A Note on the Trade in Eunuchs in Mughal Bengal

Author(s): Gavin Hambly

Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society , Jan. - Mar., 1974, Vol. 94, No. 1
(Jan. - Mar., 1974), pp. 125-130
Published by: American Oriental Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/599739

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Journal of the American Oriental Society

This content downloaded from

202.41.10.106 on Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:34:01 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 HAMBLY: Eunuchs in Mughal Bengal 125

rme-ba "speck, mole; un- smre-ba "to speak ill of, from Benedict's TB *m-rang. The origin of WT rta
clean, defiled" revile"9 "horse" and its relationship to TB *m-rang remains ob-
In spite of the vowel discrepancy we are also tempted scure.

to compare the following: W. SOUTH COBLIN

rmo-sngags "wailing, lamen- smre-sngags "wailing, la- UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

tation" mentation"
The metathesis (rm- < *mr-, except after s-) suggest-
ed now allows us to derive early WT rmang "horse" a., g7t
from an earlier *mrang which is comparable with such
forms as WB mreng "horse" and may be directly derived

this and its other senses can be found in Thomas (1951)

and (1952). c -X ' R %
9 This sense of smre-ba is attested in Sarat Chandra Das,
A Tibetan-English Dictionary with Sanskrit Synonyms,
Alipore, 1902 (reprint 1960), and in Dge-bshes chos-kyi
grags-pas brtsams-pa' i brda-dag ming-tshig gsal-ba bzhugs- ?, ^ %^
so, Peking, 1957, which attributes its entry to Das.

A
A note
noteononthe
the
trade
trade
in eunuchs
in eunuchs
in Mughul
in Mughul
Bengal Bengal

The
Thehistory
historyof of
slavery
slavery
and slave-trading
and slave-trading
in the Indian
in thesub-continent
Indian sub-continent
has hitherto has
re- hitherto re-
ceived
ceivedscant
scantattention
attention
fromfrom
the historians.
the historians.
It seemsItprobable,
seems probable,
however, that
however,
at all periods
that at all periods
prior
priortotothe
the
19th
19th
century
century
India India
contained
contained
a very substantial
a very substantial
population population
of slaves of one
of kind
slaves of one kind
or
or another,
another, mainly
mainlyin some
in some
formform
of domestic
of domestic
servitude.
servitude.
The following
The paper
following
brings paper
together
brings together
the
the fragmentary
fragmentaryevidence
evidence
for one
forhighly
one highly
specialized
specialized
form of slave-trading
form of slave-trading
peculiar to Bengal.
peculiar to Bengal.
Eunuchs
Eunuchswere
wereubiquitous
ubiquitous
in the
inpolygamous
the polygamous
societiessocieties
of the subcontinent,
of the subcontinent,
whether Hindu whether
or Hindu or
Muslim,
Muslim,butbut
they
they
werewere
always
always
comparatively
comparatively
few in numbers
few in and
numbers
so the demand
and so remained
the demand remained
constant
constantand
and
thethe
price
price
paid paid
for them
for them
consistently
consistently
high. There
high.
must
There
have been
mustsome
have
feeling
been some feeling
of
of dislike
dislikefor
for
thethe
practice-the
practice-the
Mughul
Mughul
Padshah, Padshah,
Jahangir,Jahangir,
is a case inispoint-but
a case in
eunuchs
point-but eunuchs
remained
remaineda feature
a feature
of court
of court
and harem
and harem
life as long
life as
as there
long were
as there
courtswere
and harems
courtstoand
re- harems to re-
quire their services.

