Femininity, State and Cultural Space in Eighteenth-century India

Abstract

Eighteenth-century India is by now historians’ cherished kaleidoscope. Of its images she sees is one that shapes into an expansion of the feminine presence in the century’s political and cultural space. Symbolised in a greatly enhanced visibility of women, many of whom were rulers–regents and courtesans, this article seeks to articulate that image, the metaphysics of its manifestation and elaboration within the state and cultural sphere by focusing upon the imperial capital, Delhi. It hypothesises a destabilisation of the gender of the state and its masculinity consequent upon the Mughal empire’s decline which also enabled indigenous cultural traditions friendlier to the feminine to assert themselves. The femininity that evolved moderated the masculinity of the century’s polities which came to be mediated through a more balanced gender template. The greater concord it signified defined societies rich in regional expressiveness that blended with the cosmopolitanism of their cities.