The Continuation of Zubaida Khatun's Story
*Urdu p.1*
"When I was fully able to comprehend, Mother began to teach me
in a variety of ways. I well remember once when, after finishing the
evening meal, we sat together until midnight and she gave me this advice:
'Beta! knowledge/1/
is the greatest treasure you can have. Knowledge can bring you near
to God, and is necessary for salvation. Compared to knowledge, material
wealth is worthless. A poor man who is learned is better than a king
with no learning. One man's learning is of greater value than a thousand
man's pieties. A man who is ignorant is not really a human being, but
an animal. A house in which no one is learned is not a home, but a pigeon
coop. A country which does not have the tradition of learning is not
a state, but a wilderness of dumb brutes. The honor due to knowledge
is much greater than the honor due to material wealth. A rich man's
pride comes from his clothes, his fancy furnishings, *Urdu
p.2* his hordes of servants, his horses and elephants—from
things that are external to him. So he is just like anything else in
God's creation. But the worth of one who has learning is internal. It
will always stay with him wherever he may go, and whomever he may meet.
You do not need to look far for an example. The respect that you give
to Ustani-ji, the awe in which you hold her, the attention
you pay to her—would you give the same to another?"
"I said: 'But Mummy! She is my teacher, and
everyone respects her teacher.'
"She said: 'Daughter! Isn't Mughlani
also your teacher? Hasn't the cook also taught you something? Why don't
you honor them as much as Ustani? Little woman! The honor due
to Ustani is all because of her learning. Of course, you are
her student, but why do I also honor her, even though I am not her student?
She is, after all, one of my servants. Learning is such that you must
honor the person who has it, even if she is your servant.
"In addition, if you ask me, we are like blind
people when compared to the truly learned. We do not recognize our strengths
nor understand our weaknesses. We are not skilled in discussion nor
clever in understanding. In many homes the husband and wife do not get
along, and the women sit around conversing with each other, blaming
the men for this situation. If someone asked me to explain this, what
would be my answer? I'll tell you. Alas! It is the dreadful times we
live in! There is no justice! Oh stupid ones (women)! How can there
be any understanding between you and men? God granted men greater skill
and intelligence in the first place; and secondly, they alone get an
education. Even the most worthless of men possess some *Urdu
p.3* talent. If nothing else, a man can hear learned people
conversing and can pick up lots of information that way. After all,
he is a man. He can meet all kinds of people. He can go to other people's
houses and converse with all sorts. He can sit with maulvis and learn
about religion. He can learn the pros and cons of many questions. He
can meet doctors and learn something about medicine. He can go to the
court house and learn about new laws and regulations. Sitting with his
elders, he can learn about the past and take heed for the future. In
other words, no matter what he does, he becomes civilized. But tell
me, where and how can you become civilized? The knowledge that you can
pick up around the house is not worth mentioning. If the thought entered
your head, you could not hear any learned discussion around here. From
your point of view, just as moving about, going abroad, and earning
a living are the men's responsibilities, so too is getting an education.
"All that leaves for you is the possibility
of learning from conversation. But God bless me! The jabber around here
would drive anyone to distraction! In your natal home, you can talk
to grandmothers, mother, sisters, nieces, and aunts; and in your future
in-laws' home, your mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, brothers' wives,
aunts-in-law, etc. In sum, in the entire clan, from young to old, there
is no one with whom you could spend time and become cultivated. No matter
whom you meet, when several of them get together, they sit around and
start complaining. Some complain about their mothers-in-law; others
weep about their sisters-in-law. Some pour vitriol on their daughters-in-law;
others retail their grievances against their husbands. Some find fault
with X's marriage or joke about the amount of Y's dowry or cast aspersions
on Z's ancestry. If anyone *Urdu
p.4* disagrees with anything another says, they quarrel.
If anyone is the least bit impetuous, she picks fights with the slightest
provocation. Such women abuse and wound each other. They say tasteless
things to their husbands. They curse their children for no reason. They
grumble and argue with the servants, right or wrong. As for those with
any delicacy of temperament, they are so lazy that they can't get up
to get a drink of water. Whatever the cook cooks, they eat it. Whatever
the seamstress produces, they wear it. If there is too much salt in
the food, too bad. If the clothes don't fit, they think nothing of it.
