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WOMEN IN MUGHAL INDIA
India’s history goes back to at least 2500 B.C.E. when the Ancient Indus Valley
Civilization began along the Indus River. It is difficult to reconstruct this history as there
are no written records although they had seals that were probably used to designate
ownership for commercial purposes. We have artifacts from the major cities Mohenjo-
Daro, Harappan, and Lothal that give us some clues that women were held in high
esteem. Small statues of goddess figures appear, and in these regions today crafts people
are still making similar models. This Indus Valley Civilization was well organized with
pre-planned streets, homes, and buildings all using the same size brick. They had wells,
indoor toilets, and running water, all signs of a sophisticated society. There is evidence
that some of the beginnings of Hinduism began during this time. For instance, the
lingam of the god Shiva was a sacred symbol rising out of the ground and water.
Probably one of the goddess figures was a mother goddess, but that is not known for
sure. Due to weather or other natural disasters, the Indus River changed course. The
Aryans, nomadic tribesmen came into India via the Hindu Kush area, and later when they
achieved writing they made the claim that they conquered the ancient civilization.
Unfortunately, for them and India, nothing of their early writings survive until about the
third century B.C.E. when their emperor Ashoka erected huge pillars with the three-sided
lion figure (India’s symbol today) that were inscribed with his edicts. At this time too,
we finally have written manuscripts of the famous Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the
Ramayana. Later the sacred Vedas, and Upanishads, were added that further delineated
Hinduism, but these too saw subtle negative changes for women. The Laws of Manu

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written earlier but utilized through much of India’s history has specific stipulations
addressing women’s restrictions and allowances. Please see the lecture on “Women in
Ancient India.” The avatars that developed during these ancient and early medieval
times, are still worshipped today in India, but as a mainly Hindu country, individuality of
religious beliefs is allowed. On the façade on their Hindu temples, all the avatars are
carved, while inside are the various individual shrines to these avatars. As Hinduism has
the belief that by following the necessary tenets, all people will eventually unite with the
universal soul or Brahman in nirvana. Thus we who might perceive these as deities are
actually reincarnated avatars of this universal soul, but they are treated as deities.
Families and individuals have their favorites, and massive festivals are held around India
to propreciate these figures. Kali, for whom we get the name of the city Calcutta, is both
a destroyed and creator, who accidentally killed her husband Shiva. Kali is also an avatar
for Parvati, who was married to Shiva too. Thus, throughout Indian history, both
genders of avatars are consistently worshipped. The caste system probably started with
the arrival of the Aryans, as the color of the skin denoted your status. Starting with four
castes, the system ultimately developed into hundreds of castes. While outlawed today,
the structure of society especially in the villages still follows the caste system. Individuals
must do their duty or dharma, and good or bad karma will ensue. When a person dies,
their soul is reincarnated either into a higher or lower caste depending on their actions
in their previous world. Being born a woman eventually was considered a punishment
for men, and society moved to a more misogynistic structure.

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Buddhism developed in India around 480 B.C.E., but never achieved the following
that it did when Buddhism was introduced to China, where Buddha became a god, and
had bodhisattvas as helpers for people to achieve nirvana. Virtually the last Mauryan
Emperor, Ashoka, converted to Buddhism to assuage his guilt feelings for killing many
fellow Indians in order to win some coveted land. He practiced religious toleration,
though; the majority of the Indian people did not convert to Buddhism.
The next major historical period in Indian History was the invasion of the Muslims
from Persia, eventually forming the Delhi Sultanate, and then several hundred years later
another invasion occurred from the North, when the Mongols and other Central Asian
tribes invaded India. From these various invasions (including descentants of Genghis
Khan and Tamerlane) the Mughal Empire was created in India where Muslim emperors
ruled a Hindu country that was multi-cultural of Persian, Muslim, Mongol, and Indian
influences. The number of practicing Muslims always was small for Hinduism was still
the preference for the majority of the sub-continent.
Muslim aristocratic women during the Mughal Dynasty that we know of were
talented and capable royal women that achieved much during their lives. The greatest
Mughal Emperor was Akbar (1545-1605), and it is during his time and later that our
knowledge of women’s contributions is manifested. As a Sufi Muslim, Akbar practiced
religious toleration, and he refused to accept the absolute primacy of Islam, but did
model his court on Persian ideas of Pomp and glitter, due to Persian Sufism he adopted.
He was a great patron of the arts even images of human beings as he said that he could

