CHAPTER VII
THE ZENANA
The princely harems of India rival in magnificence those of Egypt and Turkey.[1] When an ex-king of Oude was awarded a mighty revenue from his kingdom, as a pension from the English, he built a miniature walled city on the Hooghly. Here he ruled over several thousand subjects, and held a stately court. His chief wives were two in number, and he had thirty-nine inferior wives, called Mahuls, "bearers of children." Besides these women, the ex-sovereign owned one hundred Begums. His family consisted of thirty-one sons and twenty-five daughters; fifty-six children, and all of them living.
This potentate's stipend of £10,000 a month was inadequate. He was always in debt. His palaces were from three to four, and he occupied them
- ↑ The term zenana is derived from the Persian zan, meaning woman.
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