The Indian Boudoir: Private Or Public Space?

Philippa Vaughan

The European idea of boudoir and its architectural setting, originally associated particularly with the private apartments of the chatelaine in grand houses, carries connotations of personal privacy. By contrast in India privacy is understood more in terms of inner space and the individual is rarely alone physically, even for the most intimate acts such as sex or grief. In Muslim courts the harem was a large community of women of the royal family of all generations, with extensive households of ladies in waiting as well as servants, many of whom shared the same space in one way or another most of the time. This paper will explore the “boudoir” aspects of women’s social life and the environment in which it was enjoyed.