The Mughal harem

The Mughal harem

Pages: 224 (Color Illus: 8, Black & White Illus: 17)

The Mughal Harem
The Mughal Harem is a maiden attempt at research in the hitherto over-looked area of social history of medieval India. For, in contrast to the history of the kings and nobles, which has been the main sphere of study of medievalists, the present work deals with the life of the ladies of Mughal royalty and nobility cloistered in their harems.
The Mughal harem was a queer establishment wherein mothers and aunts, sisters and cousins, wives and concubines, princesses and dancing-girls, all lived together as in a joint family. They all adorned themselves in pearls and fineries. Even maid-servents and dancing-girls dressed and looked like princesses. Love was the motto of all and in this eunuchs and slave-girls helped their patrons of both sexes.
The book attempts to recapitulate this day-to-day life of the ladies of the seraglio. Their tastes and temperaments, their riches, their buildings, their gardens and garden parties, their hobbies and pastimes, and how they lived and loved, enjoyed and suffered have been brought out in proper perspective. This being a work of research, it is not a spicy record of sheer hot love. No attempt; has been made to romanticize things; still harem was Afterall harem - a place of beauty, love and romance and philanderings and love affairs of kings and nobles, princes and princesses, Begums and eunuchs - and these have been freely narrated. The romances of the spinster princesses and their unrequited love have been discussed without inhibition. The use of intoxicants in the harem led to excitement and passion and resulted in jealousies, tensions, vilification and vengeance. Gossipping and whispering were the harem's all time preoccupations. The women of the seraglio were not independent personalities and their activities were constantly under surveillance. This added to the mysteries of stolen pleasures.
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Country USA
Manufacturer Aditya Prakashan
Binding Hardcover
EANs 9788185179032
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Aditya Prakashan
Binding	Hardcover
EANs	9788185179032
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

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