Eunuchs in Mughal Establishment

Shadab Bano
A.M.U.
AM- 17094
The Islamic harems been obscured from the public-eye, there was hardly

ways to know about it except from the hear-say, which the European travelers, to these

lands, imaginatively built up into exaggerated narratives about the personal lives of the

orient. The elaborate description of Ottoman harem by European observers carried

forward by recent historians1 in describing it as prison–like structures consisting of

‘constellation of fragmented spaces enveloped by high-wall, designed for intrigue, where

deprivation and sexual licentiousness lived side by side’, had served as model for

knowing harems in all other Islamic parts. Unfortunately, in face of the reluctance of

contemporary writers about the ruler’s private domain, considered beyond propriety to

discuss; the sway of the European accounts in providing the concept of the Islamic

household had been great. Eunuchs by such description had a fundamental role to play -

to keep women in place, to guard them, to spy over them, play their guardians etc., in

short simply to enforce rigid discipline of seclusion. The presence of eunuchs

immediately became useful in highlighting the brutal servitude and sexual debauchery in

these harems.

It is today well known that the institution had existed in a number of

societies ancient to Islamic societies, to as early as societies in the antiquity in Rome and

Greece. Young boys were castrated to serve in churches and temples, given also by their

parents.2 India too received white eunuchs from the West, as we know from the 9 th

century Persian chronicler3(specifically the regions Sind and Malabar). Malabar along
1
Gulru Necipoglu, Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power: the Topkapi in the Fifteenth
and Sixteenth Centuries, new York, 1991,p.182.
2
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, B. Lewis and Ch. Pellat,
Vol.IV, Leiden, 1978,p.1088.
3
Ibn Khordadbeh wrote about the trade carried out by the jewish merchants of the
time.Amitav Ghosh, ‘The Slave of Ms. H.6’, Subaltern Studies, Vol.VII, ed. Partha
with Bengal continued to supply eunuchs to the Islamic courts.4 In Vijayanagar kingdom,

there had been considerable presence of eunuchs; the ruler also sent gifts of eunuchs to

the Islamic courts.5 The use, however, must have differed depending on the social

arrangements. The Islamic establishments, likewise, with its varying social and domestic

arrangements would have entailed different life conditions and entitlements for the

eunuchs.

Of the Islamic harems in India before the Mughals, we have in spite of

the handicaps of restraint, some discussion of the palace arrangement at Delhi, from the

Muslim traveler Ibn Batuta, who by advantage of traveling to the different Islamic lands

offers some sort of comparison between the varying Islamic cultures and social

organizations. The harems of the Sultan like most settled Islamic courts were greatly

segregated. He gives a vivid account of his experience at the threshold of Sultan’s

mother’s palace and a lively detail of how his concubine (mother of his child) was carried

in a dula (palanquin) by eunuchs inside the palace of Sultan’s mother. 6 He writes that

‘they came out’ (of the palace of Sultan’s mother)…..then went back into the palace, then

came out again to the vizier, then went back to the palace while we stood waiting’. The

provision of purdah emphasized in his description of the Sultan’s harem arrangement

appears less stringent compared to 15th century description of noble’s harem by Rizqullah
Chatterjee and Gyanendra Pandey, Delhi, 1993,p.169.
4
Marco Polo (1298), Book of Ser Marco Polo: The Venetian Concerning the Kingdoms
and Marvels of the East, tr. & ed. with notes by Henry Yule, rev. by Henri Cordier, New
Delhi, reprint 1993, Vol.II,p.115; Duarte Barbosa (1518), The Book of Duarte Barbosa,
An Account of the Countries Bordering in the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants, tr.
Longworth Dames, New Delhi, reprint 1989,vol.II,p.147; The Encyclopaedia of Islam,
vol.IV, Leiden, 1978,pp.1088,1092; C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids: Their Empire in
Afghanistan and Eastern Iran, Edinburgh, 1963,p.138.
5
T.V. Mahalingam, Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar, Madras, 1975, pt.
II, pp.40-44.Encyclopaedia of Islam,ibid,p.1092; India in the 15th Century
Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India , ed. R.H. Major,
London, 1974,p.39
6
Ibn Batuta (d.1377), Rihla, tr. H.A.R. Gibb, The Travels of Ibn Batuta,
Cambridge, 1956-71,vol.III,p.740.
 Mushtaqi, where eunuchs were not allowed after a certain point and not allowed to mix