If the water vessels are standing uncovered, no one notices. If the
cooking pots need retinning, no one cares. Sitting with such people,
how can one pick up any civilized manners? Indeed, you might learn a
new religion which is unique in all the world, a strange sort of faith
which you won't find mentioned in the Quran or the hadith./2/
"I said: 'What, Mummy? God forbid, have all
these women changed their religion?'
"She answered: 'Daughter! Haven't you heard
the old saws that they repeat? — But true, how could you have heard
them? If I, your mother, had taught you those things from the beginning,
and instead of teaching you about prayers and fasting had rather heeded
their advice, then you too would believe the fatuities contained in
those women's heads.'
"I said: 'Mummy dear! What are some of the things
they say? Can't you give me just a few examples?
"She said: 'Daughter! If there were only a few
things, I could tell you, but they have strung together thousands of
useless superstitions: If two pieces of metal strike together it is
inauspicious, so when cutting with scissors or using tongs, don't strike
the two sides together. Nor should you rest your hand on the vessel
while drinking water; *Urdu p.5*
that too is unlucky. If you drink water with a bare head, cover your
head with your hand. Don't touch a door frame while you are standing
up; but if by chance you should do so, then kiss both your hands. Don't
pass between two people carrying fire, or they may quarrel. Don't put
a sifter (for culling grain) on your head, or you will become bald.
Don't weigh anything while standing up, or the barakat/3/
will disappear from the commodity you have weighed. Don't yawn immediately
after eating, or else everything you have eaten will end up in a dog's
stomach. If a broom touches your body, you will become thin as a broomstick.
If a ladle touches your body, you will become greedy for food. Don't
drink water from a vessel that has been stepped over. Don't lift the
sides of a bed in which a child is sleeping; but if you do, then you
should clasp your hands together and kiss them. A water vessel that
has passed through three hands should either be touched by a fourth
person, or else the water thrown out. When you sit down, don't jiggle
your feet, or your means of livelihood will be endangered. If you put
out a lamp by blowing on it, you will get bad breath. Whenever you give
the children milk, curd, or rice (white things) to eat, give them a
slight taste of ashes as well, or else the evil eye will affect them.
From stitching clothes while wearing them comes ruination. From keeping
a porcupine quill in the house, quarrels arise. If the veil of a woman
whose child has died touches someone, her child will become sick, unless
she cuts off a corner of the veil and burns it. If you go to someone's
house for a visit, don't return on the third day. Don't go visiting
on Wednesday. When you are making a bride's costume, get seven married
women to touch it.
"If you hear a crow calling first thing in the
morning, you can be sure that some relative is returning from abroad.
Therefore, you should mention the names of all your relatives who are
away, and the name at which the crow flies away is the one who will
return. When you get up in the morning and want to mention the hakim,/4/
use the term 'the one who wears a turban', and if you want to mention
the washer-woman, you should call her 'the one with clean clothes'.
You should call the moon 'the one upstairs' and a snake 'a rope'. Cholera
should never be mentioned by name, and bronchitis should be called 'the
nameless one'. At night, when a dog barks, you can be sure that he has
caught a glimpse of the devil. When you take the griddle off the fire,
and something is burning on its underside, the griddle is 'smiling'
*Urdu p.6* and you
can be sure that something pleasant will happen. If someone sneezes
when you stand up, sit back down. If you stand a cot up against the
wall with its legs facing out, it will bring bad luck. If you are cutting
out clothes, touch the floor for good luck. Don't look at your face
reflected in water. When you take medicine, put the cup down upside
down. Putting one foot on top of the other is bad luck. If a shoe falls
on top of another shoe, then you are going to take a trip. When serving
someone food, don't pass the vessel over his head, or that food will
have to be given to the poor as alms. Don't step over anyone, or you
will get a headache. If your nose itches, then get the shoe of someone
who has come from outside and touch it seven times, or else you will
fall ill. Don't strike a metal vessel, that too is bad luck. If a woman
has remarried, don't let her take part in the ritual of the sahnak
of Fatima./5/ The
third, thirteenth, and twenty-third, and the eighth, eighteenth, and
twenty-eighth are unlucky, so don't take up new tasks on those dates.
Don't take a trip on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, don't go to the hakim,
or take a purge, or have someone bled. Don't tighten the bed strings
at night. If a lizard falls on your clothes, then dip a gold ornament
in water and sprinkle that water on your body. If you get the hiccoughs,
then someone misses you. If a fly gets into your mouth, you are going
to eat something sweet. If a child gets pink-eye, use the straws from
a broom to cast a spell to get rid of it. If a child comes down with
smallpox, don't cook seasoned meat, or go visiting wearing white clothes
or having just bathed. Don't sweep the bed with a broom; it brings bad
luck. When you fill a new earthen vessel with water, you should offer
the water first to a man. If you touch someone's nose, then you should
put his hand on your own nose, otherwise he will fall ill. And so forth
and so on.
