Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s4.t4.8

c5.s4.t4.8

Female slaves were of two kinds, those employed for domestic and menial work, and others who were bought for company and pleasure. The former, wanting in education and skill, and bought expressly for rough domestic work, were often subjected to all sorts of indignities⁵; the latter had a more honourable and sometimes even a dominating position in the household. Apart from the slave girls of India, female slaves were also imported from China and Turkistan.⁶ On the whole the selection of the female slaves was made somewhat on the lines humorously suggested by a Mughal noble : ‘Buy a Khurasani woman for her work, a Hindu woman for her capacity for nursing children, a Persian woman for the pleasures of her company, and a Transoxianian for thrashing her as a warning for the other three.¹