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not believe God, the giver of life would be repelled by the human beauty portrayed in
works of true art. These paintings give us many images of women at this time. The
chief industries under Akbar employed many women in India, especially in the textile
production, which was the major industry. Indian cotton goods clothed most of Africa
and Asia. Indigo dye and opium were other important Mughal exports.
Jahangir, Akbar’s son was the next ruler, but he rebelled against his father, and
likely had him poisoned. Jahangir’s name means world-seizer. It is his wife Nur Jahan
that became the de facto ruler of India intermittently between 1611-1627. Nur Jahan’s first
husband was probably killed at Jahangir’s instigation for as a widow she was brought to
court as a lady-in-waiting to Salim (the widow of the previous ruler Akbar). Jahangir
married her four years later, giving her the name Nur Mahal, which means light of the
palace.1 She was thirty-four at the time of the wedding. She soon gave her brother a
high-ranking position, second only to that given to her father, who was promoted to chief
minister. Nur Jahan soon made herself indispensable to the dependent alcoholic and
drug addict husband/emperor. It was Nur Jahan that made the decisions and others
carried them out since as a Muslim woman she was to be hidden or in purdah. The
British Ambassador Sir Thomas Roe wrote home to the English monarch that Nur Jahan
governed Jahangir and wound him up at her pleasure. During the final five years of Nur
Jahan’s rule and life she basically ruled without her relatives who were occupied
elsewhere, and her husband was too ill for governing. During this time she built the
“Baby Taj”, a mortuary tomb for her parents, siblings, and later for her deceased
1 Her originally Persian name was Mehr-on-Nes or Mehrunissa who was born in 1577

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husband. There is no evidence that Nur Jahan ever broke purdah. She even hunted
tigers from the closed howdah on top of an elephant with only the barrel of her musket
exposed between the curtains. In 1626 she rode into battle in an elephant litter
dispensing her orders through her eunuch. She also carried on business of the realm,
specializing in indigo and the cloth trade. While trying to keep Shah Jahan from
becoming the next emperor after Jahangir died, she was not successful, but she accepted
retirement with a pension of 200,000 rupees a year, dying just under the age of seventy.
Perhaps her major legacy is the influence of Persian attitudes and culture on India. As
the noted Historian Wolpert wrote: “Love of silks and perfumes, the custom of draping
both male and female figures with jewels, diaphanous veils, and peacock feathers, and the
delight in song and dance, intoxicating drink, and the pleasures of the harem are
habits…as deeply rooted in India as in Persia.”
Jahangir’s son by another woman other than Nur Jahan, Shah Jahan became the
next ruler. He had hundreds of wives in his harem, but his favorite wife was Mumtaz
Mahal, the niece of Nur Jahan. She died in childbirth delivering his fourteen child, and
built the famous Taj Mahal as a memorial and burial site for her. Apparently she had
requested such an idea, referring to a better structure than her aunt had built.
Jahanara Begum, 1614-81, was the eldest daughter of the Emperor Shah Jahan.2 A
Sufi Muslim too like her ancestors, she was also influential in politics. After the death of
her mother, Mumtaz, she enjoyed the status of first lady of the realm. She was given the
port of Surat (the major port on the west of India), and revenues from its maritime trade
2 Traditionally the title Begum was conferred upon women of royal or aristocratic rank, and was often used to
mean Queen.

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made her extremely wealthy. She paid for the construction of the famous Jama Masjid
Mosque in Agra in 1638 besides building other mosques and public buildings. She cared
for her father while he was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb for eight years, and she was
considered a saint of deep faith with mystical understanding, qualities she used to
comfort her father in the last years of his life. Zebunnisa (1638-1702), was the daughter
of Aurangzeb, and remained unmarried. She was a poet, a scholar of Arabic and Persian,
a hafiza of the Qur’an, and an excellent calligraphist.3 Zebunnisa was an active patron of
learning, and her court was a literary academy crowded with renowned scholars and
poets of the time. Her Persian poems frequently include the motif of the soul as a
captive or caged bird. She was ultimately imprisoned by her father for plotting against
him with her brother.
Aside from the famous women mentioned above, information on women in India
is hard to find. For the majority of women their roles were more traditional, but there is
evidence that women had the right to attend the court, but seated behind a screen while
the emperor did court business. Since these women could see the reactions of
petitioners when the men could not, their opinions often held weight. Women also had
diplomatic roles when they were sent on missions to influence women in other courts or
when they represented the court at numerous public events and festivals.
At court women lived in separate quarters called the harem or zenana including
the emperor and his wives, concubines, and children. These wives and concubines were
from various ethnic and religious cultures, resulting from his marrying to cement political
3 A person who has memorized the Qur’an

