The most private part of the royal complex were traditionally grouped in what is called in Rajasthan ,the Mardana ,or the men’s quarters and the Rawala were the women’s quarters .These were situated situated in the most private part of the royal complex and most often were built inside the protection of high walls.Queens ,Princesses of the blood line ,Women of high rank and ladies of the court ,following ancient traditions were required to live separated from the public zone of the palace.
In certain palaces in Rajasthan ,as in Jodhpur ,the quarters reserved for women could be more spacious than that of the Mardana .The fact is sovereigns only rarely stayed in their fortress ,spending majority of their time at courts of Agra and Delhi ,while the lives of their wives and daughters were exclusively spent in the royal Rawala.
In 1799 the then maharaja of Jaipur had a palace of wind for the ladies of court kept in confinement or purdha .With most graceful décor and façade ,behind the balconies with there stone screened windows, to which they had access by various storeys and galleries ,the wives ,concubines and daughters of the Maharaja could leisurely contemplate celebrations and processions on streets without being seen from outside.
Francisco Pelsaert,an agent for the Dutch East India Company ,who was in India in the 1620’s wrote about the non chalant and idle existence of the ladies of the court,observing the world through the fine net of the Jalis,confined in the Rawalas or Mogul Zananas .He wrote “The rawalas and zananas are bathed in an atmosphere of lascivisious sensuality of extravagant and licentious festivities ,of over abundant magnificence,of vanity beyond mesure and ostentatious refinement..”and doctor Manucci wrote “The women ,being thus enclosed and constantly watched ,and having neither freedom nor anything to do ,lived only for themselves and their only thoughts were of meanness and lechery.Naval bai wife of a wazir Asad Khan ,she confided that her only thought was to imagine some way to please her husband and keep him from wanting to go to other women…”As for James Tod an expert in his inestimable knowledge “The Rawala of an eastern prince is a world within itself .It is the labyrinth containing the strings that move the puppets which alarm mankind .Here intrigue sits enthroned ,and hence its influence radiates to the world,always at a loss to trace effects to their causes.”
