Source: HerZindagi
The patriarchy and the status of women in the medieval Indian context have always had a unique position in the reading and writing of Indian history. Generally, it is argued that, in the older times, power resided in the public arena reserved for men, whereas women were at home in the limited domestic realm. However, such a restrictive understanding was questioned by the post-structuralists who argued that the separate spheres ideology by itself is a social construct.
There did exist certain women who wielded power and lived and led their life against these social constructs. In medieval Islamic society, although women had a status separate and inferior to that of men, a metaphorical space also existed where women wielded power and had authority. One such striking example is Raziya, a sultan of the thirteenth century and the warrior daughter of Iltutmish.
Early Life and Accession
Raziya sultan was the Ruler of the Delhi Sultanate in northern India from 1236 to 1240, she is a prominent example of a woman rising to power in thirteenth-century India. Raziya was an able ruler filled with wisdom and valor. It is said that under her rule, the laws were stabilized, the kingdom became pacified, and the power of the state was extended further.
Raziya was supported by the Turkish slave officers who had their origins in the Pontic and Caspian steppes, where women enjoyed considerably more latitude than the nomadic tribes. Although, it must be noted that this alleged support did not overthrow the strong anti-female sentiment prevalent in the Perso-Islamic culture and in the Delhi Sultanate.
Her Transformation
Therefore, to legitimize her rule, she, transcended or rather transformed herself into a man, stopping people from associating her with the weaker sex. Cross-dressing and riding horses helped Raziya to create popularity with the people of the empire. She also started undertaking the business of the kingdom in the manners of the emperor to cease the people from seeing her as an ordinary woman. Her coinage also conveyed a sense of male legitimacy where she is addressed as the sultan and a king.
Dethronement
However, Raziya, despite possessing excellent administration and warrior skills was dethroned and replaced by her younger brother. Though not all cross-dressing was met with approval during her era, in the case of Raziya it was not her donning a male attire or picking up the supposedly masculine mannerisms that led to her dethroning.
It was rather her strong demeanor and her will to assert autonomy that overthrew her from the empire. The Turks who helped her capture the throne wanted somebody more submissive to be the king, making it easy for them to control and exert power. But Raziya proved to be a strong ruler who asserted her autonomy and did not give way to manipulation and hence she was replaced.
The End Note
Early assessments of Raziya’s rule make no mention of gender-based transgressions. Historians described her as a person of admirable attributes and filled with qualifications necessary for kings. Raziya’s success in identifying as a man showed surprisingly flexible conceptions of gender in medieval Perso-Islamic culture. Nonetheless, the late medieval and modern historians writing much after the rule of Raziya tried to re-feminize her and fabricate her direction.
They presented heavily gendered and even erotically charged accounts of her reign and deposition. For example, Esami says that Raziya started to ride like a man and let her scarf fall from the window and assert that the king had chosen her as his heir-apparent, which made everybody from the lowest to the highest class suspicious of her.
He also further states that the Turkish slaves understood that all women were evil and they realized that bowing in Infront of women would not be consistent with their manhood. Many later historians writing about Raziya also charge her guilty of sexual immorality and assigned Raziya the worst traits associated with women during her era.
Joan arc pointing to the rewriting of Raziya’s history says that “Razia has been rescripted and reclad to serve the interests of God, king, country, and finally masculinity—male heterosexual desire—itself”. The ornamenting of Raziya’s story eventually reveals the patriarchal frame of society to keep women away from power and associate her with the weaker role.
On the other hand, the rule of Raziya, despite her identification as a male to achieve and maintain power symbolizes a step forward for women. Her life story tells us that certain flexibility toward female sovereignty in Islamic society and that a space existed in which women could identify or be identified as men and that gender identity was far less stable in these societies than is often thought.
Written By - Ananya Verma
Edited By - Riya Dabas
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