Eunuchs of the Mughal empire.

Eunuchs of the Mughal empire.

The privileged life that Mughal eunuchs enjoyed.

Francisco Pelsaert, during his visit to the Mughal court as a Dutch merchant in the seventeenth century, took notes on the prestige and power enjoyed by the third gender, or eunuchs, in the imperial household. “They can get whatever they desire- fine horses to ride, servants to attend them outside, and female slaves inside the house, clothes as fine and smart as those of their master himself,” he is noted to have written in his travelogue. The elevated stature of eunuchs during the Mughal era has been documented for years by foreign travelers and historians. “Even the stigmatized community of hijras in India today seem to carry something of the special powers, the baraka, of the eunuchs of earlier times, and they invoke Mughal eunuchs as their ancestors.”
Historian Ruby Lal uncovered this history in her article ‘Harem and eunuchs: Liminality and Networks of Mughal Authority.’

When eunuchs were the mid-rung of power in the Mughal empire, by Adrija Roychowdhury, The Indian Express. New Delhi, July 19, 2018.
https://indianexpress.com/article/research/eunuch-security-guards-bihar-mughal-empire-history-5266102/