"In short, there are hundreds of these superstitions
that I could tell you about, my daughter! Since women in this city have
started to get some education, they have dropped some of these silly
beliefs, but women in small towns still believe them. A gentleman *Urdu
p.7* came from outside and settled in our neighbourhood,
and we got to meet his womenfolk. They were always mouthing hundreds
of such stupid things.
"In addition to these superstitions, there is
no end to the customs they observe for festivals, weddings, and funerals.
These customs are injurious both to the faith and to their worldly prosperity,
as they waste lakhs/6/
of rupees. The men tire themselves out earning money, but the women
never tire of running up debts. Your father told me that an Englishman
had written a book about the native customs here and sent it to his
country. When I heard that, I couldn't help but think, 'Alas! In that
country all the children are educated and the women are as learned as
the men. How they will laugh at our stupidity when they read that book!
And that concerns only the present! What will our ignorance bring upon
us later?' Still our women want their husbands to be faithful and to
continue to desire them. But let us be frank with ourselves and consider
who we are, and from whom we seek affection and fidelity. If you can
feel affection toward your buffaloes, cows, and goats, then your husband
should also be able to feel love for you, since the difference between
your husband and you is the same as that between you and those dumb
animals! Obviously, if you learned to read and write, and thus became
more human, no one would be more of a friend and companion to your husband
than you yourself.
"Listen! A person feels love for another person
only when both have similar natures. No matter how much we love our
children, they still flee from the company of their elders. *Urdu
p.8* But if some adult joins them in playing a game, then
he has no difficulty in winning them over. In the same way, adults and
the elderly get bored in the company of young people. But if some young
person starts talking seriously to an older person, the adult enjoys
having him around. Women and men already share affection for each other,
by God's blessings. Just as a lodestone attracts iron, so women attract
men's hearts. Now, if a woman has just one more quality: If a man finds
that she does what suits him, and she speaks to him in a pleasing way,
then he need look no further for companionship. He certainly won't find
it pleasurable to be away from her for very long. You should consider
the man a thirsty traveler and the woman a spring. If the spring happens
to be located in the shade of a tree and there is greenery all around
and a nice cool breeze, then the traveler, after quenching his thirst,
will want to spend several hours enjoying the environment. There may
be plenty of other springs which do not have such a pleasant atmosphere
where he would simply quench his thirst and go his way. Similarly, if
his wife understands and sympathizes with him, the husband will spend
time with her, converse with her, and take her advice. They will enjoy
each other's company, sharing meals, bedtime, laughter, conversation.
He won't enjoy doing anything if she is not a part of it. But it is
not possible for an ignorant woman to recognize what a man wants and
to do what pleases him, and thus find a place in his affections. There
is nothing within the four walls of the house, other than learning,
that can civilize her. Nor can a woman who knows the outside world perfect
her skills without learning. In India there are dozens of communities
that do not observe pardah,/7/
*Urdu p.9* but even
there, men and their wives do not get along. But I have heard that in
England, husbands and wives care for each other as nowhere else, and
I am sure that the reason for this is that there, the women are educated.
They make their husbands happy in every possible way, and never do anything
counter to their wishes. The husbands too put utmost confidence in their
wives.
"Daughter! Learning is a great thing. In olden
times, learned women did even better than the men. The Emperor Shah
Jahan educated his daughter Raushanara Begam very well. When Alamgir
imprisoned his father, Raushanara refused to desert her father, and
went to prison with him and served him loyally. But look at Alamgir,
the son, who was educated, literate, with religious knowledge, pious,
and yet he treated his father so badly. Raushanara, unlike her brother,
performed her filial duty, and is praised for it to this day. This was
all by virtue of her learning. But since that is a story about olden
times, perhaps no one will believe it; so I will tell you an example
from more contemporary times. Your father once knew an Englishman, and
I was acquainted with his wife. One day she told me that Her Majesty,
Queen Victoria, had written a book of reminiscences about her husband
and their children. In that book there are scores of examples to convince
you that God is very wise to have created such a great woman in the
world.
"Of course, it is difficult to imitate royalty.