with women.7 This again is however described as an exception rather a rule. Mushtaqi

writes: ‘There were a hajib posted at the gate; a pardadar (one who looks after

the ‘purdah’ of female apartments) stood at the threshold leading to the

harem, a Khwajasara (eunuch) at the inner gate, and an old women sat along

the wall inside the palace. If there was some message to be conveyed inside

(the harem), the hajib conveyed it to the pardahdar, the pardahdar sent for

the Khwajasara, and the latter informed the old lady behind the wall about it.

The old lady took it to the lady concerned in the palace and then the lady

acted accordingly. Inside the palace, the name of a male outside the family

(na mahram) could not be uttered by anyone; in case it was inevitable, only

his post was mentioned’. The eunuchs emerge from this description of highly

guarded female quarters as one among the many guards at the entrance of the

harem. Only older women were allowed to interact. The problem of the

eunuch’s male body, though now rendered incapable of impregnation, would

have remained for the purdah observing women.

While the institution of eunuchs necessarily had been fundamental

to the functioning of these segregated households, it is interesting to find

eunuchs also in semi-nomadic courts of central Asia where women were

relatively free. The peripatetic conditions of life, where women could move

around with much liberty is brought out in the Travels of Ibn Batuta where he

much appreciates the liberties of the Qipchak women. 8 Al Marqizi provides

7
Rizqullah Mushtaqi (d.1581), Waqiat-i-Mushtaqi, ed. I.H. Siddiqui and
W.H. Siddiqi, Rampur, 2002,p.98.
8
Rihla, op.cit, vol.II,pp.480-81.
vivid passage on the household of sultan al Salih Imad al–Din Ismail 9 :

‘….when he made his seasonal rides…., his mother, together with another

200 women, would accompany him riding akadish horses…. and accompanied

by eunuchs from the Citadel to the promenading ground. The Sultan’s

favourite concubines used to ride [in these processions] Arab horses, racing

against each other, playing polo and wearing silk kamiliyya [mantles, cloaks]

overcoats’.

The Mughal harems in Central Asia, similarly, had little insisted on

male-female segregation, as borne out by numerous references, literary as

well as representations of scenes of early harem in the Mughal miniatures, we

are fortunate to have, which though done at a later date were still fairly

realistic in portrayal. The Baburnama paintings depict free interaction

between aristocratic men and women. 10 Gulbadan speaks of the harem at

Kabul as comparatively free; the women were not veiled, they rode, went on

picnics, followed shikar, practiced archery. 11 Similarly, early years of

Mughals in India were considerably liberal. In the description of the feast,

given by Gulbadan at the ‘Mystic” house at Agra, both young men and girls

sat together in the gathering. 12 One could therefore hardly understand the

conventional use of eunuchs in such a set-up.

In Baburnama paintings, in the scene depicting Babur’s

meeting with his elder sister Khanzada Begum, within the tent enclosure are
9
Al- Maqrizi, Kitab al Suluk, ed. M.M.Ziyada and S.A.F. Ashour, Cairo, 1934-72, vol.II,
pp.678-79; trans. in D. Ayalon, “The Eunuchs in the Mameluk Sultanate,” Studies in
Memory of Gaston Wiet, ed. Myriam Rosen- Ayalon, Jerusalem, p.284.
10
Hamid Sulaiman, Miniaturesof Baburnama, Samarqand, 1969, pl. 7.
11
Rumer Golden, Gulbadan Portrait of a Rose Princess at the Mughal Court, New York,
1980, p.32.
12
Gulbadan Begum, Humayun Nama, ed. A.S. Beveridge in History of Humayun, New
Delhi, 1983, p.31.
 seen men, prices/nobles, male servants along with the female attendants. 13

