STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE MUGHAL EMPIRE DURING THE W^ CENTURY illaster of ^Ijilo^SopI)?

151 Pages·2015·9.89 MB·English

STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE MUGHAL EMPIRE
DURING THE W^ CENTURY
DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF
illaster of ^Ijilo^SopI)?
IN
HISTORY
BY
AMBREEN SHAMIM
Under the Supervision of
PROF. TARIQ AHMAD
CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY
ALIGARH (INDIA)
2010
DS4141
\ i JUK 2013
Fell In Cort!
ipUH
CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY
Department of History
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh-202 002
TARIQ AHMED Dated: June 9, 2010
Professor
To Whom It May Cjacern
This is to certify that the dissertation entitled ''^Status of
Women in the Mughal Empire During the 16"' Century'^ is the
original work of Ms. Ambreen Shamim completed under my
supervision. The dissertation is suitable for submission and award of
degree of Master of Philosophy in History.
(Prof. Tariq Ahmed)
Supervisor
Telephones: [phone]; Fax No.: [phone]; Internal: 1480 and 1482

CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgements i-ii
Abbreviations iii
List of Plates iv
INTRODUCTION 1-4
CHAPTER-1: Ruling Class during 16* Century 5-39
CHAPTER- II: The Royal Harem 40-57
CHAPTER-HI: Non-Muslim Women in the Mughal Harem 58-74
CHAPTER-IV: Women's Education 75-88
CHAPTER-V: Social Status of Women 89-119
Conclusion 120-123
Bibliography 124-130
Plates 131-143
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is a pleasant duty for me to acknowledge the kindness of my teacher,
friends and well wishers with whose help and advice I was able to complete this
work.
At the very outset, I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to my
supervisor, Dr. Tariq Ahmed, for his excellent guidance. Indeed, his support and
encouragement has been crucial in the completion of this work. I am grateflil to
him for taking keen interest and having cordial attitude during the completion. In
making this dissertation a reality the sole credit goes to my supervisor.
I am highly thankful to Dr. Abdus Salam Jeelanf for his help in
understanding Persian sources. I am also thankfiil to all the research fellows and
friends in the Department with whom I discussed different aspects of research. I
am also grateful to the Chairman, Prof. B. L. Bhadani for his full support and good
will.
I thank all my friends and seniors for their endearing support and
enthusiasm and I regret my inability to name all of them due to the limitation of
space.
My understanding of histoiy has been shaped by all my teachers in the
department who painstakingly cleared my doubts and helped me in understanding
various concepts, theories and debates. This has aided me in comprehending
diverse issues during the course of my work. I take this opportunity to
acknowledge their contributions.
I should like to put on record my thanks to the staff of the following
libraries for allowing me access to the sources and secondary works concerning
my work: Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History (Aligarh Muslim
University), Maulana Azad Library (Aligarh Muslim University), Department of
Islamic Studies (Aligarh Muslim University), National Archives of hidia (New
Delhi).
My family has been my main source of inspiration to carry on the research
work. I am indebted to my parents for their love and affection which they
extended to me. My mother has been a source of extraordinary support to me. My
husband, Dr. Laiq-uz Zaman has patiently stood by me and given all support. Li
the end, I thank all my family members for their affection & encouragement.
Last but not least, I must confess that in spite of such help from so many
quarters, omissions and commissions if there by any, they are absolutely mine.
(Ambreen Shamim)
n
SELECT ABBREVIATIONS
Bib. Ind. Bibliotheque Indica
BM British Museum
BL British Library
Bib. Nat. Bibliotheque Nationale
EI Epigraphia Indica
IQ Islamic Quarterly
IC Indian Culture (Journal of Indian Research Institute)
IHRC Indian Historical Records Commission
JRAS Journal of Royal Asiatic Society
OUP Oxford University Press
PIHC Proceedings of the Indian History Congress
111
LIST OF PLATES
[In the following numbering style, the first number denotes the chapter number
followed by the actual number of the plates.]
Plate Number Pages
2.1 Dance being performed at the birth of Salim 131
2.2 Royal musicians performing in a marriage 132
2.3 Celebrated dancers fi-om performing before Akbar 133
2.4 Dancing and singing girls entertaining the inmates of Harem 134
2.5 Women dancing with music at the time of marriage celebration 135
2.6 The young Akbar pays respects to his mother who rides in a litter 136
5.1 Women engaged in breaking stones, pounding bricks into rufile,
preparing cement, staining and mixing lime 137
5.2 The women of lower classes such as artisans, peasants and manual
labourers not observing purdah 138
5.3 Women engaged in construction works 139
5.4 Women carrying the mortar up to the masons 140
5.5 Women not observing purdah and carrying the mortar up to the
masons 141
5.6 Women as nurses and midwives of babies 142
5.7 Rejoicing on the birth of Prince Salim at Fatehpur and female nurses
are serving 143
IV
investigated and written about the different aspects of the political, social and
economic life of the Mughal rule in India, but the women of that period had not
been paid sufficient attention that they deserved. The status of women in a country
represents fairly the social spirit of the age. This dissertation depicts the status of
women of every section including the aristocracy during the 16* century.
The dissertation is mainly based on primary and European sources along
with secondary sources. Almost all the primary chronicles relevant to the topic
have been used. Babur in his memoirs Baburnama makes emotional, even
sentimental, often detailed references to his female relative's grandmother,
mother, sisters and daughters as also to his Begums. Gulbadan's Humayun Nama,
gives a detailed account of the lives and activities of harem ladies during the
period of Babur, Humayun and Akbar.
During the reign of Akbar utmost caution was observed not to write
anything about the inmates of the harem which could be disapproved by royal
disposition. Consequently Akbar's chroniclers rarely mention anything about
ladies in the harem unless they were senior in age and played some important role
in religion or politics. Abul Fazl's Ain-i Akbari and Akbarnama and Nizamuddin
Ahmad's Tabaqat-i Akbari give sober and succinct account of Akbar's harem.
On the other hand the European travellers in the Mughal Empire wrote
freely about the life of the harem. Their sources of information were limited and
therefore they collected all that they could whether in the form of detailed