim women had played no significant role in the
shaping of Muslim history or culture. The first pioneer of women’s history in Middle East seems
to have been remarkable Arab-American scholar- Nabia Abbott, also the first scholar to
attempt to write the history of Muslim women. Schimmel writes ‘Faminine Elements in Sufism’,
J.Spencer Triminghal – ‘Mysticism was the only religious sphere where women could find a
place’, in the early Islamic times he argues the term ribat was applied to a convent for sufi
women while khanaqah denoted male community. Apart from women as Sufis, the study of
women as scholars, teachers & transmitters of knowledge has been neglected.
A well-placed women in traditional Islamic societies always had the opportunity to influence
public affairs. There was always a possibility of a strong female personality.
Jenny Rose & Richard N. Frye discuss what is known about the position of women in pre-
Islamic Sasanid Empire, Islam affected the image of women are at the heart of David Pinault’s
discussion of women of households. There has been a no. of instances of women giving &
receiving loans & credit occurred; perhaps a larger mass cases involved women who inherited a
debt or credit from a relative & undertook to secure collection through the court. Women could
make formal claims against any man including their father, grown sons & husbands. Jacob
Lassner warned, ‘using literacy sources to reconstruct social environments is problematic.
Priscilla Soucek documents the prominent role which the women of Timur’s household
occupied in cultural life of Timurid court. Coming with various approaches & utilizing dif kinds of
sources – Maria Szuppe. Stephen Blake, Ronald Ferrier explores ways in which elite women in
Safavid Persia made their presence felt. Blake suggests the influence of court women was even
greater in Mughal Delhi than Safavid. Michael Fisher explores the feminine elements which
played so imp part in the culture of Mughal successor state of Awadh.
RUTH VANITA & SALEEM KIDWAI- SAME-SEX LOVE IN INDIA

This book traces the history of ideas of Indian written traditions about love bw women & love
bw men who are not biologically related. A primary & passionate attachment bw 2 person may
or may not be acted upon sexually.

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How does the passage describe the historiography of Mughal women?

What were some of the early works focused on making Mughal women visible?

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RUTH VANITA & SALEEM KIDWAI- SAME-SEX LOVE IN INDIA

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