Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization: Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World (Hardcover)

Ruby Lal
Cambridge University Press
 9780521850223
0-521-85022-3

Ruby Lal explores domestic life and the place of women in the Mughal court of the sixteenth century. Challenging traditional, orientalist interpretations of the haram that have portrayed a domestic world.

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of seclusion and sexual exploitation, she reveals a complex society where noble men and women negotiated their everyday life and public-political affairs. Combining Ottoman and Safavid histories, she demonstrates the richness as well as ambiguity of the Mughal haram, which was pivotal in the transition to institutionalization and imperial excellence.