During the
the 16th
16th and
and 17th
17th centuries
centuriesthe
thesibah
sibahof
ofBengal
Bengalthis reputation
reputation is is uncertain,3
uncertain,3but
butasasearly
earlyasasthe
thesecond
second
enjoyed
enjoyed an
an unenviable
unenviable reputation
reputationas asthe
theprincipal
principalsource
sourcehalf of
of the
the 13th
13th century
centuryMarco
MarcoPolo,
Polo,although
althoughpersonally
personally
of eunuchs
eunuchs for
for the
the entire
entire Mughul
MughulEmpire,
Empire,a areputation
reputation
noted by
by aa number
number of of European
Europeanwriters
writersand
andfully
fullycon-
con- 3 It is
is not
not suggested
suggested that
thatBengal
Bengalwas
wasananexclusive
exclusivesource
source
firmed by
by Abu'l
Abu'l Fazl
Fazl in
in the
the A'in-i
A'in-iAkbari.1
Akbari.1TheThesarkars
sarkarsof Indian eunuchs. Eunuchs could be "manufactured"
of Ghoraghat
Ghoraghat andand Sylhet
Sylhet were
were especially
especiallyassociated
associatedwith
withanywhere but some degree of surgical skill (implying a
this commerce.2
commerce.2 At At what
what period
periodBengal
Bengalfirst
firstacquired
acquiredtradition) was necessary if the death-rate was not to
become astronomical. Hence certain regions on the fringes
1 Abf'l Fail
Fail 'Allami:
'Allami: A'in-i
A'in-i Akbari,
Akbari,ed. ed.H.
H.Blochmann,
Blochmann,of the Ddr al-Isldm-Bengal, Java, Nubia, for example-
2 vols., Calcutta,
Calcutta, 1869-77,
1869-77, vol.
vol. I,I,pp.
pp.389-390.
389-390.Describing
Describingcame to be associated with the trade. In the case of
the harems
harems of
of Mughul
Mughul India,
India, Francisco
FranciscoPelsaert
Pelsaertrefers
referstotoJava, Varthema wrote at the beginning of the 16th cen-
the eunuchs
eunuchs as
as being
being "merely
"merely purchased
purchasedBengali
Bengalislaves."
slaves."tury:
W. H. Moreland and P. Geyl: Jahangir's India. The "... in this island there are a kind of merchants, who
Remonstrantie of Francisco Pelsaert, Cambridge, 1925, follow no other trade excepting that of purchasing little
p. 47. children, from whom they cut off in their childhood
2 A'in-i Akbari, vol. I, p. 390. everything, and they remain like women. "

This content downloaded from

202.41.10.106 on Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:34:01 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 126 Journal of the American Oriental Society 94.1 (1974)

