The Sex Lives of Women Inside a Mughal Emperor’s Harem
A brief insight into how women were treated inside the Mughal harems.
The Mughal Harem was a huge physical space that consisted of different women from a number of regions, religions, and cultures from all over the world, arranged in terms of their closeness and level of intimacy to the Emperor. It was a complex institution that represented the polygamous and luxurious lifestyle of the Mughal elite.
History of the Mughal Harem
The term ‘harem’ originated in the Near East and refers to a “forbidden place; sacrosanct, sanctum,” and is etymologically related to the Arabic definition of the word, which means “a sacred inviolable place; female members of the family.” Over time, the word came to refer to a sphere of women in a polygamous household where their quarters were segregated from those of the men in the household.
The hierarchy of the Harem consisted of the wives and female relatives of the Mughals with most women entering the institution through birth, marriage, appointments, or in the form of presents. These women were expected to observe the rules of pardah, which meant that they were not allowed to move out of the harem (where they lived luxuriously), according to their will; some women did, however…