There are three other figures with a mace standing out of the tent. In yet

another painting (in Akbarnama) depicting infant Akbar wrestling with

Ibrahim Mirza, Khanzada Begum stands near Mirza Kamran towards the

centre of the painting, with all other men standing around and bearded figures

hold mace both within and outside of the pavilion. 14

It is only with great difficulty that eunuchs in Mughal service

could be found. Eunuchs (‘ghulam-i-akhta’) were found in the court of Abu

Bakr, Babur’s cousin. 15 Babur does not mention a single eunuch in

Baburnama, though we know from other sources about his eunuch named

Ambar. 16 Similarly, Gulbadan has not mentioned a eunuch till she mentions

Ambar towards the end so that her translator Beveridge was unable to notice

Ambar nazir as a eunuch (title used for eunuchs at least from the time of

Akbar) and translates nazir simply as a superintendent. 17

If we look at the numerous appearances of Ambar, we find him as

a royal agent in army of Humayun in readiness for combat. He had been

inside the harem, attendant to the King and Queen and was attached to the

Queen’s train later on. 18 He thus appear as a personal servant to both King
13
Hamid Sulaiman, op.cit.
14
Michael Brand and Glenn D. Lowry, Akbar’s India: Art from the Mughal City of
Victory, Asia Society Galleries, New York, 1986, pl. 1.
15
Mirza Haider Dughlat (1546), Tarikh-i Rashidi, tr. E. Denison, Patna,
1973,p.258.

16
Jauhar, Tazkirat-ul-Waqiat, Add. 16, 711, f.65b ; Humayun Nama,
op.cit,p.55b

ibid, tr.A.S. Beveridge, History of Humayun, op.cit.p.166.

17

18
ibid.; Tazkirat-ul-Waqiat, op.cit; Abul Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari, transl. H.
Blochmann for the biographical notices of Grandees of the Empire, New
 and Queen, the queen as much attended by other male attendants especially in

the fugitive period. Eunuchs appear in this period more of a rarity or prized

possession. We find Askari asking from Humayun (at that time in the East)

for eunuchs, elephants and precious gems and jewels from Humayun in return

for his help against Sher Khan, which his officers however dismissed as trifle

advising him to ask for something of more significance. 19

Particularly striking had been the compositions of Maham’s train that

came from Kabul to Hindustan, eunuchs conspicuously absent there. 20 This

could be compared to the later descriptions of the movement of seraglio

where eunuchs had a definite role. 21 However, with Maham were ‘nine

troopers, with two sets of nine horses and the two extra litters which the

Emperor had sent, and on litter which had been brought from Kabul,and about

a hundred of my lady’s Mughal servants, mounted on fine ( tipuchaq) horses,

all elegance and beauty.

It is from Akbar’s reign that references of eunuchs comparatively

become more readily forthcoming. Though Abul Fazl do not mention Ambar’s

name in the contingent of Maryam Makani that reached Delhi from Kabul (in

2 R.Y.), we knew that Ambar accompanied her and was attached to her

train. 22 Very early in Akbar’s harem, Niamat, a eunuch is seen at the entrance

trying to stop infuriated Adham from entering it. 23 The eunuch here appears
Delhi, 1977, Vol.I,p.442.
19
Tazkirat-ul-Waqiat, f.20a
20
Humayun Nama, p.14a.
21
Francois Bernier, Travels in the Mogul Empire (A.D. 1656-68) [2nd ed.
revised by V.A. Smith],p.312.

Ain-i-Akbari, transl. H. Blochmann, op.cit, vol.I,p.442.

22

23
Abul Fazl, Akbarnama (1601), ed. Agha Ahmad Ali and Abdur Rahim, Bib. Ind.,
Calcutta, 1873-87,vol. II, pp.174-5.Clearly, harem was not barred to the entry of relations
at a guard of emperor’s resting place and clearly not over a secluded harem.

In a painting of the scene that followed, of Adham’s execution, ‘pardagiyan

ladies’ (in their typical head dress) are seen on the door of their quarters

watching Adham’s execution, two male attendants standing in front of them. 24

Eunuchs began to be called Khwajas and nazirs, or both euphemisms

attached to their names. 25 To the references from the text may be added the

information from the paintings. The painting depicting scenes of early years

of Akbar’s reign show male- forms with mace in their hands, within the

zenana area. 26 The figures are stout, dark-skinned without beard, which in all

likelihood were those representing eunuchs 27 ; these have been a distinct type

compared to figures of other male-attendants made in the Mughal paintings.