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alliances. Included in this group were the emperors widowed mother, his late father’s
other wives, his daughters, and sisters. This group were not allowed to marry to lessen
the number of male contenders to the throne. Both slaves and servants who served the
royal family lived here too. As with other Muslim Empires, there were professional
female dancers, peddlers, scribes, and artisans all there to administer and entertain the
approximately five thousand women. Each royal woman has her own apartment and
servants. One of the major tasks was to keep these women happy by providing
entertainment. Considerable wealth was kept here too including the imperial seal under
the protection of the emperor’s primary wife or mother. The seal was the harem’s most
valuable item. Its presence meant that every state document had to be taken to the
women’s quarters to be authenticated. A trained corps of female guards stood inside its
walls. Since Islam emphasized female literacy some of the women were well-educated,
knew how to read the Qur’an, read, write and recite poetry, paint, play musical
instruments, write beautiful calligraphy, and converse in a variety of languages.
Gulbadan Begam, Princess “Rose Body”, wrote in the 1580’s The History of Humayun an
account of the reign of her father the Emperor Babur and brother Humayun. This work
gives us one of the few glimpses we have of imperial women’s lives. Court women
became patrons of the arts, literature, and architecture. In their names there was a wide
variety of construction including ornamental mansions, tombs, bazaars, caravansaries,
bathhouses, water ways, and gardens. How were these women able to afford this? From
their own considerable wealth as royal mothers, wives, and daughters they received
generous stipends as well as periodic gifts from the emperor. Also money came from

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their share of looted treasuries of conquered rajas, and from the natural resources in
India of precious and semi precious gem stones. They also got gifts from people who
sought their influence at court such as traders, nobles, and family members. They also
received revenue from gifts of land grants. Muslim women were also allowed to keep
whatever they owned at the time of their marriage, and they could spend it as they
wanted to. Records show women used their own monies to hold festivals, buy luxuries
for themselves, and invest in both domestic and international trading ventures. Women
also gave contributions to benevolent groups, female orphans for their dowries, and to
pious women or saints. In India female saints were common. Most all the women in
court wore on their right thumb a ring with a tiny mirror to admire themselves.
Paintings of these times show activities of women outside of the harem. Women
were enjoying hunting on horseback, playing polo, traveling in palanquins (covered
litters) slung between camels or elephants. Emperors were always on the move, and they
usually brought whole courts with them, and even to some military campaigns. One
foreign writer wrote of the women of Akbar’s court: “The queens ride on female
elephants, hidden from view in gaily decorated howdahs. They are guarded and escorted
by five hundred old men of very dignified and venerable appearance. Great care is taken
to drive away to a great distance all who are found in the line of the Queen’s mark.
Also, women had more opportunities to go on pilgrimages to Mecca than men.
Women Sufi poets were part of a widespread emancipation movement in India
and West Asia that started more than a thousand years ago, and lasted until the
nineteenth century. Interestingly, these poets fought for women’s rights at a time when

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that concept was still unformulated. This movement saw the emergence of women saints
on an unprecedented scale, and was one of the most significant characteristics of the
medieval age in West Asia and South Asia. Mystic women poets subverted conventional
notions of gendered behavior, helping women to defy stereotypes, and break the chains of
tradition and orthodoxy, which sought to control their sexuality. In the spiritual sphere
of Sufism, physical distinction between male and female was often completely overlooked
and the two were fused and identified. Many of the saints believed that all creation,
being the product of the supreme creative power was feminine. Wedlock, and specifically
the husband, often appears in the works of Sufi women poets as an impediment to the
quest for truth, and is perceived not as a temptation but as an obstruction. This is
definitely not keeping with the specific Laws of Manu, where you are to treat your
husband as a “god”, as you were probably married to him in a prior life. One of the
famous Sufi women was Mira that legend has it that she remained a virgin even though
married, considering herself wedded to Krishna.