Behind the Veil: Ceremonies, Customs and Colour

by Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah

Originally published in 1953, Behind the Veil captures the splendor and opulence of "life behind the veil": the women's world where over the centuries in the courts of the Mughal Kings of Delhi and Lucknow, unobserved and unattended by men, many of Pakistan and India's customs and ceremonies evolved. Shaista Ikramullah's exquisite collection of essays examines how in this women's world the vanished glory of the past lived on. It is in the pageantry of the wedding ceremonies, in the dazzle of the jewelry, and in the variety of dresses that one still finds the magic of the Orient and the East.

218 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 1994

About the author

Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah was born in 1915 and educated in Calcutta, India, and London, where she received a PhD at the University of London. She was one of the few Muslim women to take part in the Pakistan Movement and one of the first female members of Pakistan’s Constituent-cum-Legislative Assembly. Begum Ikramullah also served Pakistan as a delegate to various international conferences and as Ambassador to Morocco.