A KALIGHAT painting, which developed in 19th century Bengal, depicts a Bengali babu with a concubine.
THE story begins like this. Dr Bilkis Rahman read the autobiography of noted author Mir Mosharraf Hossain and discovered a very happy life with his wife Bibi Kulsum. But when she examined the personal diary of Kulsum, she found a different picture. Kulsum described her mental predicaments due to her husband’s extramarital relationships and his lack of respect for her. This prompted Rahman to undertake a research study and find out the actual conditions of women in 19th century Bengal, compiling her findings in the book Unish Shatake Banglay Naripurush Shamparka.
Undivided Bengal comprised today’s Bangladesh and the Indian province of West Bengal in the 19th century and was under British rule. Hindus and Muslims represented a large majority of the population. At the beginning of the 19th century, religion played a vital role in determining the nature of relationships. Religious rules favoured men; women were given a lower position in both religions in terms of their relationship with men, right to property and social status. Rahman was surprised to discover that both Hinduism and Islam allowed men to have multiple wives, while a woman could have only a single husband. In addition, men were allowed to have sexual relationship with prostitutes, maids, concubines and other women.
Rahman also examines marriage deeds (kabinnama for Muslims and patipatra for Hindus), deeds of spouse livelihood support, wills, divorce letters, court records such as lawsuits related to marriages and property inheritance, deeds donation, loan agreements, and documents related to land exchange. Information was also obtained from autobiographies, letters, diaries, newspapers, periodicals, books and magazines, government records, reports of civil and criminal cases, magistrate reports, police reports, education reports, medical reports, district records, and census reports.
Rahman puts forth three theories explaining the nature of sexual relationship between men and women. The first theory postulates that the relationship between men and women is primarily based on physical relationship. A man looks at female body as a cultivable land. A child is the fruit of this process.
The second theory is based on feminism that denounces absolute domination by men. It recognises female freedom and independence. It states that a woman will decide whether she will participate in sexual intercourse with a man, and she can even choose a female partner for sexual gratification.
The third theory is based on equality between men and women. It postulates that physical attraction between a man and a woman is natural, and sexual relationship is a matter of choice and love between the two persons.
At the beginning of 19th century, men-women relationship was based on the first theory. Thus a man would feel attracted only to a woman’s body and not to her as a person. There was no love in conjugal relations; the wife was treated as a machine to produce children.
Rahman also looks into childhood marriages and the tragedies that they led to. This type of marriage was quite common during that time. girls were married before the age of puberty. Hoimaboti Sen was married off to a 45-year-old man when she was a child of 10. She woke up with a startle and started screaming when her husband started to take off her clothes. Her husband used to have sex with a prostitute in their bedroom in her presence. An 11-year-old girl died after being raped by her husband. Another man beat his wife to death because she refused to have sex.
This book also focuses on economic and social rights of women during that period. According to the Muslim law, a daughter was entitled to some of her father’s and husband’s property. But the Hindu law deprived the daughter of her father’s property. However, the father, in both Islam and Hinduism, had the option to donate his property to his daughter through a will before his death.
Towards the second half of the 19th century, men undertook several initiatives to ensure financial security of their wives and daughters, and married women became more conscious about their rights as wives. An examination of marriage deeds, divorce letters, and relevant court verdicts reveals that stringent conditions were included in these documents to protect the rights of women.
Rahman cites some specific marriage deeds where it was clearly mentioned that the husband would treat his wife with respectfully, allow her to visit her parents regularly and would not remarry without her permission. In the kabinnama, the husband would assure that he would not marry another woman, and even if he did, the first wife would have the power to divorce the second wife on behalf of her husband and the husband would accept it. If the husband had any children from his second wife, they would be deprived of his property. If the husband left the country and stayed overseas for four years, or did not have sexual intercourse with her for six months while living together with her, the wife had the right to divorce her husband. The condition of women in Muslim families was a little better. This book is as an invaluable document for future researchers on gender studies.
The Daily Star / Bangladesh.
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