An Impotent Prince, a Powerful Begum, and a Servant Queen: Lives of Women Servants in the Awadh Court (1814-37)

<p dir="ltr">This article explores the history and social world of women servants at the court of Awadh in North India between 1814 and 1837. It does so by examining the court inquiry of a contentious birth of a son from the union of an allegedly ‘impotent’ prince and a maid servant. This and other similar little-known episodes show that female servants, instead of being low social status, neglected figures, were central to the functioning of the court and held important positions. The article describes female servants’ lives as extending beyond their occupational roles, encompassing intimacy, loyalty, trust and political power. It contributes to the historiography of servitude, labour and gender in early modern South Asia. It shifts scholarly focus away from Awadh’s royal women (begums) and courtesans (tawā’ifs) to women servants who worked in domestic/non-domestic spaces but have remained on the margins of scholarship.</p><p><br></p>