The Costume of Mughal Women

7/15/2019 The Costume of Mughal Women

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PREFACE

In seeking to determine the clothes worn by the wide range of people that

entered india during the mughal period,one has to take into account the

geographical factors that influences their form of dress,the region they come

from ,how they lived,how the terrain,climate and their professional occupation

affected what they wore.



Brief history

In 1526, Babur established the mughal empire, which lasted for over 200 years.

They ruled most of the Indian subcontinent by 1600. The mughal emperorsmarried local royalty ,allied themselves with the local maharajas & attempted to

fuse their turko-persian culture with ancient Indian styles.

The mughal dynasty reached its peak during the reign of Akbar and it went into a

slow decline after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 and was finally defeated

during the war of independence in 1857.



W omen of the royal harem

Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous (both

heterosexuals and hermaphrodites ) household and their enclosed quarters whichare forbidden to men

The position of women in Indian society changed considerably with the coming of

Islam. The Indian women now came to occupy an even lower status. Muslim

inroads made strict enforcement of purdah and seclusion of women. Womens

education was not encouraged. The birth of a girl was not regarded as a happy

event. On the contrary the position of the women of the noble and royal families

was little better.

The Mughal age not only witnessed the glorious achievements of its emperors

and princes, but also that of the princesses, queens and other ladies of the royal

Mughal harem

The Mughal ladies spend their entire lives inside the emperors harem. But the

Mughal women were no ordinary women. And therefore, their social life was

different from that of the ordinary women. Some women and eunuchs acted as

spies and they kept the emperor informed about the activities of harem women.The lives of the harem ladies were governed by strict rules of purdah. These ladies

usually did not have the liberty to move out of the harem as they liked. But inside

the harem they could move around as they pleased. These ladies lived in grand

apartments luxuriously furnished, with lovely gardens fountains, tanks and water

channels attached to them. They wore beautiful and expensive clothes made

from the finest materials and adorned themselves with jewellery from head to

toe. The daily life in the harem was full of gaiety and mirth.

On the whole, the life of a Mughal lady revolved round the emperor. The harems

of the Mughal emperors consisted of a large number of women of different races,

provinces and communities. The harems of Babur and Humayun are modest I size.

But from Akbars times onwards the Mughal harem became an elaborate affair.

Akbars harem had approximately 5000 women.



Nur jahan :and her contribution to

mughal fashion(1577-1646)

Nur Jahan, wife of Jahangir made her presence felt when women were unseen

and rarely heard. She issued orders from behind the curtains of the harem and

never broke purdah.

Jahangir loved jahan beyond all other women. Jahan was his 20th

wife. He made

her his principal queen and renamed her nur mahal, or light of the palace.

In addition to inviting court intrigue and power struggles,nur Jahan also

contributed to womens fashion and cosmetics and carried on her own clothing

business too. Fashion trends were swayed by her tastes and creations. She

developed new patterns in fabric, embroidery and dress styles. It is believed that

she designed the new style of turban and clothing of the emperors. The kind of

fashion she adopted in womens clothing was still popular at the end of the 16th

century. She experimented with perfumes, hair ointments, jewellery, food, silks

and porcelain. Sir Thomas Roe, who chanced to obtain a glimpse of the Empressfound the queen so extravagantly dressed in jewels that he observed if there had

been no other light, her pearls and diamonds had sufficed to reveal her.



Muntaz mahal (1593-1631)

Mumtaz mahal, 3rd wife of the mughal emperor shah Jahan was a Persian

princess and the most beloved queen of shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan even built the magnificent and the exotic taj mahal in the memory of

his beloved wife .

Mumtaz mahal gave birth to 14 childrens of shah Jahan. it was while giving birth

to the 14th

child that she left for her holy abode .

Hamida banu begum (1527-1604)

Wife of 2nd

mughal emperor Humayun and mother of mughal emperor Akbar .

Her important architectural legacy is the Humayuns tomb, Delhi, which she

commissioned in 1562 c.e. and saw through its construction over the next eight

years .



Art and craft during mughal eraThe Mughal era was the golden period in the history of Indian art, craft and

culture. The Mughals not only invaded India and ruled it but also brought with

them a rich heritage, which they had acquired from Persia. They introduced newtechniques like inlay work, glass engraving, carpet weaving, brocades, enameling

etc. The Mughal miniature paintings influenced many schools of Rajasthani

paintings and the Kangra Pahari schools of miniatures. The famous Peacock

Throne of the Mughals is one of the finest examples of gem inlay work and metal

craft, having few parallels in world art. They also laid the foundation for the

famous Mughal miniature painting, Petra dura or inlay work, enameled jewellery

and a host of other craft traditions many of which continue today.

Miniature paintings: important source

for mughal costumes

Mughal painting is a particular style of South Asian painting, generally confined to

miniatures, which emerged from Persian miniature painting and developed during

the period of the Mughal Empire (16th - 19th centuries). miniature paintings were

a variety of Islamic paintings done during the reign of the Mughal Emperors. The

Mughal paintings often covered scenes from the court and help our

understanding of how the court functioned. These paintings also provide us with

information on what the emperors looked like.

The mughal miniature paintings had depicted the costumes and ornaments

which were prevalent in the time of medieval India. Mughal artists had

rendered exquisite detail of the costume of the people of that period.

the three dancing ladies depict the exotic costumes used during the

medieval period of India. The central 1 is dressed in such manner that we

can say that she belongs to the royal family.

The mughal Emperors who helped the art of painting to flourish were

Akbar , Jahangir and Shah Jahan .



Emperor akbar : a great patron of art

Akbar assisted artists in the field of music and painting. And for the augment of

these arts, Emperor Akbar had had employed more than one hundred painterswho were expert in the art of miniature painting.

In the time of Akbars reign, the Mughal Miniature painting was the secular art,

dealing with court life, durbar scenes and portraits of royal men and women. The

miniature paintings had depicted the costumes and the ornaments, which were

prevalent in the time of medieval India.

The Mughal emperor Akbar was a great patron of painting and under whose

sponsorship painters had achieved great refinement. These artists had renderedexquisite detail of the Indian men and women and the costumes they wear. Here

the three dancing ladies depict the exotic costumes used during the medieval

period in India. One of these ladies is dressed in such a manner that we can say

that she belongs to a royal family.



The costume of Mughal women

The ladies of the Mughal dynasty were as remarkable as their men and in certain

cases even more cultivated. The way these beautiful, educated and extremelytalented mughal women used to dress became a matter of interest for many.

Royal women wore beautiful clothes made from the finest materials and adorned

jewellery from head to toe. They used to spend a lot of money in getting for

themselves fine silks, brocades and muslins from which they got stitch beautiful

garments.

They were mostly covered in white colored veil because of the prevalent purdah

system and they could not go out on the street without the veil otherwise they

were forced to join the profession of prostitution.

Early costumes

When the Mughal ladies first set their foot in India they were dressed in long

gowns, caps and trousers. And upto the time of akbar,Persian dress was worn by

muslins but during Akbars time rajput dress was adopted.

y An inner garment or k artiji was invariably worn beneath the gown as a

short bodice reaching to the hips.

y Another jacket or nimtena was frequently put over the dress somewhat

like a vest (Gulbadan begam, the daughter of Babar while describing mirza

hindals marriage in her memoirs, mentions nine jackets with garnitures of

jeweled balls and four shortered jackets with bal trimmings among the

articles of dowry for the bride Sultana begam.

y

The effect of these gorgeous dresses embroidered with gold and pearlswas astonishing. So in a whole the early Mughal costume for women

consisted of wide topped trousers fitting snuggly from calf to ankle, long

kurta, fitted outer jacket, dupatta, high Turkish hats, sometimes with a

small veil attached and some feathers too.



I nfluence on Hindu women

The glamour of these addresses must have cast its spell unmistakably on the

susceptible Indian women. Opportunities were not lacking for frequent contactsbetween Indian and mughal ladies. It is therefore not astononishing that Indian

women associated with the court of Delhi and high ranking ladies living in the

rajput dependencies of northern India should very soon have adopted the

distinctively mughal style of dress which has been immortalized in the old Kangra

school of painting. In addition to close fitting trousers and scarf for the head there

appears a highly characteristic feature.

y the jaguli worn by women- a sort of empire gown fastening at neck an

waist, opening between the fastenings and permitting a glimpse of the

breasts and with long tight wrinkled sleeves and long flowing skirt reaching

as far down as the ankles. This attire was worn by the muslim dancing

women. The skirted robe of these women which was slit in front from the

waist to the bottom and which in their language was known as peshwas

distinctly resemble the jagulis of the Kangra painters. The other female

garments of the period were equally provocative in their flaunting brevity.

The bodice which in its latest form is said to have been brought in fashionby the daughter of Aurangzeb, was intended by muslim patrons to be an

undergarment. But the Hindu women were hardly influenced by these

provocative garments.



later Mughal Costumes

They consisted of:

Long sleeved choli

Isar (often striped)

Brocade vest

Short and long ghagra (often in sheer material)

Silk or muslin dupatta

Apron (with embroidery) and farji (long sheer vest like garment)

Long sleeved floor length gown with a sari that drapes from the jeweled

embroidered crown.

Ornate turban

Textiles

Under the mughal patronage the textile industry blossomed and till the end of the

18th

century india could be described as one of the workshops of the world .

Abul Fazal mentions among the golden staffs current in his time, brocaded velvets

from Europe and Yazd, atlas satins and neyar from the Chinese territory, tefailah

from mecca, khara or moiré antique from Yazd and khazz or filoselle silk,

muttabhaq, milak and fauthas from various places. Gujarat supplies different

kinds of brocades such a tus, daraibaf, kurtahwar and muqayyash which was kind

of silk cloth with stripes of silver resembling the hair. Chiras and dupattas from

Gujarat supplied the cloth for the turbans. Plain silk cloth included qatifah-i-purbi,

tajehbef, shirvani, kinkhab, tawar, khuri, tafta, sitapuri, ambary, misry, tasar,

tafailah, etc. Of cotton stuffs the more familiar types were khasa, chautar,

malmal, baftu, salu, chhint or printed muslin, gazina, etc. A form of fine muslin

which was striped or checked was known as doriyah.



Mughal jewellery

Mughal treasury was one of the fullest and best endowed in all of Indian history, and therefore

jewellery too must have occupied a place of prominence.

Influences on Mughal Jewellery

The existing trends in jewellery under the Mughals were a continuation of the amalgamated style of

Islamic and Hindu artistic styles. India was blessed as the only significant source of diamonds before

their discovery in Brazil in the 18th century, and she was also made rich by her spices; but more than

any other resource, it was her art industries (most especially textiles, but also including a whole array of

specialized and sophisticated products) which she traded for the gold and silver that poured in by the

ton.

Influence of Rajputs Some of the finest goldsmiths` works have been produced under the Mughal patronage. The colours

were exclusive to Jaipur. Its princesses married Mughal royalty and its rulers had taken high positions at

court, both bringing their jewellery and, probably, their craftsmen with them.

Hindus do not wear gold on the feet, as it is a sacred metal, which would thus be defiled. However, in

Rajasthan `the anklet of gold (worn by men) worn on one or both feet is a proof of nobility as well as of

being entitled to a certain position at a Durbar, and to certain honours there.

European Influence on Mughal Jewellery

Among the Mughal jewellery pieces which have survived. Some of the earliest ones show the gradualinfluence of Europeanism. The scrolling leaf designs on the inner surface of a thumb ring are influenced

by Renaissance jewellery. A more significant European intrusion can be seen in turban jewellery where a

completely new form seems to have its source in European hat aigrettes.

Style of Mughal Jewellery

Akbar`s own style of jewellery was a hybrid of Iranian and Hindu influences, as would be expected of the

emperor of a dynasty whose cultural roots were in Iran.

The turban plume (Kalgi or Figha) and golden bands (Sarpich) are exactly those seen in

contemporary Safavid painting.

His necklaces on the other hand are of the kinds listed in Kautilya`s Arthashastra, consisting of

pearls, pearls and gems, gold on its own, or gold with pearls and gems.



Mughal women jewellery A contemporary work, the Ain-i-Akbari, gives a list of ornaments worn by

the women of Hindustan. Some of these may be seen virtually unchanged

and by this time worn equally by Muslim ladies.

The ornaments include the Karanphul (`earflower`), which is shaped like the

blossom of love-in-the-mist (Nigella sativa), and Nath (nose ring). The Nath

(in the form of a circular gold wire threaded with a ruby between two

pearls, or other gemstones)

Duarte Barbosa, the Portuguese official explained the ornaments of the

Mughal women as in the side of one of the nostrils they used to make a

small hole, through which they put a fine wire with a pearl, sapphire or

ruby pendant. Other types, such as the Mang (worn on the parting of the

hair to add to its beauty) and Bali, (a circlet with a pearl worn through the

ear) were worn throughout the period.

The few images of ladies at Akbar`s court show that the divisions marking

Indian and Iranian jewellery may have been observed more clearly than in

the case of the emperor`s ornaments. The dancers in the illustration from

the Akbarnama of century 1590 are both Muslim and Hindu and wearclearly differentiated styles of jewellery in accordance with their origins.

By the time Akbar`s son, Jahangir, came to the throne, fashions at court

had undergone a dramatic transformation.

. Akbar followed the Iranian fashion by having his upright feather plume at

the front of the turban.

Jahangir introduced his own, softer, style with the plume weighted down

with a large pearl. Later, Shah Jahan, his son turned to Europe for aninnovative Jigha, which related to the designs of the Dutch jeweller Arnold

Lulls. Lulls supplied jewels to the English court between 1603 and 1606.

Shah Jahan also wore jewels by James I in the portraits brought to the court

by Sir Thomas Roe.



Relief Carved Mughal Jewellery

Relief carved Mughal jewellery display a very high level of artistic finesse. The

relief work of this period is most prominently seen in emeralds. Most of the other

relief-carved emeralds of the Mughals are more typical of the object-decorating

arts of the period. The carved hardstone vessels, dagger hilts and other objects of

the Mughals period share much with the series of emeralds in the character of

their relief carving.

Description of the jewellery

The armlet is an enamelled gold set with an emerald, yellow beryl`s (heliodor),

pale emeralds and seed pearls made in Moghul India during the second half of the

18th century. This armlet would have been tied on to the upper arm.

This pendant (taviz) is a white nephrite jade in a pierced gold frame, set with

rubies and emeralds in gold and with a pendent emerald, the back inscribed and

set with a ruby in gold. The detail is painstaking, with the eyes of the birds being

minute emeralds set in gold. The back is inscribed with a Koranic verse. The

amulet, which is bored along the top edge, would have been the central pendant

to a necklace.



Mughal architecture Shah Jehan was the most prolific Mughal builder, and built some of its

greatest structures, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal. Akbar was a

great builder, second only to Shah Jehan and built some of the finest work

of the Mughal period. The greatest of Akbar's buildings are located in

Fathepur Sikri, a city which was built near Agra. Over here there are many

beautiful buildings like Jodh Bai's palace, Diwan-I-Am (hall for the general

audience), Diwan-I-Khas(hall for private audience), the marble mosque

known as the Jama Masjid, the Bulund Darwaza a massive archway and the

Panch Mahal.

Red fort and some mughal gardens were also made.



Acknowledgement

We wish to express my sincere gratitude to PROF.Tolika gupta , centre

coordinator fashion design department new Delhi for providing us an opportunityto do the project work on Mughal Women Costume

. this assignment

enlightened us with the costume and culture of Mughal era . we extend our

gratitude to toolika maam, anu jain maam for guidance and encouragement in

carrying out this project work.

I also wish to express my gratitude to the staff member of nift liabrary . Last but

not least I wish to avail myself of this opportunity, express a sense of gratitude

and love to my friends and my beloved parents for their manual support,

strength, help and for everything



Bibliography

Royal mughal ladies and their contribution:soma mukherjee

Costumes of ndia and pakisthat: s n dar

The mughal empire : john f.richards

Indian costumes by sn dar

Documents

The Costume of Mughal Women