This collection brings together writings on the theme of Purdah not just in terms of the burqua worn by Muslim women, but more broadly as the elaborate codes of seclusion and feminine modesty used to protect and control women’s lives across the religious divide. The focus is primarily on Purdah as a ‘lived’ experience. What was it like to live in seclusion? What did the women do with their time? What did they know of the outside world? What implications did the practice of Purdah have on their health and education? How did their husbands and families help them break out of Purdah? And what was it like for a man to grow up ‘without women’ after a certain age? Using nineteenth and twentieth century texts, including personal accounts, biographies, poetry, fiction, satire, and essays, this collection puts together a picture of the hidden aspects of women’s lives in all its complexity. The variety of western perspectives on Purdah presented here challenge the simplistic postcolonial assumption that they all speak with one voice. Similarly, Indian perceptions vary from a strict adherence to Purdah to a belief that the seclusion of women is responsible for societal decay. There are biographical pieces by major reformers, quotations from contemporary newspapers, and a piece on film images of Purdah. First-person accounts include the redoubtable begums of Bhopal who, in or out of Purdah, were excellent and enlightened rulers. And finally, there is Purdah in fiction, notably the tragic failure of an experiment in bringing one’s wife out of Purdah, depicted by Tagore. This book will be an important resource for scholars of cultural studies, gender studies, and will interest the general reader of religion, culture and society in South Asia.
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