Still, a person should at least understand what is good *Urdu
p.10* for her and what is not. She should not just stick
to what she has learned from her ancestors, whether it is beneficial
or not. If her child comes down with smallpox and is about to die, she
does nothing. Or if she does something it is this: she dips a gold ornament
in some water and gives it to him to drink, or she fans him with a branch
from a nim tree. But she makes very sure that no meat is cooked
in the house, and that no food is seasoned with fried onions. If anyone
comes visiting wearing white clothes or immediately after bathing, she
makes sure that the visitor's shadow does not fall on the child. Now
the government has introduced vaccination against smallpox. Its effects
are such that out of a hundred children vaccinated, God willing, ninety
will be totally protected from smallpox, and of the ten remaining, they
too, God willing, will be protected or else have light cases. One day,
your father observed that he had never seen pock marks on an Englishman's
face. But here, people are still afraid to be vaccinated. Government
doctors go about in the city lanes during smallpox epidemics urging
people to have their children vaccinated, but people are scared to death
of it. When they hear that the doctor is nearby, they bar the door.
"The result is that pox, plague, scarlet fever,
etc. continue to spread and endanger the lives of delicate children,
while the women rely on the deceptions of quacks, on amulets from fraudulent
Mullas, on 'doctors' who claim to cure chronic illnesses in a day. Further,
when a child gets a severe attack of fever, they never ever call the
hakim. Thinking it is the influence of the evil eye, they resort
to spells and other sorts of 'cures'. Sometimes they try fumigation
by burning salt or mustard or rape seeds. *Urdu
p.11* Sometimes they pass some food around the child's
head and place it as alms at a crossroad. If a child has an eye infection,
they do not take medicine from a hakim or a kahhal,/8/
but rather try other cures. One of these involves tying some rags on
a string and stretching it across a passage where people come and go
so they have to step over it, after which they make it into a wick and
place it in oil and burn it. Then they put water in a basin which they
pass over the child's head, each time asking the child, 'Has it gone
away?' And he answers, 'Yes, it has gone away.' The third time, they
take the burning wick and immerse it in the water.
"A woman whose children have all died young
can try various remedies. In some places, she is covered with ashes,
in other places, she is made to bathe. In still others, she is forbidden
to cook in a karhai,/9/
or to eat eggs, fish, gur,/10/
milk, or curds. She should not attend funerals, nor the sixth day bathing
rites for new mothers. There are dozens of such nonsensical beliefs!
None of these women realizes that God alone gives life or takes it away.
If He has not decreed something, none of these ill-founded procedures
will avail them anything. As for women who have never given birth to
a child, in some places fairies are invoked for them, in other places,
spirits are summoned. Domnis/11/
come and sing all night before those who are possessed by spirits; and
they, in turn, shake their heads wildly and demand whatever they like,
as if the spirits were gyrating and speaking within them. One should
never mention the spirits directly, but rather call them 'the ones from
above'. No one ever asks which spirits bring children, or points out
that it is in God's power alone to grant children or not. In addition
to this, in times of trouble, such people abandon God and call upon
Allah Bakhsh, or sacrifice a goat to Shaikh Saddu or a cow to Sayyid
Ahmad Kabir. In some places they pray to Bale Miyan *Urdu
p.12* or to Nanhe Miyan or ask for Darya Khan's intercession./12/
Whomever you meet is obsessed with spirits or with the evil eye.
"Anyway, many of these customs which were observed
in this city until recently are now dying out. Those that remain are
mainly found among ignorant and illiterate people, or in homes where
the man and woman both are totally uninstructed. But even these beliefs
can be eradicated, for a man who has some understanding can be made
to believe new things by explanation. But my dear! Besides these vices,
there are many hidden illnesses which men do not understand at al,l
and which can be harmful to life. To understand such illnesses and to
find cures for them is the job of individuals who are extremely knowledgeable.
Anyone can be prey to these afflictions, you or I or anyone else. But
if you were to reveal to someone that he had such an illness, he would
immediately take offense. For this reason it is difficult to get rid
of such illnesses. Just as wood is eaten away from the inside, in the
same way these illnesses eat away at men's innards. In comparison to
illnesses which destroy only the body, these other afflictions destoy
the soul."
"I said, 'But Mother dear, what are those illnesses?'
"She said: 'Daughter! These illnesses are as
follows: Someone considers himself superior, and considers all others
inferior by contrast. When he sees someone else happy, he becomes jealous.
