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Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7: Part III: Social Condition

Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7

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English

Contents

Part III: Social Condition

Domestic Life

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1. *The Joint Family.*—In rural countries, the family is the major institution of domestic life; it ranks even above the church and the state. The Indians in this respect are still a ‘family community’. For an Indian peasant his family has a special economic significance. Apart from serving as a home for his wife and his numerous children, his aged parents and his other relations, his family is an indispensable factor in his farm economy. Every single member of his family contributes in some measure to the process of agricultural production. We have dealt with this subject in an earlier chapter. The family tradition in Hindustan has been a primary factor in carrying on the work of organized social life almost since the dawn of history. In course of time it has developed into what is commonly known as the Joint Hindu Family.¹ To describe its broad features, there is no individual property within the family, but only a right of maintenance from the coparcenary property which extends to all the male members of the family, their wives and children.² On marriage, the daughter becomes a member of her husband’s family. If a male is adopted into the family, which is permissible and even encouraged under certain conditions, it has the effect ‘of transferring the adopted boy from his natural family into the adoptive family’. And while he acquires all the rights of a son in the new family, he renounces all his rights in his natural family, including the right of claiming any share in the estate of his natural father or other natural relations or any share in the coparcenary property of his natural family.³ This gives a fairly accurate view of a Hindu family of Hindustan to-day, as probably it does of the past. The development of the joint family follows naturally from the conditions of life and production in an Indian village.¹ The Muslims brought with them their different laws of inheritance and divorce and an entirely different conception of family life.

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¹ Compare Mulla, Hindu Law, 15, ‘The Joint and undivided Hindu family is the normal condition of Hindu society. An undivided Hindu family is ordinarily joint, not only in estate, but in food and worship. The joint family system comes first in historical order. The law of inheritance is of later growth.’

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² *Ibid.*, 428.

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³ *Ibid.*, 398.

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¹ Compare the Russian parallel of *verv* or joint family :—‘...a Verv possessing its own territorial possession, exactly corresponds to a house-community, in which several persons, living under the same roof and owning land in common, are jointly answerable for the crimes and misdemeanours committed within the limits of their possession’ Kovalevsky, 51.

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In one respect Hindu and Muslim society agree, that is in giving a distinct preference to a male over a female. A son is always preferred to a daughter, and among the sons, a preference goes to the first-born.² Another common feature of both social systems is a certain love and regard for parents which is reciprocal; for the parents in their turn are very solicitous and unduly affectionate.³ On the whole, the Indian family tradition develops the feeling of mutual dependence and joint relationship to a far larger extent than the small families of western countries. Possessing, as they do, no other but common property, and have an equal share in all the material enjoyments of fortune, the members of a joint family escape the disheartening influence of economic competition. The conditions of their life necessarily develop among them all the consciousness of mutual responsibility and the conviction that without one another they cannot overcome the dangers and difficulties of life.⁴ On the other hand the joint family militates against the development of individuality. It curbs the spirit of enterprise and the feeling of self-reliance, so essential for the industrial progress of a country in modern times.¹

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² The one supreme aim of Hindu life is the procreation of a male who alone is spiritually qualified to minister to his cares in the next world and save him from hell. The Qur’an lays down (*vide* Holy Qur’an, 4 : 34) that ‘Men are the maintainers of women’, etc. (Rodwell, Qur’an, 415 : ‘Men are superior to women on account of the qualities which God has gifted the one above the other’.) The eldest male member of the Hindu family is the *Karta* or the manager of the joint property. The *Kanwar* or the eldest son of a Rajput chief usually inherits the family distinctions. In this connection it may be remembered that on the death of Miya Hasan, the father of Sher Khan, one of his younger half-brothers named Sulaiman put on the headdress of the deceased, whereupon one of his cousins snatched it from his head, warning him that his relations would not tolerate this appropriation of the privilege of the eldest son of a family.

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³ For the love of mother and father compare M.A., 119-21, the sentiments of Nanak, Macauliffe, I, 97-8.

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⁴ Compare the estimate of Kovalevsky on the Russian Joint Family, 60.

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¹ Compare a modern criticism of the institution, K. M. Pannikar, ‘Joint family and social progress’. Visva-Bharati, April, 1925. Also Kabir’s opposition to it for different reasons. Shah, 89-90.

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2. *The Position of Woman.*—The functions and the position of a woman were distinctly subordinate and in the long run came to be understood as the service of the male and dependence upon him in every stage of life. As a daughter, a woman lived under the wardship of her father, as a wife under the tutelage of her husband, and as a widow (that is, if she was permitted to survive her husband) under the care of her eldest son.² In a word her life was a state of perpetual wardship, and the social laws and customs stamped her with a sort of mental deficiency. When she was born, a girl appeared as an intruder on the scene, for, speaking from the religious view-point of the Hindus, the luckless daughter might not ‘expiate the guilt fathers piled up in forgotten hours’. ³ She was therefore killed among some tribes even when in infancy.⁴ If she was permitted to live she was given away to a husband in an indissoluble tie. If she died in pregnancy, she sometimes turned into the most dreaded of evil spirits, known as the *churail*, and haunted the neighbourhood. Death or self-immolation alone consigned her to oblivion. Thus, from her birth to her death, the position of a woman was most unpleasant. Religion and other ameliorating spiritual movements gave her all the consolation they could in reconciling her to her fate; but they too carefully excluded her from every position of power, even from a place in their inner hierarchy.⁵

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² Compare Mulla, Hindu Law, 371, for the position of a wife in Hindu system of marriage. Divorce is unknown to the general Hindu law, for a Hindu marriage is an indissoluble tie between the husband and the wife.

