Can Silence Be a Source in History? A Mizāj Pursi of The Forgotten Lives of Six Indian Muslim Historical Female Figurines

Book: Mapping the Trajectory of Indian Muslim Women's Life-Writings: An Autoethnographical Approach from India by CSMFL Publications

Kaushiki Ishwar
Scholar, Interdisciplinary Fields of History, Philosophy, and Sociology, University of Delhi, India.

10.46679/9789349926509ch03
This chapter is a part of: Mapping the Trajectory of Indian Muslim Women’s Life-Writings: An Autoethnographical Approach from India
ISBN (Ebook): 978-93-49926-50-9
ISBN (Hardcover Print): 978-93-49926-84-4
ISBN (Softcover Print): 978-93-49926-34-9

© CSMFL Publications & its authors.
Published: April 15, 2026

Ishwar., K. (2026). Can Silence Be a Source in History? A Mizāj Pursi of The Forgotten Lives of Six Indian Muslim Historical Female Figurines. In N. Safrine, Mapping the Trajectory of Indian Muslim Women’s Life-Writings: An Autoethnographical Approach from India (pp 31-43). CSMFL Publications. https://dx.doi.org/10.46679/9789349926509ch03

Abstract

This chapter aims to document and critically engage with the political contributions of Indian Muslim women, who have frequently been overlooked in conventional historiography. There is extremely little evidence-based research on the lives of women and absolutely no autoethnographic evidence. The chapter chronicles the lives and legacies of figures such as Anees Fatima, Nishatunnisa Mohani, Abadi Bano Begum (Bi Amma), Begum Hazrat Mahal, Anis Kidwai, and Zubaida Daoodi from the 1857 First War of Independence to the aftermath of Partition. The chapter examines the absence of structured archives and provides an interpretive historiographical intervention utilizing oral histories, legislative records, and feminist reinterpretations of nationalist myths.

Keywords: Feminist Historiography, Muslim Women, Archival Research, Feminist Research, Indian National Movement

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