ABSTRACT

Motherhood was thus central to the structural confi guration of the family, and was characterised by a glaring dichotomy one associates with patriarchal dominance — glorifi cation without empowerment. As a matter of fact, the glorifi cation of motherhood co-existed with her low status in social structure. Rituals surrounding the birth of a child in a family clearly indicated that the centre of attention remained the father and the child, while the mother was neglected in the entire episode of childbirth. After the delivery of the child, the role of the mother gets over and the mother is pushed back into the inner courtyard, as observed by Bhattacharji (1990):

Women’s deprivation from access to food and basic necessities, reproductive health care, property rights, independent income, rights in decision-making process in relation to the children and family, and her rights as a widow did not get adequate attention for a fairly long period in Indian history. The patriarchal subordination of women as mother’s was premised upon Manu’s invocation

of the superiority of the seed over the womb, ‘Of the seed and the womb, the seed is superior. All creatures of life assume the qualities of the seed.’5 The notion got fossilised over time and broadened during the Mughal rule where also patriarchy made motherhood invisible in the anonymity of the harem. While the reproductive capacity of wives under the harem was important for continued expansion of the empire, motherhood was not considered worthy of much emphasis and ignored even in imperial birth. During Prince Salim’s birth for instance, there is no mention of the name of the mother in the offi cial congratulatory note. Several other births mentioned in the Akbarnama also fail to recognise the mother.