unacquainted with the region, was well informed regarding eunuchs in Bengal than in any other part of the world.
the trade. A great many of them are eunuchs."5 Duarte Barbosa's
"There are many eunuchs," he wrote, "and from this account is somewhat more informative:
province all the nobles and gentlemen from the neigh- "The Moorish merchants of this city [Bengala6] ofttimes
bouring provinces are provided with them .... Indian travel up country to buy Heathen boys froin their
merchants come to this province, and buy the eunuchs parents or from other persons who steal them and
I have mentioned, and also many slaves, and then castrate them, so that they are left quite flat. Many
they.take them to divers other countries to sell theindie from this; those who live they train well and sell
again. Eunuchs and slaves are very numerous, becausethem. They value them much as guardians of their
all who are taken prisoners by those people, are straight- women and estates and for other low objects. These
way castrated, and then sold."4 eunuchs they hold in high esteem as men of upright
Marco Polo's account differs in several respects from character, and some of them become their lords' factors,
later accounts: he does not specify a traffic in castrated and some Governours and Captains of the Moorish
children, he does not mention the custom of providing Kings, so that they become very rich and have great
eunuchs in lieu of land revenue payments, and he implies estates. "7
that the majority of eunuchs were originally prisoners- The demand for eunuchs in India was undoubtedly
of-war. In other respects, however, the information very ancient.8 First and foremost, they were required as
which he provides confirms the accounts written two or
three centuries later, e.g., that the trade was firmly 5 Cortesao: op. cit., vol. I, p. 88.
established and widely-known, and that its victims were6 Probable Gaur (Lakhnawtl), the capital of the Sul-
not employed exclusively in Bengal or the neighbouring tanate. See Armando Cortesao: "The 'City of Bengala'
territories but were also available to meet the demand of in early Reports," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
distant markets. Two European accounts of Bengal in of Bengal, (Letters), vol. XI, 1945, pp. 10-14.
the first half of the 16th century, both dating from the 7 M. L. Dames: The Book of Duarte Barbosa, 2 vols.,
reign of Sullan 'Ala al-Din I-usain Shah (899-925 A.H./ London, 1918-1921, vol. II, p. 147. Barbosa's comment
1494-1519 A.D.), link the trade in eunuchs with Bengal. regarding the upward mobility of court eunuchs in Bengal
Thus Tome Pires wrote of the inhabitants of Bengal in is confirmed in Castanheda: "Das portas a detro se serue
com capados que por tempo faz grandes senhores & gou-
the Suma Oriental: "They are more in the habit of having
vernadores de cidades q na lingoa da terra se cham5o
See J. W. Jones: The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema,lascares . . ." See Pedro de Azevedo: Hist6ria do Desco-
London, 1863, p. 258. Similarly, Tome Pires wrote abrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses po
decade later, in 1513: Ferndo Lopes de Castanheda, 4 vols., Coimbra, 3rd edn.,
1924-33, vol. II, p. 441. The wealth of the Mughul court
"They have a great many eunuchs in Java. They go
about dressed in women's clothes; they wear their hair eunuchs was proverbial. In his description of Agra during
on top of the middle of their heads like a diadem. Theythe reign of Shah Jahan, Tavernier writes:
serve as guards for the women, because the Javanese "As for the tombs in Agra and its environs, there are
are very jealous meii, and no one sees their woman, some which are very beautiful, and every eunuch in the
except among the common people. But every noble- Emperor's harem is ambitious to have as magnificent
man, knight or rich man is careful that his women shall a tomb built for himself. When they have amassed
be seen by no one, and they are more ready to die large sums they earnestly desire to go to Mecca, and
about this than about anything else. The land is so take with them rich presents; but the Great Mogul,
much accustomed to this that they do not fail in any who does not wish the money to leave his country,
point of this custom and they keep it entirely." very seldom grants them permission, and consequently,
See Armando Cortesao: The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires, not knowing what to do with their wealth, they expend
2 vols., London, 1944, vol. I, p. 178. It may be noted, the greater part of it in these burying-places, and thus
leave some memorial."
en passant, that it was estimated that during the 19th
century the annual average quota of 3,800 eunuchs to See W. Crooke: Travels in India by Jean- Baptiste Tavernier,
reach the Middle East from the Sudan involved a mortal- 2 vols., London, 2nd edn., 1925, vol. I, p. 89.
ity rate approaching 35,0001 See P. C. Remondino: 8 Eunuchs are mentioned, for example, in the Manu-
History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the samhita, although clearly viewed in a perjorative light.
Present, Philadelphia, 1900, p. 100. See G. Buhler: The Laws of Manu, Oxford, 1886, pp. 103,
4 L. F. Benedetto: The Travels of Marco Polo, London, 161 and 372. Characteristically, the Arthashastra views
1931, p. 203. them from a more practical point of view. See R. P.

This content downloaded from

202.41.10.106 on Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:34:01 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 HAMBLY: Eunuchs in Mughal Bengal 127

