A walk through the Memory Lane - Red Fort Harem Sunday Morning !
My clock ticked 6 AM and I was instantly awake. The immersive historical walk at Red Fort awaited me. I shunned the brain waves transmitting inflammatory pains through my tooth extraction done yesterday. Popping up an SOS pain reliever and deftly shoved into my bag all the essentials, few meds - to start for the metro.
All through my metro ride I was thinking why I am actually insisting on going somewhere I am a complete misfit - a historical place really ? Who on earth like me would take the trouble of starting early on a metro on a Sunday morning.
It seemed crazy - but my heart coaxed my brain its good to be crazy and so all the doubts were swept under the floor.
I reached Red Fort our meeting point at sharp 8 AM.
I was greeted by the enthusiastic folks of "go in the City" the immersive walk experience organizers. The crowd also seemed excited and I observed that infact everyone was clueless or rather came with open exploratory minds.
First Look of The Fort from Inside -
The sun was not that kind but the breeze was cold and gentle.
Our walk host - Gaurav proferred and no one refused to sit in the grass and circled around him. We sat just in front of Harem structures.
As the story unfolded -
Harem is a combination of 3-4 buildings & not just a single building from Harem , Diwan-i-Khas to Hammam was all part of Harem. All the ladies of Akbar 5000 to count were kept locked literally in the Harem. Huge curtains separated them from outside world such that women could see out through the "Chilman" but nothing was visible from outside on the inside.
Why was it called harem ? It is derived from word "haram" in Persian - meaning something forbidden. Harem was a forbidden area for others to go in and once a lady stepped in as part of harem she could never move out.
Only one man had access to Harem and that was the king emperor himself - Akbar.
It was also surprising to know that out of 5000 ladies merely 5% will have access to King's bed and rest would have been wedded to Akbar because of alliances or other reasons but he would never shower his love on those ladies.
Typically in the Top 5% of ladies the highest in hierarchy is the queen whose son would form the heir to the king and rest would be sub queens and remaining ones concubines- illegitimately part of the relationship with Kind knowing that emperor would never give them their due credit.
Harem had all the luxuries any person could dream of - it was a three storey underground building with facade of a balcony opening on the River. The sun rays would gleam through the water body and enter filtered by reflective glasses create rainbows inside the harem. So was it called "rangmahal" at times. the Underground area however had No sun rays entering it which meant that they were cooler even during the distressing heat waves.
Hmm.. interesting and dreamy.
Mughal emperors were very careful in providing 15-20 or more maids per queen dpending upon the stature of the lady in harem and her influence over emperor. Each queen would communicate to outside world only through notes exchanged between maids and eunchs latter also being not allowed to enter the harem. The eunchs would take it over to the head accountant who would know if the demand isn't too pricey would order for it straightaway or would need permission from emperor otherwise.
The ladies competed over the mindshare of Akbar through perfumes, paandaans, most luxurious dishes vying for his attention so that they could get a night to spend with him.
Akbar interestingly was also particular about satisfying her ladies. He once called the Kaamasutra consultants in his durbar and asked them the secrets to satisfying his ladies in the easiest manner. Akbar obviously went for the "Yoni" after all the options were laid out to him. He was attarcted by the possibility of satisfying his lady love within 5 minutes, the lower the time spent meant he could meet more ladies and satisfy them.
Pheww!! Total baniya
So the security of Harem being very tight - the security being provided by deaf and dumb asian ladies who were bulky in the getup and specially skilled for this job. They worked only on commandment of the emperor. The deaf and mute security meant that the ladies of Harem had no chance at escapade from the Harem.
It was as if they were imprisoned for lifetime - subjugated to the situation to either accept the walls of harem or die.
Logical reasoning for keeping so many women in harems was the child mortality rate being very high Emperor would need to consummate with many women to finally get a healthy heir to his throne.
Life was really mysterious at those times. Some more exploding facts emerged such as Aurangzeb was the most strict of all Mughal emperors - he never drank, practiced little or no polygamy and fought for a good time period of 55 years to help maintain his Mughal dynasty at a growing level.
All in all craving for a similar walk in the weekends to come ! Thanks to "Go in the city".