He may have malice in his heart, and yet seem to be a friend. People
may say bad things behind your back, but welcome you to your face. Whomever
they cultivate, it is always for their own advantage. They think it
is perfectly all right to harm *Urdu
p.13* others in order to profit themselves. They do good
deeds only to show off to others. If they do anyone a favor, they broadcast
it all over town. They find fault with others and ignore their own faults.
If they see one bad point in a person, they ignore all his good qualities.
In this way, avarice, greed, slander, untruth, duplicity, deceit, all
can be classified as illnesses. God forbid that anyone should have such
afflictions! Theft, gambling, licentiousness are vices, to be sure,
but those who indulge in them at least know they are doing something
wrong. But the vices that I have been describing are hidden, internal.
One who is proud of himself doesn't think of himself as haughty. One
who slanders another is never ashamed of doing so. The deceitful will
always consider deceit a great asset."
"I asked: 'Mummy! How is it possible for people
to be cured of these vices?'
She answered: 'The cure is effected through cultivating
knowledge. Those who read ethical books recognize vices, just as a doctor
recognizes other kinds of illness. People say that Her Majesty, Queen
Victoria, is so compassionate and of such a good disposition that it
is hard to imagine. Pride and arrogance never cross her mind. I heard
the story that one day she was going somewhere in her carriage and was
on a road far from any inhabited area. An old man was going down the
same road, carrying a bale of hay on his head. The queen offered him
a seat in the back of the carriage and had his hay put back there too.
When they reached his destination, the queen said, 'Here we are at your
home.' He got down, bowed to her, and said, 'If my own mother were alive
today, she *Urdu p.14*
could not have done more for me than Your Majesty has done.' Similarly,
one day there was a tremendous throng in the road. When the queen's
carriage arrived at that point, her servants attempted to disperse the
crowd. But the queen saw that there was a tremendous crush, and so she
descended from her carriage and did not get back in again until she
had gone beyond the crowd.
"Another story concerning the queen recounts
that one day one of the princes was playing near a stream. He found
a poor boy there, catching fish. The prince demanded that the poor boy
give him the fish, and the boy gave him one, but not all that he demanded.
The prince got angry, so the boy, being slightly bigger than the prince,
beat him up. When word got back to the queen, she summoned that boy
to her and praised him. She said, 'Well done! You are brave and honorable
not to be cowed by a prince!' Then she took him in and had him raised
and educated with the princes, and later gave him money to invest in
commerce. There is an island in that country, and he is the greatest
merchant on that island. You see, learned people are considerate like
that. A mere servant who doesn't have two rupees to rub together may
act arrogantly, but one who is the master of two countries, like the
queen, is humble. That is all the result of knowledge."
While Mother was telling me this, Mughlani
arrived on the scene. That day, it had so happened that a couple of
girls who were related to me had come for a visit in the morning. I
got so involved with them that I forgot to go and work with Mughlani.
By the time I remembered, it was after 10:00 and already time to practice
my writing, so I had not gone. Now, when I saw Mughlani, I
knew that she was going to complain about me; so, fearing what Mother
might do, I made some excuse and left. Mughlani vented her
spleen, and Mother *Urdu p.15*
kept quiet and listened to what she had to say. The next day, when the
time came, she first scolded me and then advised me gently:
"Daughter! Knowledge is like a king, and skill
is like a prime minister! Just as a king is worthless without a prime
minister, so too knowledge without skill will not benefit the world
in any practical way. Women should be educated so that they renounce
evil customs and choose good habits, so that they will recognize God
and the Prophe,t and so that they will be able to manage their household
properly. They should also learn how to raise their children and to
sympathize with their husbands. But knowledge will not help women through
difficult times. At such times, only the skill of their hands will be
useful. You may deceive yourself into thinking that because God has
granted us abundance, that hard times cannot happen here. Beware! As
soon as you think that way, suddenly something could happen. Material
wealth is transitory. When hard times strike, even the ruler might be
in need of bread. It has been a long time since the invasion of Nadir
Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali, so I won't go into that, but it was only
a short time ago that Ghulam Qadir blinded Shah Alam and brought great
distress to the palace and to this city./13/
Even rich women, who had dozens of servants to wait on them, had to
put on burqas/14/
and go out searching for menial work as cooks or maids, and no one would
hire them. But those who earned their bread by hard work had all they
needed even then, by God's grace.
