Gulbadan Begum's Account of the Mughal Harem

The image of the harem is often a sexualized one to those who have not been exposed to that sort of lifestyle. Hollywood films, works of fiction, and according to Ruby Lal, academic works, usually portray the harem as one in which young, beautiful women are locked away for a man’s pleasure. However, in the article, “Historicizing the Harem: The Challenge of a Princess’s Memoir,” Lal points out that if we look at the perspective or description of a woman who actually lived in a harem, such as Gulbadan Begum [Daughter of Babur, first Mughal Emperor of India], the image would be quite different. Gulbadan’s memoirs of her domestic life are very much unlike the descriptions of harems that ordinarily come to mind in that it shows the differences in ages and status of women in the harem, as well as the complexities of the relationships between men and the women in the harem and the understanding and involvement the royal women had with the world outside the harem.

In her article, Ruby Lal presents the sexualized image of the Mughal harem in the words of an academic account by K.S. Lal: “ ‘…the harem was not meant for the old and ailing. It was meant to be a bright place, an abode of the young and beautiful, an arbour of pleasure and retreat for joy’ ” (Lal, 592). Then she refers back to her opening statements which describe the type of women involved in the domestic life of the royal family in Gulbadan’s account. These included aunts, sisters, children, nurses, mothers, etc. The harem was the living quarters in which each woman’s place was determined by her relationship with the emperor. The harem was the living space for women. It was a place where they gathered, ate meals together, and where many important decisions regarding the royal family were made. For instance, Humayun’s [second Mughal emperor; brother of Gulbadan] wedding proposal, or rather demand, was accepted within the harem, not in public as his demand was made. It was within the harem in which Dildar Begum tried to convince the young woman, who Humayun chose to be his wife, to marry the emperor (Lal, 604). Therefore, it is obvious that more serious matters than beautifying oneself or fulfilling a man’s pleasure occurred in the harem.

In Gulbadan’s Humayun-nama, she shows the different types of relationships a man may have with the women of his harem. She, at the age of five, was a part of the royal harem, just as her mother, her elderly aunts, and other women of rank were. As one can see, the ages of women in the harem range from very young to old. There status in the harem depended on their relationship to the emperor, as well as their age. In Gulbadan’s description of how the tents were set up in Agra, the emperor’s mother had the highest rank, followed by his aunts and sisters (Lal, 591). Further into her memoir, Gulbadan discusses her brother Humayun’s visits to tents of the women of the royal family in Agra. He would visit the tents of his oldest relatives first, and as he visited each woman, his sisters and other women of rank also attended these meetings. Based on Gulbadan’s accounts, these visits seemed to be social gatherings with family members more so than anything else.

Gulbadan’s memoir of domestic life in the harem is much more of a familial arena than the romanticized one often portrayed to outsiders. Gulbadan, at the age of ten, lost her foster mother, who was the emperor’s mother as well as the woman who cared for her during mot of her early childhood. During her period of mourning, Gulbadan says, “I felt lonely and helpless […] His Majesty came several times to comfort me, and showed me sympathy and kindness” (Gulbadan, 5). Here is an example of the harem being a place of sorrow and loneliness, rather than pleasure and joy mentioned in K.S. Lal’s work, The Mughal Harem. It also shows the relationship between the Emperor Humayun and his sister. He goes to the harem to comfort her after the woman who was a mother to her passed away. In another instance, Humayun says, “You all should know that I have been to the quarters of the elder relations [female]. It is a necessity laid on me to make them happy” (Gulbadan, 8). Here Humayun visits his elderly female relatives in the harem to please them, rather than to gain pleasure for himself with beautiful young women. These two types of visits are rather different from the idea that men go to the harem mainly for sexual gratification.

The harem is also often portrayed as a place where women are locked away from and have no interest and/or contact with the rest of the world. However, Lal points out that the women of Akbar’s harem were not entirely locked away. In fact, at one point they were lead on the hajj by Gulbadan (Lal, 611). While it did not occur again, the point is that these royal women were able to go out into the world and perform their religious duty. Their sole purpose was not only to remain in the harem awaiting their men folk. In Gulbadan’s memoir, she shows that women knew about the political changes going on in their world, and in fact, did play a role in it. She was approached by the traitor Mirza Kamran to write a letter to his brother asking him to join Kamran’s campaign against the emperor (Gulbadan, 11). Gulbadan was also fully aware of the political strife and on-goings of the budding empire, despite her seclusion to the harem. As described by Gulbadan, the women in the royal harem were often involved in parties, meetings with their male relatives, etc. and did in fact have contact with the outside world.

As one can imagine, the daily life of the royal Mughal harem is much more intricate than the sexualized one portrayed in many other accounts of the harem. Taking an insider’s point of view, such as Gulbadan Begum’s account, can give an outsider a much more realistic picture of the harem and its dwellers. The Humayun-nama, written by Gulbadan, gives us glimpses of the differences in status of women, the important decisions made in the harem, the intricate relationships a man may have with different members of the harem, as well as the fact that women of the harem did in fact have contact with the and were involved in the world outside their quarters.

Works Cited

Gulbadan Begum. Humayun Nama.

Lal, Ruby. “Historicizing the Harem: The Challenge of a Princess’s Memoir.” Feminist Studies. 30.3 (2004): 590-616.