Courtly Indian Women in Late Imperial India (No-1)

Jhala examines the political worldview of courtly and royal women in India during the late colonial and post-Independence period. It is a history of the Zenana, which served as the womens courts or female quarters of the palace, where women lived behind pardah (literally translating as the veil or curtain) in seclusion. During the colonial period, Zenana women were significant players in matters of state succession, marriage alliance and the question of colonial law versus indigenous practice.