member of the natural order Campanulaceae. The harebell has a very slender slightly creeping root-stock, and a wiry, erect stem. The radical leaves, that is, those at the base of the stem, to which the specific name rotundifolia refers, have long stalks, and are roundish or heart-shaped with crenate or serrate margin; the lower stem leaves are ovate or lanceolate, and the upper ones linear, subsessile, acute and entire, rarely pubescent. The flowers are slightly drooping, arranged in a panicle, or in small specimens single, having a smooth calyx, with narrow pointed erect segments, the corolla bell-shaped, with slightly recurved segments, and the capsule nodding, and opening by pores at the base. There are two varieties:—(a) genuina, with slender stem leaves, and (b) montana, in which the lower stem-leaves are broader and somewhat elliptical in shape. The plant is found on heaths and pastures throughout Great Britain and flowers in late summer and in autumn; it is widely spread in the north temperate zone. The harebell has ever been a great favourite with poets, and on account of its delicate blue colour has been considered as an emblem of purity.
HAREM, less frequently Haram or Harim (Arab harīm—commonly
but wrongly pronounced hārĕm—“that which is
illegal or prohibited”), the name generally applied to that part
of a house in Oriental countries which is set apart for the women;
it is also used collectively for the women themselves. Strictly the
women’s quarters are the haremlik (lik, belonging to), as opposed
to selamlik the men’s quarters, from which they are in large
houses separated by the mabein, the private apartments of the
householder. The word harem is strictly applicable to Mahommedan
households only, but the system is common in greater or
less degree to all Oriental communities, especially where polygamy
is permitted. Other names for the women’s quarters are Seraglio
(Ital. serraglio, literally an enclosure, from Lat. sera, a bar;
wrongly narrowed down to the sense of harem through confusion
with Turkish serāi or sarāi, palace or large building, cf. caravanserai);
Zenana (strictly zanana, from Persian zan, woman,
allied with Gr. γυνή), used specifically of Hindu harems;
Andarūn (or Anderoon), the Persian word for the “inner part”
(sc. of a house). The Indian harem system is also commonly
known as pardah or purdah, literally the name of the thick
curtains or blinds which are used instead of doors to separate
the women’s quarters from the rest of the house. A male doctor
attending a zenana lady would put his hand between the purdah
to feel her pulse.
The seclusion of women in the household is fundamental to the Oriental conception of the sex relation, and its origin must, therefore, be sought far earlier than the precepts of Islam as set forth in the Koran, which merely regulate a practically universal Eastern custom.[1] It is inferred from the remains of many ancient Oriental palaces (Babylonian, Persian, &c.) that kings and wealthy nobles devoted a special part of the palace to their womankind. Though in comparatively early times there were not wanting men who regarded polygamy as wrong (e.g. the prophets of Israel), nevertheless in the East generally there has never been any real movement against the conception of woman as a chattel of her male relatives. A man may have as many wives and concubines as he can support, but each of these women must be his exclusive property. The object of this insistence upon female chastity is partly the maintenance of the purity of the family with special reference to property, and partly to protect women from marauders, as was the case with the people of India when the Mahommedans invaded the country and sought for women to fill their harems. In Mahommedan countries theoretically a woman must veil her face to all men except her father, her brother and her husband; any violation of this rule is still regarded by strict Mahommedans as the gravest possible offence, though among certain Moslem communities (e.g. in parts of Albania) women of the poorer classes may appear in public unveiled. If any other man make his way into a harem he may lose his life; the attempted escape of a harem woman is a capital offence, the husband having absolute power of life and death, to such an extent that, especially in the less civilized parts of the Moslem world, no one would think of questioning a man’s right to mutilate or kill a disobedient wife or concubine.
Turkish Harems.—A good deal of misapprehension, due to ignorance combined with strong prejudice against the whole system, exists in regard to the system in Turkey. It is often assumed, for example, that the sultan’s seraglio is typical, though on a uniquely large scale, of all Turkish households, and as a consequence that every Turk is a polygamist. This is far from being the case, for though the Koran permits four wives, and etiquette allows the sultan seven, the man of average possessions is perforce content with one, and a small number of female servants. It is, therefore, necessary to take the imperial seraglio separately.
Though the sultan’s household in modern times is by no means as numerous as it used to be, it is said that the harem of Abdul Hamid contained about 1000 women, all of whom were of slave origin. This body of women form an elaborately organized community with a complete system of officers, disciplinary and administrative, and strict distinctions of status. The real ruler of this society is the sultan’s mother, the Sultana Validé, who exercises her authority through a female superintendent, the Kyahya Khatun. She has also a large retinue of subordinate officials (Kalfas) ranging downwards from the Hasnadar ousta (“Lady of the Treasury”) to the “Mistress of the Sherbets” and the “Chief Coffee Server.” Each of these officials has under her a number of pupil-slaves (alaiks), whom she trains to succeed her if need be, and from whom the service is recruited. After the sultana validé (who frequently enjoys considerable political power and is a mistress of intrigue) ranks the mother of the heir-apparent; she is called the Bash Kadin Effendi (“Her excellency the Chief Lady”), and also hasseki or kasseky, and is distinguished from the other three chief wives who only bear the title Kadin Effendi. Next come the ladies who have borne the younger children of the sultan, the Hanum Effendis, and after them the so-called Odalisks or Odalisques (a perversion of odalik, from odah, chamber). These are subdivided, according to the degree of favour in which they stand with the sultan or padishah, into Ikbals (“Favourites”) and Geuzdés (literally the “Eyed” ones), those whom the sultan has favourably noticed in the course of his visits to the apartments of his wives or his mother. All the women are at the disposal of the sultan, though it is contrary to etiquette for him actually to select recruits for his harem. The numbers are kept up by his female relatives and state officials, the latter of whom present girls annually on the evening before the 15th of Ramadan.
Every odalisk who has been promoted to the royal couch receives a daïra, consisting of an allowance of money, a suite of apartments, and a retinue, in proportion to her status. It should be noted that, since all the harem women are slaves, the sultans, with practically no exceptions, have never entered into legal marriage contracts. Any slave, in however menial a position, may be promoted to the position of a kadin effendi. Hence all the slaves who have any pretension to beauty are carefully trained, from the time they enter the harem, in deportment, dancing, music and the arts of the toilette: they are instructed in the Moslem religion and learn the daily prayers (namaz); a certain number are specially trained in reading and writing
- ↑ In Africa also, among the non-Mahommedan negroes of the west coast and the Bahima of the Victoria Nyanza, the seclusion of women of the upper classes has been practised in states (e.g. Ashanti and Buganda) possessing a considerable degree of civilization.
