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ABSTRACT
Based on texts dealing with life in North Indian Muslim households of the second half of the nineteenth century, covering genres such as didactic tales, letters, guidebooks, and an autobiographical narrative, this essay looks at the representation of master-servant relationships as presented in these texts from the perspective of the master/mistress. As this was a period of transformation when traditional aristocratic households were gradually replaced by the new middle class, this essay, through a close textual analysis, underscores the gap between the normative and actual behaviour of the employing class, underlining the changes that came about with respect to the service classes while it attempted to maintain or acquire respectability on reduced incomes.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Abbreviations
| A | = | Ayyāmah |
| BK | = | Bītī Kahāni |
| BN | = | Banātu-´n-n‘ash |
| BZ | = | Bihishtī Zevar |
| CP | = | Cand Pand. |
| D | = | Dastanbū (Persian) |
| DE | = | Dastanbūy (English) |
| GLL | = | Ghalib: Life and Letters |
| KG | = | Khut͍ūt͍-i Ghālib |
| MḤ | = | Mau‘az͍ah-i Ḥasnah |
Notes
1. Transliteration follows the rules of the Library of Congress. Proper names are only transliterated in Urdu references within the bibliography and when the anglicized form is not very common.
2. See, e. g., Sangari, Politics of the Possible; Metcalf and Metcalf, History of Modern India; Hasan, Muslim Intellectuals; Minault, Secluded Scholars; Pernau, Ashraf into middle classes.
3. For a detailed discussion of codes of conduct for master and servant in Mughal sources, see Rizvi, “Domestic Service”.
4. Ghalib’s Persian letters have not been consulted for this study but would definitely provide further insights.
5. Ralph Russel’s translation of the term dāroghah used by Ghalib, in Russell and Islam, Gha-lib: Life and Letters.
6. KG II, 533; KG III, 1152 etc.
7. U: khidmatguzār, KG III, 1142.
8. GLL, 122.
9. DE, 79.
10. DE, 68.
11. In Urdu: tīn cār ādmī ghar ke, Kallū, Kalyān, Ayāz yah bāhar (KG II, 776), clearly distinguishing between the servants of the women’s quarters (ghar), who are not named, and his own attendants.
12. GLL, 221.
13. GLL, 273.
14. In Urdu: baskih dushvār hai har kām kā āsān honā, ādmī ko muyassar bhī nahīn insān honā.
15. Riẓā, Ghālibiyāt, 7. Riẓā has devoted a whole chapter in his book to Kallū, titled Ghālib kā mulāzim-i khāṣ (Ghalib’s special attendant/servant), 6–18.
16. Khān, Ā’īnah, 9. The lady herself was 90 years old when interviewed by Ḥamīd Aḥmad Khān, hence her memories might have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Her interviewer, however, stresses that she was mentally fully alert.
17. Riẓā, Ghālibiyāt, 8. He however doesn’t give any source for this information.
18. Ibid., 7.
19. Ibid., 8.
20. Ibid., 10.
21. Ibid., 9.
22. Ibid., 11. The word for “salutation” here is kornish, denoting an elaborate way of bowing down in respect.
23. Khān, “Ghālib kī khāngī zindagī,” 4.
24. Riẓā, Ghālibiyāt, 18.
25. KG III, 1152.
26. Khān, Ā’īnah, 9.
27. GLL, 275–6.
28. KG I, 399.
29. GLL, 276; KG I, 399–400.
30. The Turkish title “Beg” had been carried by Ghalib’s forefathers. It was a title given to rulers of small tribal groups, to members of ruling families, and to important officials.
31. KG II, 772–3.
32. Ḥālī, Yādgār, 68.
33. Ibid., 40.
34. “āṭh kahār ṭheke ke lūn”, KG I, 376.
35. KG I, 270.
36. KG II, 527.
37. KG IV, 1707.
38. KG I, 396.
39. Khān, Ā’īnah, 10.
40. Ibid., 9.
41. dadā: a [wet] nurse employed to raise the children, = anā; Platts: “particularly an old nurse that has attended upon one from her youth” (Platts, Dictionary, 508).
42. KG II, 772–3.
43. D, 38.
44. DE, 37–38.
45. Ibid., 62.
46. D, 76.
47. Thus in letters KG I, 279; KG I, 376; KG I, 400; KG I, 420; KG II, 776. This is very similar to English usage.
48. ”… Kallū aur laṛkā Niyāz ‘Ali ya‘nī ḍeṛh ādmī mere pās hain.”
49. Riẓā, Ghālibiyāt, 10.
50. KG I, 424.
51. For the early modern genealogy of service along the two servants of naukar and chakar, see Kumar, “Theorizing Service”.
52. khvāhī us ko naukarī samjho, khvāhī mazdūrī, 1857, KG I, 267.
53. KG II, 518.
54. Ḥālī, Yādgār, 41.
55. Ibid., 99.
56. Ibid., 35.
57. Khān, Ā’īnah, 10.
58. Thus in BZ 10, 344.
59. For instance in BZ 8, 222, here with regard to a man’s environment.
60. For a recent discussion on terms and changing meanings, see Sinha, Varma, and Jha, Servants’ Pasts.
61. CP, 142.
62. Ibid., 149.
63. Ibid., 159–61.
64. Ibid., 162.
65. MḤ, 34.
66. Ibid., 188.
67. Ibid., 189.
68. Ibid., 89–90.
69. MḤ, 125.
70. Ibid., 94.
71. Ibid., 100.
72. A, 54.
73. A, 99.
74. A, 143.
75. A, 151.
76. A, 192.
77. Cughtā’ī, Kulliyāt, 465.
78. BK, 42.
79. Ibid., 60.
80. Ibid., 62.
81. Ibid., 61.
82. Ibid., 62.
83. Ibid., 84.
84. For the term cele also see Lubna Irfan’s contribution in this issue.
85. BK, 102.
86. Ibid., 108.
87. Ibid., 123.
88. Ibid., 128.
89. Metcalf, Perfecting Women.
90. BZ 6, 76.
91. Ibid.
92. Metcalf, Perfecting Women, 351; BZ 10, 354.
93. BZ 6, 77–78.
94. BZ 6, 78.
95. Ibid.
96. BZ 10, 351.
97. BZ 6, 78.
98. BZ 10, 352.
99. mazdūr se kām lekar us kī mazdūrī dene men kotāhī mat karo. BZ 7, 87.
100. “ … jhūṭe wa‘de kartī hain ki kal ānā, parson ānā … ”, BZ 7, 112.
101. Ibid.
102. Cf. also Sangari, Politics of the Possible, 227.
103. BZ 10, 344.
104. Ibid., 345.
105. Ibid., 344.
106. Ibid., 345
107. Ibid., 350.
108. BZ 6, 87.
109. “Thoṛā sā bayān hāth ke hunar aur peshe kā”, BZ 10, 357–75.
110. For details on this novel, see Oesterheld, “Entertainment and Reform”, 199–203.
111. Cf, Premchand’s short story Mahri as discussed in Sinha, Varma, and Jha, Servants’ Pasts.
112. Kumkum Sangari has devoted a whole chapter titled “Women against women” to this topic in her book Politics of the Possible, 184–278.
113. Daryābādī, Āp bītī, 345.
114. Ibid., 362–4.
115. “ … aur ārām aur āsā’ish kī sainkṛon hazāron cīzen vilāyat se ban ban kar ātī hain sastī aur cumda se cumda”, A, 33.
116. Cf. Arnold, Everyday Technology.