Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s2.t1.18

c5.s2.t1.18

It may be said in this connection that the inmates of a royal *haram* included other female persons besides the wives and concubines of a Sultan, for instance, the mother, the sisters and daughters, in fact all female relations. The mother of a monarch in particular (called *Ma-ji* among the Rajputs) was in some respects a person even more exalted than the chief wife of the Sultan. The Persian tradition and the Rajput custom had both allowed to the mother of the reigning prince a more domineering authority than she had ever exercised as a queen consort.¹