Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s5: Position of Women

Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s5

Language: English

Position of Women

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No study of a society can be complete without a reference to the position of women in it. The position of women in a society has an importance of its own; it reflects the standard of its civilisation.

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Hindu law provides a fair if not a high position to women in society. Manū has said, "where women are not honoured, there cannot be a proper home".⁵⁴ Perhaps because of a woman's physical disabilities and old unwritten but practical custom, she was accorded a status of dependence on man.⁵⁵ Though there was no free mixing of sexes or universal education among women in Ancient India, foreign writers were struck by the freedom Indian women enjoyed. They freely participated in Yagyas, Court-ceremonial, fairs and even fought in battles.⁵⁶ Women could not only freely take to the study of art and literature, but were encouraged and recommended to do so.⁵⁷ The two centuries preceding the Muslim conquest saw poetesses like Indulēkhā, Mārulā, Morikā, Vijjikā, Shilā, Subhadrā, Padmashrī and Lakshmī.⁵⁸ Besides there were painters, dancers, mathematicians, etc. among women of high families.⁵⁹

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⁵⁴ *Manusmriti*, Chapter, III, 55-60.

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⁵⁵ *Ibid.*, Chapter IX, 327-28; *Yagyavalka Smriti*, 37. Shams Sirāj 'Afīf, who cites from the Qurān also to emphasise the dependence of girls, adds, دختران بغایت ضعیف و دائم شکسته خاطر اند و محکوم غیر نے (Daughters are very weak, always dejected and subordinate to others). T.F.S. (A), 351.

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⁵⁶ Huien Tsang as quoted in G.S. Ojha, *Madhya Kālīn Bharatīya Sanskriti*, 66. Abu Zaid, E and D, I; Al Idrisi E and D, I, 77-78.

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⁵⁷ Cf. the views of Rajshekhara. Nagri Pracharini Sabha Bulletin (Hindi), New Edition, Part II, 80-85.

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⁵⁸ Ojha, *op. cit.*, 65.

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⁵⁹ *Ibid.*, 65.

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With the Muslim conquest the position of Indian women suffered a set-back. After the fall of every city, and sometimes even in times of peace, women suffered every kind of privation. Historians like Ziyauddīn Baranī and Shams Sirāj 'Afīf hint at it,⁶⁰ while Ibn Battūta's narrative makes revolting reading.⁶¹ As a bulwark against these humiliations Jauhar and Satī, already prevalent in Hindu society, began to be practised on a large scale in times of war. In times of peace Parda (seclusion) and child-marriage were considered to be good safeguards. The custom of *ghūnghat* among Hindus is described by Vidyāpatī and Malik Muhammad Jaisī,⁶² but the "more developed form of Parda, with its elaborate code of rules, came into existence almost from the beginning of the Muslim rule in Hindustan".⁶³ Life of women was restricted in Muslim society; Fīrōz Tughlaq and Sikandar Lodī forbade the pilgrimage of women to the tomb of saints.

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⁶⁰ T.F.S. (B), 384; T.F.S. (A), 36-39.

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⁶¹ I.B., 63, 123.

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⁶² *Padāvali Bangya of Vidyapati*, Trs. Coomarswami and Arun Sen, London, 1915, lix. Also Macauliffe, VI, 347.

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⁶³ Ashraf, 245.

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A word may here be said about the important though cruel customs of Satī and Jauhar prevailing in medieval times. With the loss of power and constant danger of attack, the customs of Satī and Jauhar were gaining strong roots not only among the Kshatriyas, but among other people also. However, the most significant fact about these customs is that except perhaps by Muhammad Tughlaq, no serious attempt was made to put a stop to such an inhuman system of self-immolation. On the other hand it was universally admired. Even an extremely cultured man like Amīr Khusru exclaimed: "See how noble it is".⁶⁴ Ibn Battūta witnessed the Satī on many occasions and gives many unhappy details.⁶⁵ Jauhar was prevalent both in the north and the south.⁶⁶ During Tīmūr's invasion Muslim women also performed Jauhar when Bhatnīr was sacked.⁶⁷

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⁶⁴ Islamic Culture, XXX, 1945, 4-5. The following couplet of Khusru is worth reproducing. در محبت چون زن هندی کس پروانه نیست سوختن در شمع مرده کار هر پروانه نیست

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⁶⁵ I.B., 21, 22, 109.

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⁶⁶ *Ibid.*, 96.

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⁶⁷ Z.N., II, 74-75. Also M.T., E and D, III, 426.

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Whatever may be said in favour or otherwise of the customs of Satī and Jauhar, a society in which female infanticide, child-marriage, Parda, Jauhar and Satī existed side by side, was not a happy one for women. It is not surprising therefore that the birth of a female child was felt like the advent of a calamity, and Amīr Khusru's lament over the birth of a daughter and his many pieces of advice to her in his poem *Lailā Majnū*, make interesting reading.⁶⁸ In *Afzalul Favaid* Nizāmuddīn Auliyā has been cited as saying: "It would be the day of Resurrection (Qiāmat) when women will ride horses or walk about in the streets . . . . Great harm would be done when women would get freedom".⁶⁹

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⁶⁸ Shibli Naumani, *Shairul 'Ajam*, II, 123.

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⁶⁹ *Afzalul Favaid*, 78-79.

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But conditions could not have been the same everywhere and at all times. In the fifteenth century Sultanate there were many Muslim women like Bībī Matto, Ni'āmat Khātūn, Shams Khatūn, Bībī Rājī and Bībī Khunza, who were accomplished and wielded influence at the court and in the country's life. In the south or in Gujarat where Muslim conquest was belated or incomplete, none of the above customs existed and women continued to enjoy a fairly good position in society.⁷⁰ The position of Hindu women was equally good. The chronicles write about the weakening of the Sultanate and the emergence of many strong Hindu States in northern India during the period under study. They do not mention many Jauhars or forced matrimonial alliances. On the other hand there is mention of many talented Hindu women interested in art, philosophy and religion in the fifteenth century.⁷¹ To the Hindu woman who did not stray away from the standards laid down by Manū, her husband was her lord, her master and her god, and many stories are told of the conjugal devotion of Hindu women in the literature of the period under review.⁷²

Cites (2)

Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
Yājñavalkyasmṛti — Yājñavalkya, Sanskrit