Muslim Men and Hindu Women * 77

 Muslim Men and Desire for Hindu Women

Updated on August 10, 2012

Inter religious marriage

Lust is a word that means intense or unrestrained sexual craving. Sometimes the word does look vulgar or coarse but it defines a mindset that is dictated by desire and temptation. All over India and Pakistan the one fact that stands out is the number of Hindu girls with Muslim men has husbands. In Pakistan it takes a bizarre form with about 20-25 Hindu girls being kidnapped every month in Sind province and forcibly converted and married to Muslim men. In India there is no coercion but any numbers of Hindu girls marry Muslims. Even the film stars are into it and the most famous present day heroine Karina Kapoor is marrying a Muslim star who has 2 grown up children.

I began to wonder why this is so after all just a few decades the Muslims and Hindus did not have much of intermarriages. Before independence and the advent of the Raj, the Muslims were the rulers and they could have their pick of Hindu girls. Even the warrior Timur selected 200 of the most beautiful Hindu girls for his harem. But it all ended with the Raj and independence.

So frankly I am intrigued to see so many Hindu girls marrying Muslim men. The contrast is stark as in all cases the Hindu girls convert to Islam. This is mandatory and is something that happens, but I suppose there is very little coercion involved, except in Pakistan where the situation is entirely different. I wonder what could be the psychology behind these marriages.

Obviously there is some background to it. One thing that strikes me is loss of power by the Muslims the Hindu girls became unattainable. So the Muslim men with a not a little encouragement from the Mullahs began to assiduously woo Hindu girls. The idea was to win them over and marry them and beget children. It’s like a victory in battle, after all in ancient wars the women were the prize.

These are harsh thoughts, but I suppose there is some truth in it. Thus the Muslim man will go out of his way to court a Hindu girl. What about the Hindu girl? There is a new found freedom given by independent India and the Hindu girl is exercising it to the hilt. One manifestation is these marriages. In contrast the reverse of Muslim girls marrying Hindu boys is just a trickle. Rigidity in Islam is intense?

The Hindus, their Girls and Women and the Harem

Background

Brooklyn Museum - Harem Scene

The Hindus have been the predominant religious groups in India. However during the 9th and 10th century the Hindus had to face the Moslem invaders. There were furious batt3es, but the Hindus lost. As per Field Marshal Barnard Montgomery the Moslems won as ‘the Hindus though very brave, did not have any startegoic sense as the passes to the North West were never guarded’
Thus, from that time Moslem ascendency over India increased and very soon they were the rulers of India The Hindus were reduced to the status of second class citizens in their own land. This must have been a traumatic experience for most of the Hindu kings including the Rajputs. They had no choice but to be subseverient to the Moslem rulers.

Islam and Wives

entertaining the Lord

Islam enjoins a man to have 4 wives and any number of concubines. Thus the Moslem rulers practiced Islam with particular reference to their wives who were all kept in a harem. A harem was a place where only the women were allowed and no male except the ruler could enter inside to partake of the pleasure of the women in the harem.

The Tribute of Hindu Girls

Inside a harem

With all around defeats, the Hindus and the Rajputs in particular decided to make peace with the rulers at Delhi. One form was to present Hindu girls and princesses to the rulers for their pleasure. Such Hindu girls were thus ensconced in a harem and converted to Islam. The Moslem nobles and kings were invariably delighted with the acquision of Hindu girls and accepted them with relish into their harems.

However some benevolent rulers like Akbar allowed his Hindu wives some latitude by allowing them to worship the Hindu gods, in the privacy of their chambers. But as a thumb rule most Moslem rulers thought it their divine right to have a number of Hindu girls and princesses as part of their harems. This was more like a barter agreement, as the rulers at Delhi allowed the Hindu kings some power and some retained their principalities and other rose to high ranks in the Mughal and Moslem administration and the army.

Hindu Girls and Virginity

In the Harem

The price for this was Hindu girls for Moslem harems. It was important that the girl sent into the Moslem harem was a virgin, as the rulers would never accept a non virgin. In fact a careful examination was carried out to confirm that the girl was virgin.
This is indeed one of the unfortunate facts of History. A pointer to this is the fact that Akbar and other rulers had over 400-500 women in their harems. The Hindu girls and princesses had themselves no choice in the matter and were in all probability resigned to their Fate. It is a sad commentary on the conduct of the Hindu rulers who were basically men who compromised their principles for some trappings and privileges of power and rule.

Last Word

Harem in India

Tthe concept of the Harem was copied by Hindu Kings and Maharajahs. Maharajah Ranjit Singh the Sikh ruler of the Sikh empire has 11 women in his harem including 4 Muslim girl princesses, who he loved dearly.
This sad practice continued even with the arrival of the British and the defeat of the Moslems. as an example the Maharajah of Patiala Sardar Bhupinder Singh and his father Devinder Singh had over 400 wives and concubines including Muslim and English girls

References

Gustave Boulanger: The Harem

The Mughul Harem by LK Saran Aditya Prakashan , New Delhi ( 1988)
Harem: The World Behind the Veil, by Alev Lytle Croutier reprint ed. Abbeville Publishing Group (Abbeville Press, Inc.), 1998