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³ Compare Lalla, Temple 230; compare Tod, II, 739-40 for female infanticide among the Rajputs.

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⁴ Compare, Crooke, Popular Religion, 194.

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⁵ Compare the interesting case of Mira Bai who was not allowed by the Gosain of Brindaban to enter his presence. *Vide* Macauliffe VI, 353. Other references later in connection with *Sati*.

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The main function of a woman, according to Hindu ideas, was to bring forth a male, and if she happened to give birth to a son, people honoured and looked after her. I have spoken of the love of children for parents. This was very real and a great consolation to the Indian mother. In other respects, the Indian woman was strictly confined to home and to domestic cares. All her dreams were concentrated on proving herself a devoted wife to her husband and in trying to please him.¹ The male, on the other hand, began to look upon her as a person of feeble brain and not to be trusted too far or in things that matter. He welcomed and appreciated her help in domestic affairs. There may have been a few exceptional women, but on the whole this estimate of the position of women holds good for Hindu society of the times.²

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¹ Compare M.A., 192, 117, for her function of child-bearing and the respect paid to her.

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² Compare an estimate of women in P., 256; P.B. for a characteristic confession of Radha about her own sex. ‘I, a weak girl of scanty wisdom’.

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The Muslim tradition with regard to woman varied according to the country. The Turks in general gave their women a fair measure of freedom.³ The Persian woman was improving her position as compared with her Indian sister.⁴ In Hindustan, the Muslims followed the older traditions of the ancient Persians, which put the woman in an inferior position.⁵ With the growth of general sensuality and sexual indulgence, an unhealthy attitude developed on all sides. People began to put a very exaggerated value on the chastity of woman, exactly in the same measure as they encouraged its absence among men.¹

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³ Compare an estimate of Tod about Rajput women, Vol. II, 744 :— ‘To the fair of other lands the fate of the Rajputni must appear one of appalling hardship. In each stage of life death is ready to claim her; by the poppy at its dawn; by the flames in riper years; while the safety of the interval depending on the uncertainty of war, at no period is her existence worth a twelve-months’ purchase’. Compare also ibid., I, 540 for the tragedy of Krishna Kunwari where in one place the princess summarizes the feminine position as follows : ‘We are marked out for sacrifice from our birth; we scarcely enter the world but to be sent out again; let me thank my father that I have lived so long...’ Also Pero Tefur, 90 for an opinion and illustration. Compare K.R., 200-201 for Ibn Batuta’s observations on the position of women among Turks.

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⁴ Compare, ibid., K.R., I, 121, how ladies of Shiraz met thrice a week to listen to the preacher in the principal mosque. Ibn Batuta thinks he never saw a greater assembly of women; compare Bretschneider, II, 287-8 for the women of Herat who observed Pardah but were otherwise free. Similar estimate of Ibn Batuta about women in Medina and in other places.

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⁵ Compare Rawlinson, Five etc., III, 222 on ancient Persia. ‘It is particularly noticeable in the Persian sculptures and inscriptions that they carry to excess the reserve which Orientals have always maintained with regard to women. The inscriptions are wholly devoid of all references to the softer sex and the sculptures give us no representation of the female’ Compare A., 352 for the popular Persian tradition as reported in the name of Firdausi the classical Persian poet, that woman and dragon are dangerous creatures fit only to be destroyed. So that if woman could not find her way to the grave-yard, she was to be strictly confined to the four walls of a house. Compare J.H. (f. 321) for a whole chapter illustrating the vices of the female sex. She was not only weak mentally but positively wicked by nature (vide B., 245; A., 254). Compare A.H., 67 for practical wisdom. A wife was not to be trusted in matter of consequence; and if it was unavoidable to consult her, the best course was to act contrary to her advice. Compare

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¹ For sensuality see chapter on ‘Manners’. Here it will suffice to give a characteristic illustration. An extremely charming girl was once captured by the soldiers of Sher Shah and presented to him. ‘Take away this personification of evil’, cried the monarch in horror, ‘and send her to the camp of my enemy, Humayun’. This was done. Then Sher Shah explained to his soldiers that if he kept such a pretty damsel with him he could do nothing except debauch himself, which could only ruin his political fortune. It is reported that when the girl was taken to Humayun, the Sultan was so much occupied with her and became so utterly indiffernt to military operations that it led to his defeat by the wily Sher Shah and cost him his throne (vide T.D., 75). For insistence on female chastity, compare the observations of Amir Khusrau which may be summarized as follows. A girl who had any reflections cast on her chastity could never expect to find any respectable person to marry her, even though the accusations were proved to be absolutely groundless. The poet therefore advises every honest girl to die rather than submit to the amours of a lover not her husband (vide M.A., 198). For a contrast compare the women of the Deccan. Barbosa II, 54 ibid., 216 for Devadasis.

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These general facts will help to elucidate the background of the culture and tradition of women in Hindustan. On the whole the women suffered from lack of association with men. As a daughter, the only associates of a girl were her girl playmates and her brother from among boys.² When she was married and became a wife, she lived in the company of her husband; but the presence of members of the joint family and perhaps a few other co-wives, discouraged the development of healthy love and feelings of companionship between the married couple. Once the personality of woman was suppressed, all chances of disagreement between the two sexes disappeared; the domestic life became happy and harmonious, and children were brought up with tenderness, care and love. People never failed to be courteous and chivalrous to a woman

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² Compare the characteristic utterance of Lalla, ‘Said I, no relation like a brother’. Temple, 232.

