Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c16.33

c16.33

During the very beginning of Muslim rule in India the domineering and intriguing figure of Shah Turkan attracts our attention. According to Minhaj Siraj, the author of the contemporary chronicle *Tabqat-i-Nasiri*, Shah Turkan was a Turkish hand-maid, and the head [woman] of all the Sultan's (Iltutmishs) *haram*.⁵³ She manipulated to prefix the title of Khudawand-i-Jahan to her name and rise to the position of the greatest [of the ladies] of the sublime *haram*, and her place of residence was the royal palace.⁵⁴ She used to confer lavish presents upon the nobles of the court in order to win support for her son for the throne. She caused royal orders and decrees to be issued in her name and tortured many favourite ladies of Iltutmish after his death.⁵⁵ For the later Mughal period, there is the classic example of Lal Kunwar and her lay-in-waiting Zohra, both concubines of the Mughal emperor Jahandar Shah (1712). Lal Kunwar was a vulgar, thoughtless, dancing girl from the streets.⁵⁶ She received a large allowance and imitated the style of Nur Jahan, the famous queen of Jahangir.⁵⁷ All the brothers and relatives of Lal Kunwar received *mansabs* of four or five thousand and were raised to dignity in their tribe.⁵⁸ Naturally, talented and learned men were driven away from the court. Zohra was a melon seller and a friend of Lal Kunwar. At the latters instance she was called into the harem by Jahandar Shah. She was highly ambitious and scheming like Lal Kunwar. She was, however, shown her place by the servants of Chin Qulich Khan, a retired general of Aurangzeb. The incident is interesting to narrate. Once Zohra was going on an elephant with her retinue, an insolent lot. Chin Qulich also happened to go that way and was met by her equippage. His men stepped aside, but Zohra called out: Thou, Chin Kalich Khan, must surely be the son of some blind father, not to move out of the road. These words unhinged the generals temper, who made a sign to his people to chastise that vulgar womans servants. After dealing with her servants and eunuchs, they dragged Zohra herself from the elephant to the ground, and gave her several cuffs and kicks.⁵⁹ Arrogant and crafty women like Shah Turkan, Lal Kunwar and Zohra were rather common in the Muslim harems. Nor uncommon were women who were not that uncultured although they were equally unscrupulous. Aurangzeb could imprison his brother Prince Murad through the active cooperation of one of his concubines,⁶⁰ and Udaipuri-Mahall, a Georgian slave girl and concubine of prince Dara Shukoh, willingly went over to Aurangzeb on the latters ascension to power.⁶¹