The Sex Lives of Women Inside a Mughal Emperor’s Harem
A brief insight into how women were treated inside the Mughal harems.
The Mughal Harem was a huge physical space that consisted of different women from a number of regions, religions, and cultures from all over the world, arranged in terms of their closeness and level of intimacy to the Emperor. It was a complex institution that represented the polygamous and luxurious lifestyle of the Mughal elite.
History of the Mughal Harem
The term ‘harem’ originated in the Near East and refers to a “forbidden place; sacrosanct, sanctum,” and is etymologically related to the Arabic definition of the word, which means “a sacred inviolable place; female members of the family.” Over time, the word came to refer to a sphere of women in a polygamous household where their quarters were segregated from those of the men in the household.
The hierarchy of the Harem consisted of the wives and female relatives of the Mughals with most women entering the institution through birth, marriage, appointments, or in the form of presents. These women were expected to observe the rules of pardah, which meant that they were not allowed to move out of the harem (where they lived luxuriously), according to their will; some women did, however, travel for pilgrimages to local shrines, and for hunting and sightseeing with the Emperor. They traveled either in elaborately decorated palanquins or on elephant backs.
The chief authorities of the Harem consisted of the wives and direct female relatives of the Emperor; below them were the concubines. There were also ladies-in-waiting, maids, cooks, servants, officials, and guards who were given housing within the Harem.
The Harem contained several beautiful gardens and fountains, along with several distinct departments, each of which served to fulfill the different needs of its residents. The food came from the Royal Kitchen, which was known as the bawarchi khana; the Akbar Khanah provided the drinking water and wine, and the Maywa Khanah provided fruits. The Imperial Karkhanah was responsible for providing things of personal use like clothing, jewelry, and household items.
Akbar’s Organization of the Harem
When Fatehpur Sikri was constructed, Emperor Akbar reorganized the institution’s administration. The portion of his palace that housed the female residents were referred to as the zenana and was home to over 5000 women. Many believe that every woman had a suite of rooms to herself; however, other more realistic claims state that it is more likely that only royal members and the Emperor’s favorites were provided with personal apartments.
Akbar divided the zenana into distinct sections: the daroghas tended to the organization needs of the residents and were tasked with upholding the peace; the tehwildars were the accounts officers who managed the salaries and finances of the inhabitants; the mahaldar was the female servant of the highest order and served as an intelligence source for the Emperor, and the anagas were the royal wet-nurses.
Akbar’s harem was the first organized harem with rules, regulations, and procedures, and it was maintained by his descendants (Jahangir, Shah Jehan, and Aurangzeb) for a while into the future. It was described in the following words,
“There were five thousand women in Akbar’s harem and these five thousand women were different from his 37 wives. A tavern was built near the Emperor’s Palace. There were so many prostitutes gathered there that it became difficult to even count them. If a courtier wanted to take a new girl home, she had to take permission from Akbar. Many times there was a quarrel among people to carry beautiful girls. Once Akbar himself called a few prostitutes and asked them who was the first to enjoy them.”
Jahangir’s Expansion of the Harem
Once a girl or woman entered the Harem, she was expected to cut off all ties external to the Harem and was bound to remain within the confines of the institution for the rest of her life. Even in the case that the emperor himself died, she was not permitted to leave the harem; instead, she would be driven further into seclusion in an independent section of the Harem, which was referred to as the suhagpura.
According to Francisco Pelseart, a Dutch merchant who came to India during Jahangir’s era, Jahangir was well-known for being the most lustful king in the history of Mughal kings, and his harem is often used as a reference to explain the workings of the Mughal Harem as an institution. At the age of just 25, he was legally married to 20 different women and had over 300 slave girls in his harem, which appeared to be ever-expanding throughout his rule.
Jahangir was especially focused on elaborately decorating his mahals, where he forced “lascivious sensuality” into the resident females by making them adorn heavy dresses, ornaments, and perfumes before wooing him. This stemmed from his unquenchable thirst for female attention.
Jahangir’s Relationship With the Girls Inside the Harem
Every one of Jahangir’s wives was provided with a separate apartment and was assigned up to 20 slave girls. They were also given a monthly allowance, which they were encouraged to use for buying jewelry and clothes to decorate themselves with. These women did everything they could to win Jahangir’s favor: besides dressing themselves up extravagantly, they made special foods and sweetmeats according to his taste and presented them to him to entice him into having sex with them.
Whenever he made plans to meet with a particular wife, her mahal was richly decorated and sprayed all over with sensual scents. Once he entered the mahal, the wife’s slave girls would immediately undress him and rub rosewood and sandalwood creams all over his body. While some girls fanned him with silken punkahs and sprinkled rose water all over him, others massaged him as he spoke with his wife who mostly just fed his ego with never-ending praise and compliments.
During these meetings, Jahangir and his chosen wife would consume an exorbitant amount of wine, opium, and other stimulants. The entire time, he would sit naked between the girls; if one of his slave girls caught his attention, the wife had no say in him having relations with that woman. The night would go on for as long as the emperor wanted, mostly up until dawn; if by the end of it the emperor was sufficiently satisfied, he would reward the chosen wife or slave girl by making her his favorite, which meant that she would enjoy exclusive benefits. However, in the case that he left displeased with any one of them, they would be ‘consigned to oblivion.’
The Life of Women Inside the Harem
Even those women inside the Harem lived lives of luxury (wore the most expensive clothes, ate the best food, and lived in the most luxurious mahals), they were deprived of basic human rights like the freedom of mobility and sexual pleasure. They were forbidden from leaving the Harem and unless they caught the fancy of the emperor, they would go through their entire lives without ever engaging in sexual relations with a man. To escape this fate, some of them would often risk their lives by engaging in illicit relations with officers of the Harem.
The Harem was meant to be a place solely for pleasure, not for depressing topics like death and disease. Therefore, whenever any inhabitant of the institution fell sick, they were sent to and confined within the bimarkhana until (and if) they got better. Even though the ailing women in the bimarkhana were treated, they lived a lonely life; especially the older women who were taken there to die received no visitors or company apart from the slave girls. If they were one of the emperor’s favorites, he would maybe visit them a few times.
In the harem of other emperors, only about five percent of the female ‘staff’ was used for sexual pleasure, while the rest were female employees who were responsible for maintaining the Harems and tending to the female relatives of the emperor. Most of the officers were eunuchs so that the slave girls could not engage in sexual relations with them. There were also spies everywhere to prevent any kind of rebellion from within the institution. The emperor was the only male who could roam the Harem freely; strict pardah was to be observed by the girls with every other male.
The Harems were essentially organized as per the financial ability and status of every emperor. The one thing that was common was the overall structure of the harem. It was simply meant for the pleasure and convenience of the man (the emperor), not the woman.
References
http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/studies/PDF-FILES/Artical-3-Vol-12-1-2011.pdf