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T.S.S., 15 where the reader is advised not to let his wife know of his property and his valuables. Compare D.R., 121 for the only valuable quality of a woman, as the instrument of sexual satisfaction. However, this unhappy human failing did not please the ascetic, who insisted that females were born and meant for hell, males alone for heaven. (Vide T., 26b where comparative figures of population in hell and heaven are also given.) The mystics went further and determined the sex of the powers of Good and Evil, which were of course male and female respectively (vide S.S.S., 87-8).

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because of her helplessness and dependence on the male,¹ although it is doubtful if the same tenderness was shown in their dealings with domestic females and slaves.² In any case shedding of female blood was considered a heinous crime.³

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¹ Compare Tod, II, 711 for the deference and respect paid to a woman among the Rajputs; compare T.S.S., 37 for the chivalry of Sher Shah towards the ladies of the Mughal haram after the defeat of Humayun at Chausa.

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² Compare instances of ill-treatment of domestics in F.F., 170.

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³ Compare J.A.S.B., 1923, 279 for an interesting case of Firuz Tughluq who finds an excuse for invading the kingdom of Sultan Ilyas Shah of Bengal. According to him, among other crimes the latter was guilty of shedding female blood; whereas, as Firuz Tughluq piously postulates, `according to all creeds and usages, no woman, even an infidel, can be slain'.

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The intellectual culture of women varied according to class. In villages where a woman was part of rural economy, there was no room for cultural growth in the ordinary sense. We have pointed out earlier how in Bengal, women were debarred from taking part in certain processes of weaving, although such restrictions did not apply to domestic work. On the other hand, the poorer class of peasant women had unfortunately to be too much occupied with domestic and farm work and with children to find leisure for intellectual occupations or even recreation. Their mental culture thus did not proceed beyond a very backward stage, with which students of folk-lore are quite familiar.

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The upper classes lived a life of adventure and insecurity which stimulated the attainment of many arts and sciences.⁴ Dewalrani, Rupamati, Padumavat, and Mira Bai are good examples of Hindu culture. It is reported by Haji Dabir that one of the reasons why Muhammad Tughluq attacked the Qarajal hills (Kumaon) was the desire to possess the women of those parts, who were famous for their accomplishments.⁵ That Sultan Raziya could occupy the throne of Delhi proves that the Muslim aristocracy and royalty did not neglect to give their daughters an excellent education and training. Under the Mughals a healthier tradition came to prevail among the Indian aristocracy. We learn from Gulbadan Begum that the ladies of the royal *haram* of the Emperor Humayun used to mix freely with their male friends and visitors. They sometimes went out in male garments, played polo, and applied themselves to music. They were also well versed in the use of pellet bow and other practical arts.¹ Comparative freedom gave Mughal women a greater sense of their dignity and honour and the mothers of the famous Mughal emperors were as great in their own sphere as their sons were in theirs.² There is almost no information about women in the lower walks of life, but probably they approximated to the standards of women higher than themselves in status. We have already referred to the fact that some of the concubines were very talented and skilled.

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⁴ For the Ksatriha woman, the story of the love and adventures of Padumavat in Jaisi's famous book. Compare two instances of the courage and valour of Afghan women. On one occasion they successfully defenced the fort of Delhi in male costumes and faced constant showers of arrows from the enemy. They stubbornly resisted until their husbands and male relations came to the rescue. (Vide T.D., 9b for details). When the Niyazis were reduced to extremities in the Kashmir hills, their women folk girded themselves with bows and arrows, swords and lances and fought their enemies, the hill-men of Kashmir, until at last they were buried under the hail of stones that were showered on them from above. (Vide Mt., I, 388).

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⁵ Compare Z.W., III, 877.

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¹ Compare the account of Gulbadan.

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² Compare for instance the story of Hamida Banu, the mother of Akbar. It is reported that when Humayun offered to marry her, the lady refused to consider the proposal of a monarch or in fact, of anyone who occupied too elevated a social position for her own rank. 'I would rather marry a man' she said 'whose lapel I can hold than one whose pedestal I cannot reach', meaning that she insisted on equality of treatment. *Vide* G., 53.) For other examples, Nurjahan, Mumtaz Mahal, etc. are familiar.

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3. *The Pardah and Social Intercourse between the Sexes.*—We will refer now to the institution of *Pardah* in Hindustan and try to explain its development. The term '*Parda*' means a curtain or something to screen off; popularly, it applies to the 'veil'. When applied to a woman, the term signifies her seclusion in a separate building or in a segregated apartment or part of the building, otherwise called the *Haram*. The term *haram*, as we pointed out earlier, apart from being applied to the place of residence, also signifies the totality of the female inmates who are thus excluded from the view of the public. A girl begins to observe this seclusion when she approaches the age of puberty, or slightly, earlier, and she adheres to the customs throughout the prime of her life, until she is past the age of child-bearing. When she grows old, she need not continue this seclusion, but by that time, an age-long observance of this practice makes it more comfortable for her to live in the familiar surroundings of the *haram* than go out in public. It should be noted that the term *Haram*, during our period, includes the female slaves, the eunuchs and other attendants who were charged with the service of supervision of the female quarters.

