Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s1.38

c7.s1.38

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.