Similar figures keep appearing in the paintings but under different

arrangement successively, as we will see.

Most striking had been the presence of Itimad Khan, eunuch-officer

(6 R.Y), so early at Akbar’s court with a very important charge of

including the foster relations. We have in a painting Adham khan and Pir Muhammad
seen in the interiors of seraglio. Here, what was objectionable was not his trying to enter
the harem, but his audacity to try to barge in to take revenge upon Akbar after killing his
foster father, Shamsuddin Atka.
24
Geeti Sen, Paintings from the Akbarnama; a Visual Chronicle of Mughal India,
Varanasi, 1984, pl.26, ‘Akbar orders the punishment of his foster brother, ca. 1609,
Chester Beatty Library, Ind. Ms. No.7.
25
For instance, a eunuch officer of Salim Khan’s court who had the title Muhammad
Khan was called Khwaja phul Malik after joining the Mughal court. Akbarnama, vol.II,
pp.178-9.
26
Geeti Sen, pl.19.
27
There have been observations recorded from quite an early time of the characterstics of
eunuchs and the transformations that they underwent. Al- Djahiz remarks that if
emasculation takes place before puberty which was usually the case the beard and the
body hair do not grow. Finding in food and drink a kind of compensation for the
deprivation of other pleasures, they have a tendency to eat and drink heavily which
explains their obesity. Encyclopaedia of Islam,vol.IV,p.1090.
 administering the finances of the state. 28 He was previously an amir in Salim

Khan’s court and had been a distinguished officer there. A number of eunuchs

kept joining the court from the regional kingdoms. 29 Itimad Khan later

distinguished himself in the conquest of Bengal and in 1576 was appointed as

governor of Bhakkar. His out of the way and unprecedented appointment had

been remarked upon by the contemporaries. 30 Abul Fazl explains his

appointment as a measure to counter the prevailing trend among the officers

who out of dishonesty thought of ‘enrichment of their own households and

collected treasures for their own purposes while neglecting to collect the

Shahinshah’s revenues’. Eunuchs with no family ties to cater could be

depended for absolute loyalty to the master.

As he performed his duties to Akbar’s satisfaction, all other

eunuchs of the court became on account of his abilities the object of

emperor’s attention. Ambar (mentioned above) was promoted as an officer of

the court with the title Itibar Khan. He was later appointed as governor of
28
Ain-i-Akbari, transl. H. Blochmann, op.cit, vol.I , p.473; Shaikh Farid
Bhakkari, Zakhiratu’l Khawanin (1649-51), ed. Syed Moinul Haq, Karachi,
1941,vol.I,p.216.
29
In the Delhi Sultanate and then the regional kingdoms, eunuchs appear as a
significant body at the court and a number of them served as officers. A number of
eunuch mameluks / officers prop up with names, the titles given to them, the task allotted,
the posts that they held, their activities and accomplishments
30
Abdul Qadir Badauni (c.1595), Muntakhabu-t-Tawarikh, ed. Captain William
Nesolias and Munshi Ahmad Ali, Calcutta, 1865, vol.II,p.65; Akbarnama, op.cit,vol.II,
pp.178-9. Iqtidar Alam Khan takes Itimad Khan’s appointment to such an important
office as an indicator of distinct change in imperial policy. Akbar, by appointing a slave
officer, is seen as trying to build upon the concept of banda-i-dargah thus incorporating
Turkish principles of statecraft to his rule( Iqtidar Alam Khan, ‘The Turko-Mongol
Theory of Kingship”, Medieval India – A Miscellany, vol. 2, New Delhi, 1972, pp.8-18).
Ruby Lal sees the appointment as a break from previous practice of appointment of kin
and relation to office. She sees Badauni’s scathing criticism of it as resentment against
non-kin high ranking appointment (Ruby Lal , Domesticity and Power in the Early
Mughal World, Cambridge, 2005, p.196).
Delhi. 31 The list in Ain-i-Akbari speaks of a few more eunuch officers. One

does not know the time when they got promoted as officers at the court. Their

previous titles suggest that they were ordinary eunuchs of the establishment.