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A number of contrary theories have been advanced as to the origin of *Pardah*. It is held by some that Muslims are responsible for the growth of the custom, and that before Islam, the women of Hindustan went about freely.¹ Others hold that the custom of veil (meaning Pardah) is of immemorial antiquity, and the theory has been supported by many illustrations from ancient Hindu social history.² These opinions are not quite so contrary as they appear at first sight. In fact, they are complementary. There was a partial exclusion of women in ancient India and the women observed a certain ‘veil’ (or what even now goes under the name of *ghoonghat*) but the present elaborate and institutionalised form of *Pardah* dates from the time of the Muslim rule. Many factors have made possible the development of the present form of the *Pardah*, the most important being the status of a woman in Hindu society, her functions and the ideas on sexual morality.³ We know that the exclusion of women from male society was general in Hindu India and the home was their sphere. Muslims brought very exaggerated ideas of class and racial exclusion and of aristocratic and royal behaviour, which took root in a congenial soil. To all these was added a practical reason—the growing sense of insecurity which attended the inroads of invaders, especially the Mongols, which lasted from more than two centuries.

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¹ Compare Miss Copper, 102.

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² Compare the opinion of Mr. Mehta in an article on Pardah in *The Leader*, Allahabad, May, 1928.

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³ Among other minor factors, compare the raids of the neighbouring Muslims on Hindu women. There are numerous examples, such as the romance of Rupamati and Baz Bahadur. See also Tod, II, 952. There was also the fear of the ruler or official demanding a girl for a wife as in the instance of Firuz Tughluq’s father. Compare also Tod, II, 966.

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Thus the position remained somewhat as follows during the Muslim period :—the vast masses of peasant women did not wear any shrouds or specially made veil and did not live in seclusion; they moved the lapel of their *sari* or other head-dress slightly over their face when they passed a stranger; their arms and their face were otherwise quite exposed. The Indian peasant of our age could not afford to marry many wives and his wife usually had no rivals in her home. She was physically well built and morally strong and gave no cause for jealousy or undue care on the part of her husband. In short, a monogamous, healthy and free life is the only life a peasant has learnt to live in Hindustan.¹ The higher classes observe Pardah as far as their means allow them, for the women can dispense with domestic work. Pardah is a measure of respectability among higher classes so that the higher the rank, ‘the smaller and higher are windows and the more secluded the women’. ² It is needless to add that conditions in India are swiftly changing under the force of new circumstances.

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¹ Compare the opinion of F.W. Thomas, 72. ‘The seclusion of women has been copied from the Muhammadans, but only by the richer classes. Among the poor it is quite unknown’. Compare Abu’l Fazl. A.A., II, 182. ‘Except when the wife is barren, the husband (among Hindu masses) does not marry again. Similarly a man does not marry when he is past fifty years of age’.

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² Compare Cooper, 121.

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We have numerous historical records of the Pardah during our period. The custom of ‘ghoonghat’ among Hindus and the lower classes of Muslims is described by Malik Muhammad Jaisi, Vidyapati, and others who write about the life of common people.³ The other, more developed form of Pardah with its elaborate code of rules, came into existence almost from the beginning of the Mulsim rule in Hindustan. Fakhr-ud-din Mubarak Shah relates the amusing story of the Hindu slave girl of Bahram Shah, the Ghaznawid ruler of Lahore. She fell ill and had to be treated by a physician who insisted on examining her person and feeling her pulse. This was reported to the monarch who was very much upset at the situation, and only after many convincing arguments did he agree to the physician’s viewing her face and arms ‘if they were not too far exposed to his view’.⁴ The example of Raziya is well-known and we mention it only to prove the existence of Pardah in the royal haram.⁵ Before the time of Firuz Shah Tughluq no attempt was made to enforce the pardah on the subjects of the kingdom. Firuz Shah was the first monarch to forbid the visit of Muslim women to mausoleums outside the city of Delhi, as, according to him, Muslim Law (Shari‘at) forbade such outdoor movements.¹ Nothing is said about the movement of women within the city; probably no restriction was put on them within these bounds. By this time the custom had spread into outlying provinces.² A responsible lady therefore went about in closed litters (dolis) and accompanied by male attendants.³ Poorer or non-aristocratic women probably went about ‘wrapped up in long garments covering their heads’ or what is now known as Burqa.⁴ Heavily covered and even locked litters were used by the ruling chiefs and the higher nobles⁵ for their women. The Hindu nobility was not slow in adopting the ways of the Muslim rulers.⁶

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³ Compare P.B., LIX; Macauliffe, VI, 347.

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⁴ A.H., 20.

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⁵ Compare the references in Tabaqat-i-Nasiri and Amir Khusrau about Sultana Raziya. Raverty 638, 643; D.R., 49. Raziya broke the custom when she laid aside her female dress and ‘issued from the seclusion’. Amir Khusrau does not altogether approve of her indelicate boldness.

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¹ Compare Firuz Shah’s own estimate of his measure F., 8-9

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² Compare A., 118 for the ‘veiled’ and ‘shrouded’ women inside the Ikdala Fort in Bengal wailing for mercy in front of the besieging army of Firuz Tughluq.

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³ Compare T.F., I, 422.

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⁴ Compare Barbosa, I, 114 for the women of the Gujarati Bania class.

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⁵ Compare the instances of slave girls of Tatar Khan being conveyed in closed and locked conveyances. Vide A., 393-4; Timur carrying about his haram in covered litters. Vide M., 289.