guardians of the womenfolk of those affluent enough toAlthough eunuchs had doubtless been a feature of life
be able to maintain a harem.9 Then again, they were in Bengal prior to the Turkish conquests of the close of
much sought after as confidential servants, to watch over the 12th century it is probable that with the coming of
their masters' interests. In the case of eunuchs in the these invaders, and especially after the establishment of
service of a ruling dynasty, these not infrequently rose an independent Sultanate by Fakhr al-Din Mubarak Shill
to high office and great responsibilities, as in the case in 739 A.H./1338 A.D., there must have been an increased
of Malik IKafur, the general of 'Alf al-Din Muhammad demand for eunuchs to manage the extensive harems and
Shah Khalji of Delhi.10 Castrated boys were also in households of the new ruling elite. Eunuchs in Bengal
demand for purposes of sexual perversion and, finally, under the Sultains were of two kinds, native and foreign,
castrants played a part in the cult-ritual of certain an- the latter consisting mainly of habshi slaves shipped from
tominian sects.11 Abyssinia or from the ports of East Africa. The first
ruler of Bengal to employ habshi slaves in extensive num-
Kangle: The Kautilya Arthasdstra, 2 vols., Bombay, bers was Rukn al-Din Barbak Shah (864-879 A.H./1459-
1960-63, vol. II, pp. 57 and 58. 1474 A.D.), who enlisted eight thousand in his service.12
For a detailed account of Indian eunuchs, see N. IM. Under his successors, Shams al-Din Yfisuf Shfh (879-
Penzer: The Ocean of Story, being C. H. Tawney's Trans- 886 A.H./1474-1481 A.D.), Sikandar Shah II (886 A.H./
lation of Somadeva's Kathd Sarit Sdgara, 10 vols., London, 1481 A.D.), and Jalal al-Din Fath Shah (886-892 A.H./1481-
1924-28, vol. III, pp. 319-329. 1487 A.D.), these ghuldms grew increasingly powerful and
9 As an Englishman of the late 17th century quaintlywhen Jalal al-Din Fath Shah attempted to break their
expressed it: monopoly of power they had him assassinated. The throne
"Neither the Moors nor Gentues of accompt admitt theire was then seized by a eunuch known as Sultan Shfhzadeh,
Wifes or Concubines to gad abroad, but keep them who assumed the title of Barbak Shah in 892 A.H./1487
within doors, attended by Eunuchs and younge Girles."A.D. and who was presumably both a tzabshi and a slave.
See R. C. Temple: A Geographical Account of Countries He was overthrown in turn by Mailik Andil, a ihabshi slave
round the Bay of Bengal, 1669 to 1679, by Thomas Bowrey,
who thereafter assumed the title of Saif al-Din Firfiz Shih
Cambridge, 1905, p. 207. John Fryer, a contemporary, (892-895 A.H./1487-1489 A.D.). The next ruler, Nasir al-
shared Bowrey's views: Din Mahmfid Shfh II (895-896 A.H./1490-91 A.D.), was
"The Moors are by Nature plagued with Jealousy, a son of Jalal al-Din Fath Shahi but, being a minor, his
cloistring their Wives up, and sequestring them the brief reign was dominated by two habshi 'mayors of the
sight of any besides the Capon that watches them." palace,' Habash Khan and Sidi Badr. The latter eventual-
See William Crooke: A New Account of East India and ly seized the throne, which he mounted as Shams al-Din
Persia, being nine years' travels, 1672-1681, by John Muzaffar Shah (896-899 A.H./1491-94 A.D.), only to be
Fryer, 3 vols., London, 1909-1915, vol. I, p. 89. It was overthrown in turn by 'Ala al-Din Husain Shah.13 One
not unusual for 17th century Englishmen to refer to eu- of the most pressing tasks facing the latter on seizing the
nuchs as capons. Regarding the Mughul women, Fryer throne was to rid himself of his slave-praetorians who
felt tempted to assume from "the number of Spies uponwere mostly expelled from the Sultan's territories, dis-
them, of Toothless Old Women, and Beardless Eunuchs, persing towards Gujarat and the Deccan.14 They did not,
that they are incontinent in their Desires." See ibid., however,
vol. altogether disappear from the scene since Tome
I, p. 328.
10 Another outstanding example of a eunuch success-
story was that of Malik Sarwar, a former slave of Sultin the article, 'Androgyny,' with an appended reading-
Firuz Shah Tughluq, who first served as vazir under the list, in Benjamin Walker: Hindu World. An Encyclo-
title of Khwfj a Jahan to both Sultan 'Ala al-Din Sikandarpaedic Survey of Hinduism, 2 vols., London, 1968, vol. I,
Shfh Tughluq and Sultan Mahmud Nisir al-Din Shah pp. 43-45; also N. M. Penzer: op. cit., pp. 321-325.
Tughluq, and thereafter became the founder of the 12 W. Haig: The Cambridge History of India, Cambridge,
Sultanate of Jaunpur, with the title of Sultan as-Sharq 1928, vol. III, p. 268. For habshis in general, see J. Burton-
(796-802 A.H./1394-1399 A.D.). The Mughul dynasty ap- Page: 'Habshi', Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn., London/
pears to have employed eunuchs in administrative posts Leiden, 1971, vol. III, pp. 14-16.
rather less than other Indo-Muslim dynasties, notwith- 13 Firishta: Gulshan-i Ibrahimi, tr. John Briggs, 4 vols.,
standing Fryer's gibe that "Eunuchs wedded to their London, 1829, vol. IV, pp. 341-350. In writing this
Master's Concerns, were promoted from the dregs of paper I have not had access to an original text of the
Slavery to Empire .. ." See Crooke: op. cit., vol. II, p. 52.Gulshan-i Ibrdhimi.
11 For the role of castrants in antominian sects, see 14 Firishta: op.cit., vol. IV, p. 350.

