NEW DELHI: When UPA's Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil on Sunday said that the purdah was introduced in India during the Mughal rule "to save women from Mughal invaders," she seemed to be going against what historians and NCERT books suggest.

Historians say that purdah in India started much before Babur heralded the Mughal rule in 1526 AD. According to them, the UPA candidate's reasoning as to why the social custom emerged - to protect women from aggressors' eye - also doesn't fully explain the causes leading to the emergence of purdah . They say that the purdah was also a status symbol of the higher classes in medieval India.

In his well-known book, 'Mediaeval India', renowned historian Satish Chandra writes that during the Delhi Sultanate period, beginning in 1206, the practice of keeping women in seclusion and asking them to veil their faces in the presence of outsiders became widespread among the upper class women. He says that the Arabs and the Turks brought the custom to India, and consequently, it became widespread in north India.

In the chapter, 'Government and economic and social life during Sultanate period', Chandra writes that, "the growth of purdah has been attributed to the fear of the Hindu women being captured by the invaders. In an age of violence, women were liable to be treated as prizes of war.

Perhaps the most important factor for the growth of purdah was social - it became a symbol of the higher classes in society. And all those who wanted to be considered respectable tried to copy it. Also, religious justification was found for it."

Nandita Prasad Sahai, who teaches a course on the gender history of mediaeval India in JNU, says that there is
no consensus amongst historians about the precise period when purdah originated in Indian society.

"Historian Kegan Paul traces the practice of the custom back to the Vedic period. And anthropologist Patricia Jeffrey says that seclusion and veiling of women was not unknown before the Muslim invasion. It appears that a social ideal recommending women to remain in seclusion to mark their complete loyalty towards their husband already existed," she says.

This is further evident in the layout of the mediaeval Chittorgarh fort that has separate quarters for women called the jenani deorhi . According to Sahai, this indicates that patriarchal values had already emerged in pre-mediaeval times. And, that a family's honour had already come to reside in the bodies of their women.

"Most historians consider the Muslim invasion as a watershed when purdah is said to have become more widespread as a defensive reaction in troubled times among the Rajput royalty trying to protect their women. In fact, the case is unproven in the absence of statistical material that could establish a change in the extent of the practice of purdah . It seems plausible, however, that the practice became more widespread amongst the Rajput royalty in trying to imitate the custom of the new ruling classes," says Sahai.

Interestingly, the peasant and working class women did not observe purdah . It was a feature primarily among upper classes.

"Over time, seclusion came to be combined with purdah/ghoonghat and became a signifier of female respectability amongst the higher classes, and part of the feminine code of modesty. That is why it was also observed among elderly female relatives," says the JNU historian.

By the 15th century, purdah became integral to the feudal etiquette of Rajasthan and was observed vis-a-vis both outsiders, as well as insiders.

Patil's statement on the origins of purdah may have been off the mark, historically. However, few will disagree with her advocacy to end the custom.