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⁶ For Hindu nobility, compare Sircar 190 for the wives of Raja Rudra Pratap of Puri (Orissa) coming to visit Chaitanya in ‘covered litters’.

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Mention may be made in this connection of the relation of Pardah to rules of marriage in Hindu and Muslim society. While a woman is guarded only in a general way against social intercourse with those men with whom matrimony is forbidden, greater force is used where the degree of relationship between the man and the woman can warrant a possibility of future matrimony. The original spirit of the Hindu and Muslim laws offers a wide field of choice and implies a very great degree of liberty in the relations of the parties to a marriage. A Hindu usually marries outside his own sub-caste but within the larger caste. So that while there is no liberty in social intercourse with the girls of the same sub-caste, there is greater liberty outside this limit. Intermarriage with other major castes is forbidden so strongly that it reacts rather favourably than otherwise on the relations of persons of different castes and sexes.

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Muslim marriage similarly was originally designed as essentially a civil contract between the parties to a marriage. Beyond a few specified degrees of prohibition, namely consanguinity and affinity, fosterage and some other special cases, the Qur’an gave perfect liberty in choosing a husband or a wife. Persons within these prohibited degrees are called *Mahram* or ‘Forbidden’ to one another. All others are called *Na-mahrams* or those with whom marriage is not forbidden. We have referred to what was known as the doctrine of *Kafu’* or ‘status’ which made it compulsory to marry persons of the same social status, even of the same school of religious thought. Similar ideas and customs soon began to circumscribe the sphere of liberty.

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We have referred to the power of the master of a slave which extended to the right of conferring a slave in marriage. These powers of the head of an establishment extended in varying degrees over its members. The patriarchal idea permeated the whole social system and superseded the original spirit of the laws and customs of matrimony. The master of a slave had his prototype in the Sultan in relation to his household (which we have described earlier) and in a father in relation to his children. Under these conditions entirely new meanings were given to the marriage laws. The original liberty of choice began to react in adverse proportion to the degree of relationship, until finally the social intercourse of the sexes came to be confined purely to those who were *Mahrams* or of the same *Gotra*, i.e. who could never marry under any circumstances.

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We consider this digression helpful in appreciating the exact character of the restrictions which were put on the intercourse of the two sexes. The underlying idea behind the institution of *Pardah* is the exclusion of *Na-mahrams* (or those who can legally marry) from each other. The fear always lurked in the minds of elderly patriarchs that people of opposite sexes outside the degrees of prohibition might go wrong through mutual contact, and it might further lead to their contracting a marriage tie independent of the will of the elders and perhaps prejudicial to the bigger interests of the joint family and the village community or the aristocratic family. We will speak of the morals and manners of the people of the age in a different place, but it may be noted here that much emphasis was put on the spotless moral character of a woman, and what was of still greater importance, the public reputation of a girl for chastity. This was identified in the long run with living in *Pardah* and inside the *haram*, that is, without any possibility of meeting a *Na-mahram*. Under the prevailing social conditions a husband was far from giving any liberty of social intercourse to his wife, and was most unlikely to marry one who had enjoyed such liberty, thereby damaging her moral reputation.¹

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¹ Compare for the object of protecting *Na-mahrams* from one another, the following. Muhammad Tughluq was very scrupulous when he entered his *haram* that his eye did not fall on a ‘Na-mahram’ (B. 506). Compare A., 393-4 that the slave-girls of Tatar Khan, a noble of Sultan Firuz Tughluq, were carried in closed and locked conveyances lest the eye of a *Na-mahram* fell on them’. Compare Z.M., 69 how Saint Hamadani fears the places where people of both sexes can meet together. Compare M.A., 195 for an advice of Amir Khusrau who argues as follows. If a woman does not want to expose herself to the criticism of people she had better abstain from the company of a *Na-mahram*. If she wanted to be perfectly free from any suspicion or criticism, she had better observe *Pardah*. In another place, he concludes that female chastity can only exist with a total absence of relations with the outer world. (*Vide* I.K., II, 317). Compare the remarks of Barbosa on the jealousy of Muslim husbands, Vol. I, 121.

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No attempts were made at reforming the *Pardah* until the close of the period, under the force of new religious movements. Some coastal towns in Gujarat were not affected by this popular custom and in any case not to the same degree as the inland towns. This healthy influence was obviously due to contact with foreign people through international commerce.²

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² Compare the protest of Saint Pipa (born 1425 A.D.) against the veiling of wives of a certain Raja of Toda (on the Indian frontier) named Sur Sen when they visited the saint (*Vide* Macauliffe, VI, 347). Compare for the comparative freedom of social intercourse in Gujarat, the account of Barbosa. In one place he says that the women of Rander went about during the day doing all their indoor and outdoor business ‘with their faces uncovered as among Europeans’. In Khambayat he finds that though the women observed *Pardah* they frequently visited their friends and acquaintances in luxurious coaches and were given ample freedom of social intercourse within the limits of the *Pardah*. (*Vide* Barbosa, II, 148, 141).

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4. *Domestic Events.*—The most conspicuous events of domestic life, particularly in a rural community, were naturally the various stages of growth in the life of a person, namely birth, adolescence, puberty, and death, together with the various customs elaborated around them. All these customs had been elaborated with scrupulous regard to every detail. Religious emotion found its best expression in them. Society even judged of the respectability of a person by the amount of care and attention he gave to the fulfilment of these social and religious rites.

