Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s5.9

c17.s5.9

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.