ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>PARDAH SYSTEM</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="PARDAH,SYSTEM"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279PARDAH SYSTEM, the custom in certain societies of secluding women from men, is of ancient origin. <i>Pardah</i> is a Persian word meaning veil, curtain or screen. Pardah system involves the covering of the bodies or at least faces by grown up women from the gaze of males other than the closest kin, and their confinement to separate apartments in the interior of their homes variously called <i>haram</i>, <i>zen&#257n&#257, antahpur</i> or <i>avarodha</i>. In its most rigid form the <i>pardah</i> system prevails in some of the Muslim societies, but the custom of the seclusion of women from men existed long before the advent of Islam. There is reference to it in the Old Testament and the practice was in vogue amongst the Chaldeans of Ur. In ancient Greece, Athenian women could not mix freely with male guests or friends of their husbands at home, and their movements outside the home were restricted. Islam only confirmed the custom with religious sanction and strictness. Theoretically a Muslim woman must wear a <i>burqa</i>, a tentlike garment covering the body from head to foot with only an emneshed opening in front of the eyes, whenever stepping out of her house. Even within the house she must veil her face from all men except her father, her brother, and her husband. Among the Hindus of ancient India, <i>pardah</i> was at first confined to the women of some royal households as a symbol of prestige and superiority. The practice eventually passed on, in parts of the country, to aristocratic families, but <i>pardah</i> was not universally accepted as a social institution and was not adopted by the common people. The widespread use of <i>pardah</i> in north India came in the wake of Muslim conquest. Certain classes of Hindus, notably the R&#257jp&#363ts, adopted it partly as a status symbol in imitation of the new ruling class and partly to protect the modesty of their women from the waywardness of the conqueres. Hindu women, however, did not adopt <i>burqa</i>'; they only covered their faces and busts with their head cloth.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Gur&#363s discouraged discrimination between men and women. As they raised their voice against the custom of <i>sat&#299</i>, burning alive of widows along with the dead bodies of their husbands, they deprecated <i>pardah</i> and advocated equal participation of men and women in <i>sa&#7749gat</i> or religious assembly and in other spheres of life. In an anecdote preserved in Sar&#363p D&#257s Bhall&#257, <i>Mahim&#257 Prak&#257sh</i>, Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s (1479-1574) asked the <i>pardah</i>-observing wives of a R&#257jput hill chief to come to <i>sa&#7749gat</i> unveiled if they wanted to see him. Despite the disapproval of <i>pardah</i> by the Gur&#363s, some classes of Sikhs &#8212 rulers and aristocrats as well as Ja&#7789&#7789s of rural Punjab continued to practise it. The Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 movement and the spread of modern education, however, led to the gradual elimination of the custom. The <i>pardah</i> system is well on its way to disappearance even amongst the Sikhs of the rural areas.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bhall&#257, Sar&#363p D&#257s, <i>Mahim&#257 Prak&#257sh</i>. Patiala, 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> Baig, Tara Ali, <i>India's Women Power</i>. Delhi, 1976<BR> <li class="C1"> Mujeeb, M. <i>The Indian Muslims</i>. London, 1967<BR> <li class="C1"> Marenco, Ethne K., <i>The Transformation of Sikh Society</i>. Portland, Oregon, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh, <i>The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent</i>. 1994<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Joyce Pettigrew<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>