Khwaja Khas Malik received the title Ikhlas Khan and held the rank of

1,000. 32 Khwaja Daulat entered Imperial establishment from the service of

Mughal noble Khan-i- Zaman, got promoted with the title Daulat Khan and

later became the chief of eunuchs with the title Naziruddaula. 33 Jesuits inform

that one of his eunuchs was a person of great authority who also managed

everything for him. 34 Still the eunuchs in Mughal court were in no way

comparable to the institution of eunuch officers in the neighbouring Safavid

Persia where they exercise influence in the court as a strong mameluk body. 35

Eunuchs in Mughal service denoted personalized service and ultimate

personal devotion to emperor.

These eunuchs obviously were a class apart from the other eunuchs

of the establishment. Promoted by advantage of near attendance on his

Majesty, these were ‘exalted by Emperor’s companionship’. 36 Perhaps,

eunuch officer’s access to harem along with the state functions and

Ain-i-Akbari, ed. Nawal Kishore, Lucknow, 1882,vol.I, p.161;tr.

31

Blochmann,I,p.442.
32
ibid,p.161;
33
Major David Price, Memoirs of Jahangir, claims to have translated the
original Persian manuscript, Delhi, 1904,p.58
34
Fr. Pierre Du Jarric, Akbar and the Jesuits, tr. C.H. Payne, London,
1926, p.155.
35
Encyclopaedia of Islam,vol.IV,p.1092.
This could have been also with the slave officers as the slave loyalty could be
36

commanded. Slave officers, as later chela officers are noted, but as lower officers and no
where compared to the eunuch officers.
 interaction with the most intimate granted them a special and distinct position

among the loyal. It is mentioned for Itimad Khan that he ‘obtained highest

consideration in the harem, and even in state matters’, thereby becoming

‘sovereign’s confidante’. 37 In 1565, Itimad conveyed the daughter of king of

Khandesh, Miran Mubarak, to Akbar’s harem. 38 Interestingly, we find a noble

Shah Quli castrating himself after he was allowed to enter harem. 39 While this

appears as an extraordinary feat, we find such reference from previous courts

as well. 40 Denying carnal pleasures would have been spectacular in

demonstrating devotion to the emperor. The fact that such person could now

approach the most intimate side of emperor could promote feelings of

closeness and intimacy with the emperor.

These eunuchs appear with considerable wealth and position at the

court. Perhaps they were allowed to have as many riches, also since

ultimately after death the entire property reverted back to the imperial

treasury. Daulat Khan had left at his death, ‘no less a sum than ten crores of

ashrafis of five methkals, exclusive of jewels, and gold and silver plates,
37
Muntakhabu-t-Tawarikh, op.cit, vol. II, p.65.
38
Akbarnama, vol. II,p.231.
39
Ain-i-Akbari, tr. Blochmann, op.cit,vol.I,p.387. He came to be called mahram, i.e., one
who is admitted to the harem and knows its secret. Interestingly, we also know of Shah
Quli’s homosexual preferences and his passionate attachment to a dancing boy; for he
turned into a jogi when the emperor had boy forcibly removed and the boy was later
restored to him.
40
Itimad Khan , a noble in the Sultanate of Gujarat, who out of gratitude and also out
of fear, rendered himself impotent as the Sultan used to convey him to his harem for
services and trusted him with his women ‘though the jealousy of the Sultan was such …
that if he saw two of his concubines smiling at each other he used to kill them both’.
Itimad Khan used to fear ‘I am but human…’ To guard against any untoward he used to
wear below his usual nether garments a pair of steel ring mail trousers with the trouser
string secured by a small padlock, the key of which he used to leave at home. Later he
took several cups of kaththa to destroy his virile powers. Sikandar Ibn Mohammad,
Mirat-i-Sikandari (1611) ed. S.C. Misra and M.L. Rahman, Baroda, 1961,
p.362.
 chinaware and utensils of brass and copper, to the value of three crores more;