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To begin with : the birth of a child in the family was an event of great importance. Wise and sophisticated persons may have given greater importance to the mysteries of death and the next life, but for healthier minds a new arrival in this world alone deserved to be celebrated.¹ A number of tiny cradles were usually prepared in advance to receive the small guest.² If it was a male child there was a great stir in a Hindu home. The father rushed to wash himself with fresh water and to offer prayers to the spirits of his forefathers and the guardian deities of the family. After that he took out a good ring, dipped it in butter and honey, and put it in the mouth of the infant.³ The all-wise Pandit was, meanwhile, recording the hour and other details about the birth of the child with a view to cast a horoscope (Janmapatra). In case he forgot to record the precise moment of birth, he carefully scrutinised the body-marks of the child to infer the particular stellar conjunction (lagan) under which it was born.⁴ After these preliminaries were finished, rejoicings and festivities started, the women of course leading them. An offer (nisar, utara) was made for the health of the infant, and handsome gifts were distributed among all and sundry, rich and poor, nobles and commoners.⁵ After the period of ceremonial impurity (sotak) was over among the Muslims, the rite of Aqiqah or sacrifice was performed.⁶

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¹ Compare the view of Akbar M.T., II, 305-306.

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² Compare the description of Amir Khusrau in K.K., 756.

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³ Compare A.A., II, 188.

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⁴ Compare a description of Malik Muhammad Jaisi in P., 26, 118.

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⁵ Compare various descriptions. K.K., 657-658, Tabaqat-i-Nasiri (MS.), 196.

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⁶ Compare Ross, Feasts, 98 for the modern observance.

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Then the eventful question of giving a name to the child was considered. Due consideration was paid to the horoscope of the child and the first letters of the favourite stars. The auspicious names were usually considered to be those which did not exceed four letters.⁷ Among Muslims, care was taken (as by the ancient Persians) to avoid the names used by idolators, simple names such as Ahmad and Ali being recommended.⁸ To avoid fascination or the attack of an evil spirit on the child, the date, the hour of the birth and the original name based on the calculations of the horoscope were kept a guarded secret, especially in royal families.⁹ After the expiry of the third month, but not before, the child was allowed to be exposed to the full gaze of the sun. It was not yet safe to take it out of the house. In the fifth month, the right lobe of the child was bored. In the sixth month, if the child was a male, they surrounded him with sweets and fruits and left him to choose for himself. All this, of course, had a secret meaning and divined his future destiny in the world. Sometimes later, in accordance with the period prescribed by family tradition, the ceremony of tonsure (now called *mundan*) was celebrated.¹ There were other ceremonies which were peculiar to various races, classes or castes.²

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⁷ Compare A.A., II, 188; ibid., 282 for an illustration of the grandson of Abu'l Fazl who was named by Akbar.

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⁸ Compare Huart, 162 for ancient Persians; T., 11b.

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⁹ Compare Crooke, Popular Religion, 281 and illustration.

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¹ Compare A.A., II, 188; compare T., 11b for Muslim disapproval of leaving a lock of hair unshaved on the head; compare Ross, Festivals, 109 for a modern description.

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² Compare for instance a ceremony described by Abu'l Fazl peculiar to the Mughals. When the child had just begun to stand on his legs, the father or the eldest male guardian was asked to strike him with his turban so that the child fell down. *Vide* A.N., I, 194.

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The education of the child received particular attention. He was put to school or rather under a tutor with picturesque ceremonies. At the age of five the Hindu child was placed in the charge of a *Guru* or spiritual preceptor who looked after him until he entered the next stage of life.³ The Muslim tradition was more precise in fixing the day of completion of 4 years, 4 months, and 4 days, for the inauguration of *Bismillah khani* or otherwise the ceremony of putting to school (*maktab*). At an hour fixed in consultation with an astrologer, the child took his first lesson from the teacher.⁴ Usually in the seventh year, a Muslim child was circumcised and the occasion was celebrated with great rejoicings and entertainments, according to the means of a family.⁵ The 1st important ceremony in the life of a Hindu child, if he belonged to the three upper casts of the ‘twice-born’, was that of *Upanayana* or the tying of the triple sacred thread. This was usually performed at the completion of the ninth year and symbolized the passing of childhood.⁶ Both daughter and son were now preparing for the next stage of marriage and entering life. While the son usually welcomed the prospect, it was very depressing for the daughter, for whom the days of freedom were numbered. She therefore made the best of her time by playing with other maidens and enjoying the hospitality of the paternal roof. His or her birthday continued to be celebrated annually by the tying of the picturesque knot in silk, the ceremony of *sal-girah*.¹

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³ Compare A.A., II, 188.

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⁴ For the Muslim tradition compare A.N., I, 270; Ross, Feasts, 99, for a present-day description.

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⁵ Compare T., 27b, for the view of Yusuf Gada; compare A.N., I, 248, for the circumcision of Akbar and the attendant rejoicings; compare Blochmann, I, 207 how Akbar prohibited circumcising before the age of 12 and even then left it to the option of the grown up boy.

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⁶ Compare A.A., II, 188; compare Macaulay, I, 16-17, for Nanak's investment. Compare Ross, Feasts, 61, for the sacred thread. ‘The sacri-

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(a) *Marriage.*—There was no fixed limit for the age of marriage. Both Hindus and Muslims favoured an early age for boys and girls.² Akbar wished to interfere with these conditions and fixed the minimum age limit at 16 years for boys and 14 for girls. It is difficult to say how far his enactments were carried out.³ Conferring their children in marriage and supervising the attendant customs and ceremonies was the privilege of the parents, especially the father.⁴ The marriage of their children involved many delicate and complicated problems, for instance, those of family status, ancestral rites and traditions, and the social honour of the parties. The parents usually carried out their responsibilities most scrupulously in every detail. Marriage was more a family question than a personal concern of the marrying couple.

