ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the historical emergence, placement and engagements of eunuchs in the imperial regime of the Mughals. It demonstrates that as imperial "servants" and as an essential part of the bureaucracy of Akbar's empire, eunuchs engaged in crisscrossing networks of authority. By the time of Babur's grandson, the third Mughal, Akbar, however, eunuchs appear prominently in the records as an integral part of the newly ordered and institutionalized court and harem. The institutionalization of the harem was reflected not only in the physical topographies at Fatehpur-Sikri, the Mughal capital, but in its conceptual framework as well. The ideology that inspired the making of Akbar's harem, the arrangements of the domestic spaces in his palace, influenced where and how the eunuchs were to be positioned - spatially and in terms of role ascription. Khidmatgar had several eunuch proteges that served other princes. Awrangzeb's sons and daughters wooed this eunuch and showered him with gifts and audiences.