the whole of which became an accession to my father’s treasury’. 41 Eunuchs

spent lavishly on themselves and were also involved in building activities,

perhaps through this tried to impress people including the nobility by

splendid display of wealth. Buildings were possibly also the only way for

them to reach out to posterity. Eunuchs moved out with grandeur, riding

horses in expensive clothes and jewellery with stately and manly

ostentation. 42

The courts afforded considerable prestige as well to the eunuch-

officers. Among the list of palaces mentioned of the nobles outside the Fort,

next to the palace of concubines (of late king Akbar) was the palace of Itibar

Khan when he was governor of Agra. 43 They enjoyed prestige through the

trust reposed on them and considerable power through executing orders,

allowed to the point of getting ruthless and cruel in execution. A number of

instances of their cruelties and inflictions are reported that have allowed

generalizations about cruelty intrinsic to their nature.

The stature a eunuch officer could be gathered from an episode

from Jahangir’s reign of Khwaja Hilal with Said Khan Chaghta, a leading

Memoirs of Jahangir, p.58.

41

42
Eunuch attendants are seen in miniatures in male-attire. Manucci speaks of
eunuch’s anxiousness to appear well dressed, and’ when they are astride a fine horse,
they are as elated as if they were the greatest men in the world’. Niccolao Manucci,
(1699-1709), Storia do Mogol, tr. W. Irvine, 4 Vols., London, 1907-
8,p.vol.II,p.74. It is interesting to note here that in some of the earlier Islamic courts
where eunuchs stayed within the courts for fear of ridicule by common folks. They are
represented by writers of the period as closer to women physically, morally and
intellectually. Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol.IV, pp.1090-91.
43
De Laet (1631), The Empire of the Great Mogol, tr. J.S. Hoyland and
S.N. Banerjee, Delhi, reprint 1975,p.38
 noble at Jahangir’s court. 44 Having built a lofty mansion, he invited most of

the leading officials to the house- warming feast. Said khan Chaghta praised

it greatly to which out of politeness he said ‘Take it as a peshkash; Said Khan

stood up and made three salutations to him and sent for his men and

furniture, to which Hilal objected. Jahangir had to intervene and Said Khan

presented his case to the emperor as that of discrimination against him on

account of a slave-officer, for he had made three salutations to a slave-officer

which should not go waste. Perhaps he saw Hilal’s demeanor of bestowing

the mansion in peshkash to him as personal insult which he tried to answer

back by actually occupying it.

Though the official histories speak out mainly of the special

qualities of the chosen eunuch officers, we find that their slave status and

physical form came in way of gaining wider social respectability. 45 Even

Abul Fazl while discussing the appointment of Itimad Khan to a very

responsible office does not miss to mention that those who were in the

‘corner or contempt came forward on account of emperor’s brilliant

44
Shaikh Farid Bhakkari, Zakhiratu’l Khawanin (1649-51), ed. Syed
Moinul Haq, Karachi, 1941,vol.I, p.192.While Maasir-ul- Umara and
Zakhirat-ul—Khawanin mention Khwaja Hilal as an ex-slave of Mir Abul
Qasim Khan Namakin. Blochmann has found Hilal to be an ex-slave of Said
Khan that would have more complicated the matter. Ain-i-
Akbari,tr.Blochmann, op.cit,vol. I, p.352.

45
A remark such as this coming from a ruler of 16th century regional state of Gujarat,
where eunuch officers enjoyed great patronage and power, suggests what type of ridicule
they could be subjected to on account of their sexual limitation. The ruler rebuked his
officer, Hujjat-ul-Mulk, (who was granted the title of Khan Jahan and Police Magistracy
over the city of Ahmedabad) when he erred, saying: ‘O fool, what shall I say to you. If
you were a man, I would have reviled you by calling you a coward; if you were a woman,
I would have called you unchaste, you are neither man nor woman, but the bad qualities
of both are present in you’. Mirat-i-Sikandari, op.cit, p.218.
perspicacity’. 46 Often the resentment against any eunuch-officers harped upon