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² Compare Macauliffe, I, 18-19. Nanak was 14 when he was married. The Hindu girl was not to be below eight years on marriage. For Muslim parallel; compare Huart, 161, for ancient Persian tradition of marrying boys at fifteen. Compare D.R., 93, how Prince Khizr Khan and Dewalrani were married when they were 10 and 8 respectively. Compare also A., 180 for early marriages in Muslim families under Firuz Tughluq. Compare F.F., 135, where the legal compendium lays down the age for marrying girls at 9. Compare for interesting mediaeval English parallels, Salzmann, 254: ‘It was not unusual for parents to arrange marriages for their children while they were still infants; even the actual marriage ceremony was sometimes performed when the bride and bridegroom were so young that they had to be carried to the church and could not repeat all the words of the service’.

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³ Compare A.A., I, 201; Blochmann, I, 195.

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⁴ Compare ancient parallel tradition in Persia, Huart, 163.

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It is difficult to give a comprehensive description of marriage ceremonies, considering that so many weighty social considerations made it the most conspicuous event of domestic life.¹

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¹ Compare Ross *ibid.*, 111, for a modern description. Compare P., 96, for some characteristic sentiment of a girl on the prospect of marriage; *ibid.*, 171, the reception of the news of *Gauna* by Padumavat.

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ficial thread or *vajnopavitam* consists of three strands of cotton, each strand formed by three or nine threads, the cotton gathered from the plant by the hand of a Brahman and carded and spun by persons of the same caste. It is hung on the left shoulder and falls on the right hip.

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A stage was reached in marriage negotiations when the parties agreed to the wedding of two children, the future bride and bridegroom. This agreement was celebrated with suitable ceremonies and was called *Tilaka* or *mangni*, that is, betrothal ceremony. After this formal recognition, a date was fixed for marriage (the *lagan*) and elaborate preparations began. Invitations were sent out through the local barber or through special messengers to friends and relations. A *mandapa* was constructed in the house of the bride.¹ Wedding wreaths of flowers or festoons of mango leaves were hung before the doors. Kindly neighbours also decorated their door-ways with these wreaths (or *bandarwars*) to express their joy and good-will. The evenings became more lively because the whole population of a village (or in the case of towns, of quarters or *mahallas*) began to join the *suhag* songs at the house of the bride or started singing these popular wedding songs in their own homes on their own account. All sorts of sober and humorous rites and numerous superstitious ceremonies filled the programme of the bride and bridegroom, who on his part was making preparations to start for the wedding ceremony. Similar arrangements (except the erection of a *mandapa*) marked the house of the bridegroom.

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¹ A *mandapa* in rural areas at present is usually a tree-trunk. Compare Grierson for present conditions in Bihar. Bihar Peasant Life, 374-86. In the description of Malik Muhammad Jaisi the usual tree-trunk studded with valuable stones and covered with green twigs is surrounded by pillars of sandal-wood and covered with a roof from which globes of talc were hung, and a scarlet cloth was spread on the floor. Probably a platform was raised under this structure.

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When all the members of a party had gathered and other necessary preparations were finished, the bridegroom started for the bride’s home accompanied by a band and music and a gay riotous crowd intent on making itself cheerful and agreeable. They undertook this journey in their newly polished, covered and decorated conveyances and wore their brightest costumes. Their rows of carriages and horsemen were often recognized by wayside inhabitants by the light of the torches that preceded them at night or the cloud of dust that followed them by day. When they arrived within hail of the bride’s village or town, they were greeted by the bride’s people and conducted to her house. Betel-leaf and sweet drinks were offered to them, and they were taken to the main hall of the building to take rest on rich carpets in cool and beautiful surroundings after a tiresome journey. Meanwhile, finishing touches were being given to the preparations for the wedding. Duar Puja (door worship) and other ceremonies were performed. The mark of the Swastika and other figures were put on the floor; the wedding robe was sent to the bridegroom; clothes, money, and other gifts were kept in readiness for the impending ceremony. At a pre-arranged hour, the blushing bridegroom and the shy maiden appeared on the scene and sat on the newly raised platform within the mandapa. It was the signal for the commencement of the wedding ceremonies. Probably the father of the bride performed a ceremony signifying the formal gift of his daughter to the bridegroom, known as the ceremony of kanyadan. The couple had the hems of their garmetns knotted together by the women to signify their perpetual and inseparable union, this being the ceremony of ‘Ganth’. At the end of these came the final ceremony of the ‘seven steps’ in circumambulation round the sacred fire. The Purohits started the chanting of sacred texts and the womenfolk their wedding songs, while the couple and the bride’s nearest relations were completing their rounds. The final and the eventful step make the bridegroom and the bride husband and wife before God and man in perpetuity.