Here is their facebook page - pls like to be aware of their upcoming events -
https://www.facebook.com/gointhecity/
All through my metro ride I was thinking why I am actually insisting on going somewhere I am a complete misfit - a historical place really ? Who on earth like me would take the trouble of starting early on a metro on a Sunday morning.
It seemed crazy - but my heart coaxed my brain its good to be crazy and so all the doubts were swept under the floor.
I reached Red Fort our meeting point at sharp 8 AM.
I was greeted by the enthusiastic folks of "go in the City" the immersive walk experience organizers. The crowd also seemed excited and I observed that infact everyone was clueless or rather came with open exploratory minds.
First Look of The Fort from Inside -
 |
| The Curious Minds of "Go in the City" through the Ancient Shops |
 |
| One of Them was Open ! Blingy isnt it !! |
The sun was not that kind but the breeze was cold and gentle.
Our walk host - Gaurav proferred and no one refused to sit in the grass and circled around him. We sat just in front of Harem structures.
 |
| Beautiful Harem at a Distance |
 |
| Intellect , Storytelling - "Go in the City" was Wow Experience !! |
Harem is a combination of 3-4 buildings & not just a single building from Harem , Diwan-i-Khas to Hammam was all part of Harem. All the ladies of Akbar 5000 to count were kept locked literally in the Harem. Huge curtains separated them from outside world such that women could see out through the "Chilman" but nothing was visible from outside on the inside.
 |
| Harem combined Diwan - i Khas - Emperor's Powerhouse also |
Why was it called harem ? It is derived from word "haram" in Persian - meaning something forbidden. Harem was a forbidden area for others to go in and once a lady stepped in as part of harem she could never move out.
Only one man had access to Harem and that was the king emperor himself - Akbar.
It was also surprising to know that out of 5000 ladies merely 5% will have access to King's bed and rest would have been wedded to Akbar because of alliances or other reasons but he would never shower his love on those ladies.
Typically in the Top 5% of ladies the highest in hierarchy is the queen whose son would form the heir to the king and rest would be sub queens and remaining ones concubines- illegitimately part of the relationship with Kind knowing that emperor would never give them their due credit.
Hmm.. interesting and dreamy.
 |
| To the Left of Harem if facing Harem & the River |
Mughal emperors were very careful in providing 15-20 or more maids per queen dpending upon the stature of the lady in harem and her influence over emperor. Each queen would communicate to outside world only through notes exchanged between maids and eunchs latter also being not allowed to enter the harem. The eunchs would take it over to the head accountant who would know if the demand isn't too pricey would order for it straightaway or would need permission from emperor otherwise.
The ladies competed over the mindshare of Akbar through perfumes, paandaans, most luxurious dishes vying for his attention so that they could get a night to spend with him.
 |
| Harem faced River - shown in Picture above is the Secret passage to River from Underground of Diwan-i Khas |
Akbar interestingly was also particular about satisfying her ladies. He once called the Kaamasutra consultants in his durbar and asked them the secrets to satisfying his ladies in the easiest manner. Akbar obviously went for the "Yoni" after all the options were laid out to him. He was attarcted by the possibility of satisfying his lady love within 5 minutes, the lower the time spent meant he could meet more ladies and satisfy them.
Pheww!! Total baniya
So the security of Harem being very tight - the security being provided by deaf and dumb asian ladies who were bulky in the getup and specially skilled for this job. They worked only on commandment of the emperor. The deaf and mute security meant that the ladies of Harem had no chance at escapade from the Harem.
It was as if they were imprisoned for lifetime - subjugated to the situation to either accept the walls of harem or die.
Logical reasoning for keeping so many women in harems was the child mortality rate being very high Emperor would need to consummate with many women to finally get a healthy heir to his throne.
Life was really mysterious at those times. Some more exploding facts emerged such as Aurangzeb was the most strict of all Mughal emperors - he never drank, practiced little or no polygamy and fought for a good time period of 55 years to help maintain his Mughal dynasty at a growing level.
All in all craving for a similar walk in the weekends to come ! Thanks to "Go in the city".
Here is their facebook page - pls like to be aware of their upcoming events -
https://www.facebook.com/gointhecity/
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