his physical deformity, his effeminate characterstics, his closeness to

womanly nature and association with women etc. Badauni speaks of Itimad’s

influence at Akbar’s court as a ‘time will come on men, when none will

become favourites but profligates, and none be thought witty but the

obscene…. And then the government shall be by the counsel of women, and

the rule of boys and the management of eunuchs’. 47

The eunuchs of Akbar’s court, however as we see, were

gradually withdrawn from the interiors of the harem. Abul Fazl’s description

of Akbar’s zenana speaks of the inside of the harem guarded by sober and

active women; ‘the most trustworthy of them are placed about the apartments

of his Majesty. Outside the enclosures the eunuchs are placed; and at proper

distance, there is a guard of Rajputs, beyond whom are porters at the gates’. 48

This is also borne out by the miniatures bringing out the later scenes from

Akbar’s harem. The scenes on rejoicing at birth of princes depict only female

forms in the interior. In the birth-scene of prince Salim 49 is seen a female

servant handing over a tray to male form at the entrance. A fat figure

carrying a mace, inclined towards the wall of zenana is visible. Theses

figures are similar to those found within the interiors, in the paintings

discussed above. In the scene depicting the birth of prince Murad 50 we see

stout male figures at the entrance with mace. In this area were also seen

women servants and performers, but behind this is an all female quarter.

46
Akbarnama, vol.II, pp.178-9.
47
Muntakhabu-t-Tawarikh, vol.II,p.65.
48
Ain-i-Akbari,ed. Nawal Kishore, op.cit, vol I, p.31.
49
Geeti Sen, op.cit, pl. 56,57.
50
Art from the Mughal City of Victory, op.cit, , p. 38, fig.2
 Such an arrangement would have come up with growing

demarcation of male and female sections and stricter rules of purdah observed

by ladies of the harem. The palace structures at Fatehpur Sikri, recognizable

as female quarters clearly bring out the rigours of purdah that came to be

followed by then. By Monserrate’s account the process must have been

complete by 1580s. 51 In the description of dining hall he writes ‘they (the

dishes) are carried by youths to the door of the dining hall, other servants

walking ahead and the master-of –the household following. Here they are

taken by the eunuchs, who hand them to the serving girls who wait on the

table’. This was the intermediate space between the zenana quarters and the

male section, frequented by eunuchs (and also women servants and

performers, whose nature of jobs afforded them much liberty to mix).

The eunuch- staff thus gradually appear not in attendance to

women inside the harem, but posted as guards at the entrances of zenana. The

administration of harem, as discussed in a separate chapter in Ain, was

carried out by an elaborate women staff. 52 There were women body guards

‘sober and active women……placed about the apartments her Majesty’. The

security of the harem thus had an elaborate system of guards, the eunuchs

being one of these at the entrance and the urdu-begis (female body guards)

guarding the inside of the zenana.

Abul Fazl notices different categories of eunuchs by the process of

castration, which might also indicate the concern for social distance with

51
Fr. Antonio Monserrate (1590-91) Mongolicae Legationis
Commentaries, tr. J.S. Hoyland and S.N. Banerjee, Commentary on His
Journey to the Court of Akbar, Jalandhar,reprint 1999,p.199.
52
Ain-i-Akbari,ed. Nawal Kishore, op.cit, vol I, p.31
 women. 53 The castration removed the male organ partially or completely,

sometimes the operation could not severe the crucial part that could cause

impregnation. Even if it was done, the anxieties over male touch would have

been there. As close proximity between the women and eunuchs could not

have been avoided, instead a strict discipline was enforced and any

misconduct severely punished. From Jahangir’s period, Roe reports of an

instance of exemplary punishment given to a eunuch and a concubine of

emperor who were found kissing. 54 The eunuch was trampled to death by an

elephant before the women who was placed in a pit to stay without food and

water with her hand and shoulders continually exposed to the sun.

De Laet informs that the concubines were protected by a strong guard

and ‘if any of these guardsmen does anything amiss, the royal concubines

decide how he shall be punished and see that the punishment is duly

inflicted’. 55 Eunuchs by this account do not appear as guardians of harem,

spying over women, keeping them in place or as agents to cater male

jealousies about women, as has been emphasized in most European

narratives. Rather greater say on enforcement of proper conduct lay with

women. Eunuch’s conduct had been also under surveillance.