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The rest of the ceremonies were of a propitiatory and secondary nature. Nichhavar or nisar was offered for the health of the married couple. Among the Muslims it consisted sometimes of almonds and sugar-candy, and the crowd carried home this token of good fortune. The ceremonies may have differed in details with localities and provinces but in substance the above outline holds good for any marriage ceremony of Hindustan.¹ The wedding festivities lasted for any number of days according to the means of the bride's people and according to their mutual arrangements. The minimum stay for the bridegroom's party was fixed for a day and the maximum for ten days. On the eve of departure of the bridegroom and his bride, many other ceremonies were performed which appear to be interesting survivals of an earlier date. The bridegroom and his friends had to fight their way to capture the bride; in some places the bridegroom had to bribe the maidens to restore a stolen article or to let him pass the gates with his bride. A big dowry was provided for the bride, which accompanied her. It was customary in some cases to give to the bridegroom a few maids who became his property. After some more picturesque ceremonies and humorous and lively songs, the party was allowed to depart with the bride.² If the bride was too young for the consummation of marriage, she returned to her parents after a short time and the final *Rukhsat* or *Gauna* was deferred to a later date.¹ Various rites, ceremonies, and courtesies continued to be observed for a very long time afterwards, but the great event of domestic importance was over, the daughter had formally and legally passed into another family and she was no more a part of her family or even master of herself. She belonged to her husband and abided by his will. If she was married into an aristocratic family, she was probably confined to a *haram*, where her intercourse with the rest of the world was severely curtailed for the rest of her life.³

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¹ Compare Jaisi’s description in P. (hin), 124-6; Shah, 120, and Grierson for modern parallel. For provincial peculiarities, compare Barbosa, I, 116-17, how in Gujarat the married couple were taken to the temple where both of them fasted all day before the idol of Mahavira(?). Other people kept on entertaining them with fireworks, songs and other amusements. Compare also, for Muslim marriage D.R., 160, and especially for Nichhavar ceremony Figh Firuz Shahi, 203, and Grierson—Bihar Peasant Life where it appears that except for the substitution of popular Muslim saints and the ceremony of Nikah, the Muslim marriage did not differ from the Hindu system. Compare also Ibn Batuta’s account K.R., II, 47-9, where it clearly appears that Muslims borrowed almost all ceremonies and customs from Hindus. Compare the estimate of F.W. Thomas, 77, for Hindu influence on Muslim marriages: ‘Whereas the law permits to the faithful as many as four wives, and provides facilities for divorce on easy terms, monogamy is in India the prevailing rule and divorce is almost unknown. A second trace of Hindu influence is to be found in the rarity of the re-marriage of widows.’

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¹ Compare Ibn Batuta, II, 47-9. For the gift of maids compare K.K., 370; compare also Tod, II, 730-1 for the dower of *Divadharis* in Rajasthan, the handmaids who often become the concubines of the bridegroom chief. Also J.D.L., 1927, 2-3.

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² Compare P. (hin), 281 for an illustration.

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³ Compare for instance the description of a *haram* in T.D., 37, where it is reported that a message sent to a lady inside the *haram*, had to pass at least three intermediaries before it reached her.

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(b) *Death and after.*—A person's death was the turning point of this life, when, although he did not cease to exist, he passed from one life into another. Picturesque rites attended his death, to be followed by posthumous ceremonies. When a Hindu was about to die, people hastened to lay his body on the floor, the priests began chanting *mantras* and the near relations distributing gifts to the poor and the needy, to ease the passage of his soul into the next world. The floor had been plastered with cowdung and covered with *kusa* grass, over which the corpse was laid, with the head resting in a northerly and the feet in a southerly direction, the face downwards. If sacred Ganges-water was available, some drops were poured over the corpse; a cow was offered as a gift to a Brahman; some leaves of Tulsi were put over the dead man's chest and the caste-mark on his forehead. After these preparations, the body was put on a bier and was ready for disposal. The orthodox theory recommended the throwing of the body of a Brahman into water, the cremation of a Kshatriya and the burial of a Sudra.¹ But during our period, the burning of Hindu dead bodies appears to be universally popular. In fact, if a person had expired at a distance from his home and relations, a commemoration cremation was held, in which a deer hide, a bamboo, some flour, a few leaves and a cocoanut were consigned to the flames symbolizing probably the remains of the deceased.² The sons, brothers, friends, and pupils of the deceased shaved their heads and beards and conveyed the corpse, which was sometimes dressed in the usual costume the deceased had been fond of wearing, to the crematorium where it was burned with appropriate ceremonies. After the cremation, the bones were collected in a ewer or a deer-skin and sent to be thrown if possible into the Ganges.

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¹ Compare Macauliffe, I, 181; also Grierson, Bihar Peasant Life, 395.

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² Compare the account of Ibn Batuta quoted later.

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Many superstitious rites were performed before and after the removal of the corpse from the house, to make sure that the spirit of the dead man did not return.³ For about ten days (the exact number varying according to caste rules) the house was considered to be ceremonially impure. No food was cooked or fire burnt in the hearth and the relations provided the family with subsistence. The family slept on the floor on a bed of leaves. The dead man was not neglected; in fact, during this period many ceremonies were performed to help the disembodied spirit in obtaining a spirit form or *preta* body which carried it to its further destination. For this purpose, the nearest relation, who had lighted the fire for the cremation of the dead body, lived only on rice pudding these ten and two succeeding days, thus imparting vigour and strength to the new spirit body of the deceased. At the end of this period, on the thirteenth day, the soul was sufficiently invigorated to undertake the journey. At different intervals during the course of one year, *Sraddha* ceremonies helped to provide it with further sustenance until at last the soul of the deceased had assumed another body and was re-incarnated in the world according to *Karma*, the ‘Law of the Deed’.¹

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