ABSTRACT
In this chapter, women’s experiential accounts from the Indian locales, and the existing public discourses on veiling in the country, are presented to establish the dialogue between the local and the international. The Indian-international juxtaposition forms a unique Indian discourse on Islamic veiling. There are three major factors in the international discourse which have a direct impact on Islamic purdah practice in India: The growth of the Islamic fashion industry; economic migration to Middle Eastern countries; and Islamophobia. The chapter places Muslims, as observers of the practice, in a historical context and explicates the state of marginalisation in contemporary India. The regional variations in the practice of Islamic purdah, within Indian urban spaces, are particularly focused upon.