This content downloaded from

202.41.10.106 on Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:34:01 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
128 Journal of the American Oriental Society 94.1 (1974)

Pires found them still very much in evidence in the second In any case, the habshi eunuchs of Bengal must have
decade of the 16th century. He writes: been regarded as distinctly exotic. Most eunuchs would
"The people who govern the kingdom are Abyssinians. have been native Bengalis and, as such, were either articles
These are looked upon as knights; they are greatly of commerce in the sense that other Bengali slaves were,
esteemed; they wait on the kings in their apartments. or were used as a form of tribute sent to the Sultan's
The chief among them are eunuchs and these come to court, as happened in Sylhet. When, following the Mughul
be kings and great lords in the kingdom. Those who conquest of Bengal, the Sultan's court was replaced by
are not eunuchs are fighting men. After the king it a sibahdari headquarters, such precious commodities
is to this people that the kingdom is obedient from would have been almost all forwarded to wherever the
fear. "15 Imperial Court was in residence.20 The practice of sendin
Pires states that at least some of the prominent liabshis
slaves (generally beautiful slave-girls or eunuchs) as trib
in the Sultanate were eunuchs but it is far from clear ute to an overlord or as gifts to a neighbouring ruler wa
whether all or any of the Sultans and Sultan-makers of course, an ancient one. More specifically, however,
between 1486 and 1493 were eunuchs, apart from Barbak it is possible that the practice of sending eunuchs from
Shah who is specifically designated as such.16 BlochmannBengal to the Imperial Court, as described in the A'in-i
regarded such names as Kaffr (camphor),17 Qaranfil Akbari and the Tlzuk-i Jahdngiri, dates back to the reign
(clove), Firfizeh (turquoise). Alnias (diamond), Y'aqft of Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq (752-790 A.H./1351-80 A.D.),
carnelian), Habash Khan, Andil and SidI Badr as evidencewhose policy it was to have slaves sent to Delhi in lieu
that their possessors were eunuchs.18 It is true that of eu-revenue payments.21 At all events, it appears to have
nuchs were frequently given the names of precious stonesbeen the usual practice until Jahangir intervened with
and spices but during this period of liabshi domination orders to discontinue it.

