Zenana

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For the alternative use of this word in the Urdu language to describe effeminate males, see Kothi (gender).
For the Palestinian Arabic slang term for Israeli drones, see Zanana.
Ladies of the zenana on a roof terrace by Ruknuddin. Bikaner, 1675
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Zenana (

Hindu family in the Indian subcontinent, which is reserved for the women of the household.[2] 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.[3] 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
.

Christian missionaries were able to gain access to these Indian girls and women through the zenana missions; female missionaries who had been trained as doctors and nurses were able to provide them with health care and also evangelise them in their own homes.

Mughal court life

Physically, the zenana of the Mughal court consisted of exceptionally luxurious conditions, particularly for princesses and women associated with high-ranking figures. Because of the extreme restrictions placed on access to the women's quarters, very few reliable accounts of their descriptions are available. Still, modern scholars evaluating court records and travelogues contemporary with the Mughal period detail the women's lodgings as offering courtyards, ponds, fountains and gardens. The palaces themselves were decorated with mirrors, paintings and marble.[4] Mariam-uz-Zamani had her own palace in Fatehpur Sikri's harem, which was the masterpiece fusion of Rajasthani and Persian elements and was the biggest residential palace of the fort. Jahanara, daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, famously lived in her own apartment decorated with valuable carpets, and murals of flying angels. Other amenities depicted in illustrations of court life include running water and meticulous gardens.[5]

Resident population

Rather than being the prison-like space of licentious activity popularized by European imagination (see Orientalism), the zenana functioned as the domain of female members of the household, ranging from wives to concubines to widows, unmarried sisters and cousins, and even further distant relations who were considered dependent kin. In addition to the women of rank, the zenana was populated by attendants of various skills and purposes to provide for the needs of the ladies residing within. All visiting friends, servants, and entertainers were invariably female, down to the highly trained corps of armed women – guards known as urdubegis – assigned to escort and protect the women in the zenana.[6]

Entrance to the Jodha Bai Mahal in the harem at the Mughal city of Fatehpur Sikri.

Administration

According to

wetnurses),[8] were elevated to positions of rank, though their purpose was not strictly administrative.[9]

Political influence

It was because male members of Mughal society did not closely define the concept of purdah as a reflection of their own honor that wives, daughters, and particularly unmarried women in the upper-echelons of the empire were able to extend their influence beyond the physical structures of the zenana. That less-constrictive interpretation of purdah allowed the ladies of the Mughal court to indirectly participate in public life, most notably in civic building projects. Jahanara herself was responsible for the major alteration of

Safavid contemporaries.[11] Nur Jahan seems to be unique in that she had a particular affinity for hunting, and was able to gain permission to accompany her husband Jahangir on several outings, even once killing four tigers easily with her excellent marksmanship.[12]

Adherence to purdah

Despite the social freedom that came with being a member of the royal household, Mughal women did not go about unveiled and were not seen by outsiders or men other than their families. Instead, when they traveled they covered their heads and faces in white veils, and they were transported in

palanquins while covering on all sides, to maintain the modesty and seclusion required of purdah. When entering or exiting the zenana itself, female pallbearers carried their palanquins, and they were only transferred to male servants and eunuchs outside the walls of the zenana. Should outsiders be required to enter the zenana, as in the case of an illness where the lady could not be moved for her health, the visitor was covered from head to foot in a shroud and led blindly to the lady by a eunuch escort.[13]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-7619-9704-7
    . Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  2. ^ Khan, Mazhar-ul-Haq (1972). Purdah and Polygamy: a study in the social pathology of the Muslim society. Nashiran-e-Ilm-o-Taraqiyet. p. 68. The zenana or female portion of a Muslim house
  3. ISBN 978-1-000-50748-5
    .
  4. OCLC 473530
    .
  5. ISBN 1861891857
    . Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  6. ISBN 0312224516
    .
  7. ^ Abu 'l-Fazl Allami; Blochman, H (1977). Phillot, Lieut. Colonel D.C. (ed.). The Ain-i Akbari (3rd ed.). New Delhi: Munishram Manoharlal. pp. 45–47.
  8. JSTOR 44158824
  9. ISBN 8185179034
    .
  10. ISBN 0312224516
    .
  11. JSTOR 20721773
    .
  12. OCLC 473530
    .
  13. ISBN 8121207606
    .

External links
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