The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c9.s2.3

c9.s2.3

For the security and supervision of these hundreds of ladies, dozens and dozens of maids and eunuchs were required. The harem paraphernalia cost tons of money. Furthermore, it was a fashion for the Umara to visit the houses of dancing girls, take them or call them to their own mansions and pay them handsomely.²⁸ Throughout the medieval times the nobility indulged in the expensive hobbies of women, wine, song and drugs. Chess and *chausar* they played at home; big game shooting, taming and flying birds, playing chaugan and practicing with swords were their outdoor recreations. Dozens of falconers, pigeon-boys and attendants were employed to keep their birds and horses in trim.²⁹ The nobles, their ladies, and even their slave-girls dressed in the best of cotton fineries and richest embroidered silks. Their food was rich and full of delicacies.³⁰ Their boon companions partook of it freely.³¹ Most of the nobles were soaked in wine and sunk in debauch but they were also patrons of art and poetry. Since I have made a comprehensive study of the luxurious life of the medieval Muslim nobility in my monograph entitled *The Mughal Harem*, I shall refrain from repeating here what I have already stated therein in detail except reproducing one paragraph from the book. The large establishment of wives and servants rendered the nobles immobile. No Indian scholars, engineers or travellers went abroad to learn the skills the Europeans were developing in their countries. While people from Europe were frequently coming to Hindustan, no Indian nobleman could go to the West because he could not live without his harem and he could not take with him his cumbersome harem to countries situated so far away. Europe at this time was forging ahead in science and technology through its Industrial Revolution, but the Mughal elites kept themselves insulated from this great stride because of inertia. Consequently, the country was pulled back from marching with progress, a deficiency which has not been able to be made up until now.³²