such names as Kaffir, Habash Khan, Andil and Sidi Badr According to Jahangir, several attempts had been mad
are surely indicative of African origin rather than of prior to the 17th century to put a stop to it. If this wer
emasculation.19 so, it is not unlikely that Akbar was among the rulers
who attempted to stamp it out since Abu'l Fail specifical-
ly mentions his master's interest in the welfare of his own
15 Cortesao: op. cit., vol. I, p. 88. household slaves.22 The fact must be recognized, however,
16 Firishta: op. cit., vol. IV, pp. 340-341. that Muslim society always maintained an ambivalent
17 The word kadfr can mean, in addition to 'camphor,'
attitude towards the practice of human castration, a prac-
'whiteness' and as such was applied derisively to African tice derived from Sasanid Iran or Byzantium and which,
slaves. See F. Steingass: A Comprehensive Persian-English under the 'Abbasid Caliphs, became endemic among the
Dictionary, London, 1957, p. 1007. Blochmann, in a dif- Muslim ruling elite. Islamic Law strictly forbade emascu-
ferent context, assumes a double meaning for Kaffir, lation and its prevention was among the varied duties
meaning 'camphor,' since camphor was believed to con-attached to the office of muhtasib23 but so great was the
tribute to impotence. See A'in-i Akbari, tr. H. Bloch- popularity of eunuchs that, notwithstanding the fact that
mann, H. S. Jarrett, and J. Sarkar, 3 vols., Calcutta, they were the most expensive category of slaves, the
1927-49, vol. I, p. 419. This and later references to the demand seems to have remained constant. The operation
A'in-i Akbari refer to the English translation, as I have
had only partial access to the Persian text. 20 Jahangir: Tuzuk-i Jahdngiri, tr. A. Rogers and H.
18 H. Blochmann: 'Contributions to the Geography Beveridge, 2 vols., 1909-14, vol. I, 150. In writing this
and History of Bengal (Muhammedan Period)', Journal article I have not had access to an original text of the
of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. XLII, part 1, Tuzuk-i
1873, Jahdngiri.
p. 286. On this analogy, it would seem likely that21 theShams al-Din ibn Siraj al-Din 'Afif: Ta'rikh-i Firiz
slave-boy, Lulu ('pearl'), purchased by a companion Shdhi,
of ed. Maulavi Vilayat Husain, Calcutta, 1891, pp. 268-
269.
Ibn Battuta during his stay in Bengal was also a eunuch.
22 A'in-i Akbari, tr. H. Blochmann, vol. I, pp. 263-
See M. Husain: The Rezila of Ibn Battuta, Baroda, 1953,
264.
p. 235.
23 R. Levy: The Mia'dlim al-qurba fi ahkamn al-h.isba
19 For the association of the name Kafiur with African
of Diyd' al-Din Mluhammad ibn Muhammad al-Qurashi
slaves, see above, footnote no. 17. Habash Khan clearly
al Shafi'i, London, 1938, p. 76. For a Muslim apologist's
implies habshi origin. The term Sidi in India was almost
invariably applied to Africans. See H. Yule and A. views
C. on the subject of human castration, see Syed Ameer
Burnell: Hobson-Jobson London, 1903, p. 806. I have been Ali: The Spirit of Islam, revised edn., London, 1935,
unable to trace any associations with the name Andil. p. 267.

This content downloaded from

202.41.10.106 on Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:34:01 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 HAMBLY: Eunuchs in Mughal Bengal 129