One does not know the motivation for Jahangir’s unprecedented

attack on the practice of castration that made eunuchs. Akbar who had taken

strict action against enslavement, releasing his slaves (in 1582), calling them

chelas, and a number of emancipatory steps for them, had hardly paid

53
ibid., ed. Blochmann, bib. Ind.,pp.389-91.
54
Sir Thomas Roe, Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to India, 1615-19, ed. William
Foster, new and rev. ed., Jalandhar, 1926, reprint 1993, pp.190-91.
55
De Laet, p.99.
attention to this practice. 56 But in spite of the tall claims for abolishing the

practice and the trade in eunuchs, this could hardly stop 57 considering its

viability for the security of the harem which could be taken care of along

with ensuring appropriate degree of privacy and seclusion for women.

The seventeenth century accounts of harem by European travelers,

though full of amorous and graphic details, and as we know should be treated

with caution; Manucci chance to be conveyed in the harem by eunuchs makes

his account about them plausible. 58 He writes about the nazirs, who were

guardians or superintendents of the property and income of kings, princes,

queens and princess, who appear powerful as all officials and servants under

him were bound to report to him, then are the eunuchs posted at the gates ‘to

see who comes in and out of the harem’. Besides, ‘ there were eunuchs

‘young and old, of which some have access to the Mahal, either to carry

billets or to do other messages, as the service of person employing them

requires’. Eunuchs thereby also served inside the harem,

However if we try to find eunuch figures, of the same type that we

have found earlier in the paintings either within or outside of zenana, it is

hardly forthcoming. These paintings of zenana (of the interior female

quarters only and not of the entire palace area shown in a single frame, as

done previously) show only females. One could see that either the eunuchs

were not considered worthy of portrayal or quite possibly the attire of

eunuchs serving inside the harem became indistinguishable from women.

56
Akbarnama,vol.pp.159-60; vol.III,pt.I,pp.379-80. Jahangir described it as an old
practice that should have been banned by his predecessors.
57
Tuzuk-i Jahangiri (1624), ed. Saiyyad Ahmad, Aligarh, 1864, pp.71-
2,112,120,324,328.
58
Manucci, op.cit.,vol.II, p.328.
Though quite conjectural, we find in a painting depicting scene of prince’s

birth (by Bishandas) c.1610, 59 three figures among the many women figures;

all women dressed alike except these three with male head wears and

costumes different from the women amidst whom they stand. These though

have slender figures, sharp features and ornaments like necklace and ear-

rings with loop around ears. One is tempted further towards suggesting the

possibility of a category of eunuch that were in mixed attire inside the harem,

and by allowing considerations about looks and physical features and making

distinctions among them as Kafuri, Sandali, Badami etc, 60 was perhaps to

promote a more feminine identity.

The harems of the nobles could not have had as much elaborate tier-

arrangement like that of royal establishment with a large range of servants

and guards. Instead the logistics for administration, security, service along

with the care of women could be effectively carried out by the same body of

eunuchs. Said khan had collected a body of 1,200 eunuchs, one Ikhtiyar Khan

was his vakil, another Itibar Khan, the faujdar of his jagir. 61 The European

narratives similarly give vivid description of presence of eunuchs, their

affluence and power they wielded etc. in the aristocratic houses. ‘They can

get whatever they desire – fine horses to ride, servants to attend them

outside, and female slaves inside the house, clothes as fine and smart as those

of their master himself’. 62 The narrative however simply foregrounds the

59
Stuart C. Welch, The Art of Mughal India, Painting and Precious Objects, Asia House
Gallery Publication, 1963, pl.26.
60
Cf. Salim Kidwai, ‘Sultan, Eunuchs and Domestics in Medieval India’, eds. Utsa
Patnaik and Manjari Dingwaney, Chains of Servitude and Bondage, Sangam Prakashan,
New Delhi, 1985
61
Ain-i-Akbari, tr. Blochmann,vol.I, pp.351-2.
62
Francisco Pelsaert (1626), Remonstrantie, tr. Moreland and Geyl,
Jahangir’s India, Cambridge, 1925, reprint, Delhi, 1972, pp.65-6. The usual
sexuality of female life in zenana as reasons for their affluence, for reasons

we understand.

point made was that the wives were bound to do all this so that whatever
happens in the house is concealed from the husband while the master bestows
largesse on eunuchs to keep him informed of all that happens at his house.