"Daughter! Believe me, it is foolish for a woman
to rely too heavily on a man's earnings, and not learn some skill or
profession. No nation in the world *Urdu
p.16* may show greater consideration toward their wives
than the English, and in this day and age, no one has more power and
pelf than Englishmen. Yet I have heard that in their country, no woman
is without a skill or a craft. They even excel the men in all they do.
Leave aside the poor people, even Her Majesty Queen Victoria is skilled
in numerous ways. She can draw pictures that are the envy of many artists.
When the ruler of the country is like that, where does that leave us
by comparison? Why do you think I have spent so much time trying to
drum these things into your head? I'm not doing this for myself, but
rather for your own good. You don't realize it now, but when you grow
up, you will. Right now, you doubtless feel that my anger is exaggerated.
But you will recall my anger in days to come. In the future, you will
meet scores of people, but you will never meet anyone who will correct
you as I do."
So she kept giving me advice like this until almost
midnight. Then we each went off to our own bed to sleep.
*on to the Fourth Majlis*
= = = = = = = = = = =
/1/ knowledge
('ilm): 'Ilm can be translated in a number of ways, as knowledge,
learning, or science. Its meaning (as in the Latin scientia)
is acquired knowledge rather than inherent intelligence, with the additional
meaning of religious knowledge. A learned man in Islamic culture is
an 'alim, or one who has 'ilm (pl. 'ulama),
that is, one learned in the religious sciences.
/2/ hadith:
traditions of the Prophet Muhammad; together with the Quran, the main
sources of Islamic belief and practice.
/3/ barakat:
abundance, prosperity, blessing; good fortune, auspiciousness; inherent
prosperity which produces success or abundance. The word is commonly
used in weighing grain, etc. in place of the number 'one'.
/4/ hakim:
practitioner of the traditional Islamic yunani medicine; a
doctor.
/5/ sahnak
of Fatima: a small earthen dish or plate used for making offerings
or oblations to the Prophet's daughter, Fatima; a women's ritual usually
connected with marriage observances. Remarried women were excluded from
this ritual, a tradition presumably dating from the time of Nur Jahan's
remarriage to Jahangir, as discussed in Sayyid Ahmad Dehlavi, Rasum-e-Dehli
(Reprint. Rampur: Kitabkar, 1965), pp. 309-112.
/6/ lakh:
100,000; figuratively, an enormous amount.
/7/ pardah:
the seclusion of women. For studies of the complexities of this institution,
see Hanna Papanek and Gail Minault, eds., Separate Worlds: Studies
of Purdah in South Asia (Delhi: Chanakya, 1982).
/8/ kahhal:
an eye specialist; one who makes a special eye salve: kohl,
collyrium or antimony, used both as a cosmetic and for therapeutic purposes.
/9/ karhai:
a wok-like pan.
/10/ gur:
brown sugar.
/11/ domnis:
professional entertainers (masc. dom). The men are musicians;
and the women, singers, dancers, and (here) exorcists, who perform only
in the presence of women.
/12/ Allah Bakhsh,
Shaikh Saddu, Sayyid Ahmad Kabir, Bale Miyan, Nanhe Miyan, Darya Khan:
figures associated with rituals of spirit possession who, upon receipt
of oblations, were believed to intercede with the deity. These are not
Sufi saints, the usual intercessionary figures, although Shaikh Saddu,
a Muslim who is believed to have become a demon, is buried in Amroha
and his tomb is visited by devotees, much like a Sufi tomb. The others
were spirits especially revered by women, who believed that God had
placed them in the service of Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. As her
slaves, they could carry out her will and aid other women. Shureef,
Qanoon-e-Islam, pp. 184-185; Inshaullah Khan Insha, Darya-e-Latafat,
Urdu tr. (Aurangabad: Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu, 1935), p. 183; Qanun
un-Nissa (Delhi University, 1972), pp. 44-64.
/13/ Nadir Shah,
Ahmad Shan Abdali, Ghulam Qadir, Shah Alam: The references here are
to Nadir Shah of Persia, whose army sacked Delhi in 1739 and carried
off, among other things, the peacock throne; to Ahmad Shah Abdali
of Afghanistan, who sacked Delhi in 1756 and later defeated the Marathas
in the third battle of Panipat in 1761; and to Ghulam Qadir, a Rohilla
chieftain who seized Delhi in 1787 and blinded Shah Alam, the Mughal
emperor.
/14/ burqa:
an all-enveloping garment which conceals the pardah-observing
woman when she has to go outside her hous