was generally performed by non-Muslims on the fringes Court who was so taken with them that he maintained
of the Ddr al-Islam who thereafter sold the boys to Muslim a disorderly establishment of twelve thousand29-and
merchants, as was probably the case in Bengal. Elsewhere, throughout the 17th century the trade continued un-
the victims were generally purchased by Muslim mer- abated. Francois Pyrard, a French traveller who was in
chants who arranged for the operation to be performed Bengal just prior to the issue of the imperial farman
by specialists from a minority group, e.g., Coptic monks forbidding the "eunuch tribute" noted the great preva-
in Upper Egypt.24 lence of the trade and the way it operated.
Jahangir seems to have regarded with abhorrence what "One of the greatest trades in Bengal is in slaves; for
was virtually a system of "eunuch tribute" and thus, in there is a certain land subject to this king [Sylhet?]
1017 A.H./1608 A.H., he sent orders to the subahdar of Ben- where fathers sell their children, and give them to the
gal, Islam Khan, to make an end of a practice whereby king as tribute; so most of the slaves in India are got
the inhabitants of Sylhet castrated children and sent them from hence. Many of the merchants castrate them,
to the sibah headquarters in lieu of revenue payments, cutting them when they are young, and not only the
a practice which was spreading to other sarkdrs and al- testicles, but also the entire organ.30 I have seen many
legedly becoming very common. Henceforth, the Padshah of this kind, who appeared to have but a little hole
commanded, the making of eunuchs should be treated for the passage of water. This is in order to put them
as a capital offence and Islam Khan was instructed to in charge of the women, and the keys of the house;
assume charge of any castrated children known to be in they trust them in all things, and never their wives."31
private hands.25 Previous rulers had attempted to put Further information about the trade is, unfortunately,
down this practice but where others had failed he, Jahan- lacking, apart from a passage in the A'in-i Akbari which
gir, would succeed. lists three categories of eunuchs from Bengal: sandali,
Several passages in the Tuzuk-i Jahangiri refer back bddami, and kdafiri. In the case of the first category,
to this decision. In 1019/1610, for example, there is a also known as atlasi, the entire genitals were removed;
record of Afzal Khan, subahddr of Bihar, sending to the in the second, part of the penis was left funtioning; in the
Imperial Court several persons found guilty of castrating third, the testicles were either crushed or cut off.32 No
children, and these were sentenced to life-imprisonment.26 special significance need be attributed to the use of the
In 1022 A.H./1613 A.D. Islam Khan sent to the Court words sandali (sandalwood), badami (almond) and kdfari
fifty eunuchs as part of the tribute from Bengal.27 These (camphor), terms for odours or flavours traditionally used
were, one would hope, some of the young eunuchs from in the nomenclature of eunuchs. The fact that Kafur,
private households rounded up at the Padshah's behest meaning whiteness, was a nickname given to black slaves,33
some six years earlier. The same explanation would ac- and that sandalwood is a light-coloured wood at first sug-
count for the action of a later sfbahdar, Ibrahim Khangested to the writer that the use of these terms might be
Fath Jang, who in 1030 A.H./1621 A.D. sent two eunuchsconnected with the colour of a eunuch's skin but, on re-
to the Court, and several more in the following year,
flection, this explanation seems unlikely unless, indeed,
including a hermaphrodite, presumably as a curiosity.28
there was a relationship between the colour of a slave
In any case, irrespective of Jahangir's personal feelings,
(i.e., his land of origin) and the form of emasculation to
there was no falling off in the demand for eunuchs-there which he was subjected.
is a case of a prominent nobleman at his and his father's
29 This was Sa'id Khan Chaghatai, who in the course
24 See, e.g., J. L. Burckhardt: Travels in Nubia, London,
of a highly successful career served as subahdar of the
1822, pp. 294-296, and Remondino: op. cit., pp. 98-99. Panjab, Bengal and Bihar. See A'in-i Akbari, tr. H.
25 Jahangir: op. cit., vol. I, pp. 150-151. Islam KhanBlochmann, vol. I, pp. 351-352, and Jahangir: op. cit.,
was sibahddr of Bengal, 1017-22 A.H./1608-13 A.D. It is vol. I, pp. 12-13.
probable that these orders proved ineffectual, as in the 30 Cf. Remondino: op. cit., pp. 98-100.
case of a number of others promulgated at the beginning 31 A. Gray and H. L. P. Bell: The Voyage of Francois
of this reign. Presumably Jahangir saw no point in in- Pyrard of Laval to the East Indies, the Maldives, the
tervening in the case of adult eunuchs. Moluccas and Brazil, 2 vols., 1887-90, vol. I, p. 332.
26 Jahangir: op. cit., vol. I, p. 168. Afzal Khan wasAt the close of the 17th century Bengal was still known
subahdar of Bihar, 1017-21 A.H./1608-12 A.D. for its export of "Slave boys and Girls," and no doubt
27 Ibid, vol. I, p. 247. the former included some eunuchs. See Temple: op. cit.,
28 Ibid, vol. II, pp. 194-195, and 201. Ibrahim Khan 290.
Fath Jang was sibahdar of Bengal, 1026-32 A.H./1617- 32 Abii'l Fail: op. cit., vol. I, pp. 389-390.
23 A.D. 33 See above, footnote no. 17.

