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Mobility, Gender and Empire in Maria Graham's Journal of a Residence in India (1812)

“…Graham described Shabab o'dien Mahayr's wife, Fatima, as 'modest, gentle and indolent' and noted that 'she hardly moves without permission from the elder ladies of the harem'. 61 Fatima's own lack of mobility, except at the assent of her husband or her elders, and 'indolence' maps on directly to the space that the women occupy. In implicit contrast to her own house, Graham described the dimensions of the room as 'rather low' and surrounded by smaller rooms, 'most of them crowded with small beds, with white muslin curtains, these were not particularly clean, the whole suite seemed close and disagreeable'.…”

“…64 'They thread beads, plait coloured threads, sleep, quarrel, make pastry, and chew betel, in the same daily round; it is only at a death, a birth or a marriage, that the monotony of their lives is ever interrupted'. 65 Despite gender, class and religious differences, the unchanging, cyclical routine of the women of the harem evokes the same purposelessness that Graham attributes to the Peshwa's pilgrimages and the palankeen bearers' mobility. The 'monotonous song' of the latter suggests that their movement is aimless and purposeless, whilst the Peshwa's 'squandering' of 'immense sums' on 'some devout procession' denies meaning to his mobility.…”