Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s5.22

c17.s5.22

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