This content downloaded from

202.41.10.106 on Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:34:01 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
130 Journal of the American Oriental Society 94.1 (1974)

Regarding the general pattern of the trade, it appears can experience.35 Exaggerated or not, the story casts a
that the merchants were mainly Muslims and that they flicker of light upon the unrecorded private world of
purchased the chilrdren either direct from their parents or these inscrutable figures who were an ever-present ele-
from kidnappers who had already castrated them. Where ment in court politics and the daily life of the ruling elite.
this was not the case, the merchants must have arranged The sources are silent as to the manner in which this
for the operation to be undertaken by specialist surgeons, ancient, evil commerce died out in Bengal-it was cer-
perhaps Hindus of the baidya caste. Some passages imply tainly never stamped out-and it seems likely that it
that parents knowingly sold their children to become survived on a restricted scale into the 19th century. With
eunuchs: the motives here may seem difficult for the the disintegration of the Mughul Empire came disruption
modern mind to fathom but dire poverty, long-established of long-established patterns of trade but it may be safely
custom and the need to meet the revenue demands of assumed that the demand for eunuchs in nawabi Bengal
the government (the Mughuls, for example, regularlyand sold
Awadh remained unabated, even if, in the case of
Bengal,
revenue defaulters and their families into slavery34) wouldthe traffic was less conspicuous after the suppres-
sion
have been among the likely incentives. Moreover, of the Murshidabad darbdr. In the case of Awadh,
since
eunuchs often acquired great wealth and influence however,
it may eunuchs appear frequently in the pages of Euro-
pean travel-writers down to the final extinction of the
have been reckoned an advantage in a society accustomed
to the idea of human castration to have at least one Lucknow darbar in 1856.36 It would be comforting,
member of a poor family in a position to win the although
ear of perhaps unduly optimistic, to assume that the
the affluent and the powerful. Such, certainly, Mughul
is the trade in eunuchs finally came to an end with
implication behind a story told by Manucci, who no Wiajid
doubt 'Ali Shah's installation in his quarters at Garden
Reach.37
embroidered it in the telling, regarding a certain Mutamid
GAVIN HAMBLY
or I'tibar, a eunuch high in the favour of Aurangzeb
who made him jailer of the deposed Shah Jahan. AtYALE
theUNIVERSITY
time when he had become one of the most influential
figures at the Imperial Court his parents travelled from
35 Manucci: op.cit., vol. II, pp. 78-79. His words, ac-
Bengal to Agra to visit him for the first time since hiscording to Manucci, were:
"How have ye the great temerity to come into my pre-
departure from the family hearth, and also no doubt
to derive some profit from his exalted position. Far from
sence after you have consumed the price of my body,
being delighted to see them, the eunuch kept them waiting
and having been the cause, by emasculating me, of
for several days at the gate of his house and was then onlydepriving me of the greatest pleasures attainable in
this world? Of what use are riches to me, having
with difficulty dissuaded from having them flogged.
no sons to whom I could leave them? Since you were
Finally, he sent them away, cursing them for their greed
so cruel as to sell your own blood, let not my auditors
which had deprived him of the greatest pleasure a man
think it strange if I betray anger against you."
34 This practice is well documented: Bada'uini: Muntak- For instances of parents offering their children for voluntary
hab al-tawdrikh, ed. Ahmad 'Ali Kabir al-Din Ahmad and castration, see Remondino: op.cit., p. 102, referring to
18th century Italy, and Sir George MacMunn: The Under-
W. Nassau Lees, 3 vols., Calcutta, 1865-69, vol. II, p. 189;
W. H. Moreland and P. Geyl: Jahangir's India. The Re- world of India, London, 1933, p. 200, referring apparently
to India in the early 20th century I
monstrantie of Francisco Pelsaert, Cambridge, 1925, p. 47;
C. E. Luard: Travels of Fray Sebastien Manrique, 1629-36 e.g., Mrs. Meer Hassan All: Observations on the
1643, 2 vols., London, 1927, vol. II, p. 272; FrancoisMussulmauns of India, London, 1917, p. 39.
Bernier: Travels in the Mogul Empire, A.D. 1656-1668,37 For an unsympathetic account of life at Garden
Reach, see the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava: Our
tr. A. Constable, London, 1891, p. 205; Niccolao Manucci:
Storia do Mogor, tr. W. Irvine, 4 vol., London, 1907-08,Viceregal Life in India, 2 vols., London, 1890, vol. I,
vol. II, p. 451. pp. 282-283.

This content downloaded from

202.41.10.106 on Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:34:01 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms