Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, the son of Bairam Khan, was a notable name amongst the Ahl e-Qalam at the Court of Akbar the Great. One of his most well-known writings is the Nagar Shoba, a collection of 142 verses, composed mainly in Braj Bhasha, with femininity taking centre stage in the couplets. So what does Mughal poetry in the Nagar Shobha tell us about womanhood?
Nagar Shobha divides women into 66 categories: each of them cherishing and embracing womanhood in a different way. In essence, the work is an exploration of female identity and sexuality - and how it differs between women from different socio-economic classes. So how did Khan-i-Khanan relate the art, skill, occupation, and status of women of Mughal India to their womanhood?
Baajdarini: The Hawk-Keeper’s Wife
The wife of the hawkkeeper loves only the hawk and does not therefore adorn her body. The glow of love-making is as naturally present in her body as is the hawk's power to look down from a great height. The wife of the hawk keeper uses her eyes like hunters to capture men as birds of prey. But she does not let the hawk sip off her juices.
Dhuniyain: The Spinner’s Wife
The cotton carder's wife works night and day with the ornaments of love-making adorning her. If you do not know the raga of your beloved, what and why do you card so loudly? When she is fully aroused she goes tender at the touch and sticks to her lover's body much as carded cotton would.
Dabgirin: The Shield-Maker’s Wife
Bursting with the energy of youth, she stays near her lover and tells him that her heart is not happy being away from him. Her well-formed breasts do not fit into her bodice. Her eye-shaped breasts under the bodice overflow from the influence of the oil of young love."
Dalalin: The Broker’s Wife
The broker's wife shows off the splendour of her body, plays with her eyelashes, and showing the beauty of her lips captivates the client. She is too conscious of what people think and of the pride of her community to say anything, but with her eyes, she shows her value to her lovers.
Mahavatin: The Elephant-Keeper’s Wife
With her body perfectly balanced, she rides with her husband on the elephant. The exuberance of youth fills her as she roams freely with her lover. She is wearing yellow clothes and holds a rope around the elephant's neck. Her husband's strength is the reason she roams freely slaying (captivating) all around her.
Kagdin: The Paper-Maker’s Wife
Her body is like paper. She remains fulfilled with love. She, drenched by desire, becomes limp and weak like wet paper. The paper seller's wife is like the string of the paper kite, high in the skies of love. She sights her distant lover and draws him in with her body close to her heart.
Lohari: The Blackmith’s Wife
The beauty of the lohari woman at work radiates as if the fire of the furnace. Her body is itself a furnace in which the embers of loneliness burn arousing sparks in one's heart. It is as if she is burning her loneliness to feed the furnace.
Gujjarin: The Cowherder’s Wife
The Gujarin, carrying a pot of curds over her head, is exceptionally beautiful. The spilling of the curd is like the nectar of the scenes, but she does not give any. She jokes with the customer and freely makes promises first stating her own price and then that of the curd.
Telin: The Oil Presser’s Wife
She has put on her body a scented oil made of the creeper's Rower and the til seed. Her youth and the perfume make the eyes of the desirous move around her as the oil crusher's bull circles.
Bhattiyari: The Inn-Keeper’s Wife
Her nature is like that of Lakshmi. She welcomes the incoming traveller but does not spare a glance for those leaving much as Lakshmi is honoured when she arrives but not even spoken of when she has left. The Bhattiyari gives her heart to the lover and speaks freely of her love. She is one during the day and another in the night.
Chaapin: The Cloth-Printers Wife
Engrossed in passion's play, the Chhapin imprints the red of the paan in her mouth repeatedly on her lover. Her love-making makes it as if she is Eros incarnate. Her beauty fills the eyes of the beholder with indescribable joy.
Some interesting observations we can make are that the woman is introduced to her profession, for instance, Chappin, is the feminine noun for a cloth printer. Her introduction is completed with the identity of her husband. This is likely owed to the fact that occupation, artisanal or otherwise, was often a family business. Whilst the overt theme of the work is womanhood, the couplets also hint at the nature of men working in each profession, which impacts how they treat their women, in turn effecting how their women embrace womanhood. In my opinion, the text has an extremely subtle philosophical element to it. It makes one mull over if we chose our work, or if the work chose us. Do we pick our professions because of our nature, or does our occupation shape us in certain ways?
References: The translations have been quoted from "Attendant Lords" T. C. A. Raghavan.
Commentaires