The Sex Lives of Women in a Mughal Harem
By: Mythili The Dreamer
Tags: History, Sexuality, Feminism, Culture, Women

The life of women inside a harem

The harem as an institution was first created by Akbar who made it into a fully functioning government department with security officials, finance officials, and even a human resource and recreation department for the entertainment of the ladies. Every activity revolved around the satisfaction of the emperor while maintaining the purdah rules or concealment as per the Islamic guidelines.

And once a woman enters the harem, she cuts all ties with the outside world and cannot leave it until she dies. Even if the emperor dies, she cannot leave the harem or remarry but would be kept secluded into an independent portion of the harem called ‘suhagpura’ where she will spend the rest of her life in isolation.

Francisco Pelseart, the Dutch merchant who visited India during the rule of Jahangir makes some interesting observations in his book about the life of the women in the harem. According to him, Jahangir was the most lustful of all the Mughal kings and even at a young age of twenty-five years, he had as many as 20 wives and nearly 300 slave girls in his ever-expanding harem.

Jahangir placed a lot of emphasis on richly decorated ‘mahals’ and infusing lascivious sensuality in the women by making them wear extravagant dresses, perfumes, and ornaments, and then wooing him. He loved the attention he got when women competed for his attention.

Every wife had a separate apartment of her own that was managed by 10 to 20 slave girls at her disposal. There was a generous monthly allowance given for buying jewels and clothes and women vied for the emperor’s attention by making special foods and sweetmeats, mixing special drinks, or even wearing the choicest dresses as per his taste in their apartments. The objective was to entice him to have sex by creating the right environment.

Every night, whenever he will visit a particular wife, the ‘mahal’ or her palace will be richly decorated and infused with various perfumes and the slave girls would be on the wheels to fetch the choicest fruits and sorbets for the emperor. As the weather in India is mostly hot, he would be quickly undressed and made comfortable as the wife along with the slave girls would gently rub sandalwood and rosewood creams all over his body.

Cloth fans made of silk or ‘punkahs’ would be run by slave girls, sprinkling a gentle spray of rose water all over his body. Beautiful slave girls would also massage his body, starting from the feet and gradually moving upwards as the wife will converse sweetly with the emperor on the day to day happenings and ‘praise’ his bravery and foresight on certain issues, feeding his ego.

A great deal of wine would be consumed and served in the process of arousing the emperor along with other intoxicants like opium, amber, and other stimulants. The emperor sits naked between all the girls surrounding him doing his bidding. If any slave girl catches his fancy, the wife cannot object but may have to ‘facilitate’ the same.

The night of pleasure goes on until the wee hours of the morning with the emperor thoroughly intoxicated and satisfied. The morning will be the moment of truth; if the emperor is happy he will come back and the status of the wife or slave girl will be elevated to be the emperor’s favorite. If the emperor is displeased she will be consigned to oblivion.

Most of the women end up wearing the best clothes, eating the best foods, and even living in the best mahals but are deprived of basic sexual pleasures throughout their lives if they do not catch the fancy of the emperor. Some of them even enter into illicit affairs with officers of the harem at the cost of losing their lives if caught.