Editing Concubinage (section)

=== India ===
[[File:Savant Singh (Reigned 1748-1757) and Bani Thani in the Guise of Krishna and Radha Cruising on Lake Gundalao LACMA AC1999.264.1 (3 of 3).jpg|thumb|right|Raja Savant Singh of [[Kishangarh]] (reigned 1748–1757) with his favourite concubine Bani Thani.]]
In Hindu society, concubinage was practiced with women with whom marriage was undesirable, such as a woman from an upper-caste or a Brahmin woman.<ref name=Has41>{{harvnb|Hassig|2016|p=41}}"In some societies, ties of concubinage were made with women who would not be socially acceptable wives."</ref> Children born of concubinage followed the caste categorization of the mother.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Parkin|title=South Asia in Transition An Introduction to the Social Anthropology of a Subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUcHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127|page=127|year=2020|publisher=Lexington books|isbn=9781793611796}}</ref>

Polygamy and concubinage prevailed in ancient India for rulers and kings.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-14 |title=paa2010 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314211034/https://paa2010.princeton.edu/abstracts/100754 |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=web.archive.org}}</ref>

Before the [[Indian independence movement|Independence of India]], in [[Gujarat]], the Bhil women were concubines for the [[Koli people|Koli]] [[Tribal chief|landlords]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nath |first=Y. V. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXEbAAAAMAAJ |title=Bhils of Ratanmal: An Analysis of the Social Structure of a Western Indian Community |publisher=[[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]] |year=1960 |location=[[New Delhi]], [[India]], [[Asia]] |pages=62: in Pipergota, a ruler is having a Dhanaki concubine for a number of years. But he does not live with her. He accepts no food from her. So his purity is unaffected and be remains a member of the higher society. Quite a few Bhilala land holders have Naika woman their concubines and in Baria, such relations are said to exist between the [[Koli people|Koli]] [[Thakur (title)|Thakur]]s and [[Bhil]] women}}</ref>

In medieval Rajasthan, the ruling [[Rajput]] family often had certain women called ''paswan'', ''khawaas'', ''pardayat''. These women were kept by the ruler if their beauty had impressed him, but without formal marriage.<ref name=politicsofmarriage/> Sometimes they were given rights to income collected from a particular village, as queens did. Their children were socially accepted but did not receive a share in the ruling family's property and married others of the same status as them.<ref name=politicsofmarriage>{{cite book|title=The Politics of Marriage in India: Gender and Alliance in Rajasthan|author=Sabita Singh |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2019|pages=153–154}}</ref>

Concubinage was practiced in elite [[Rajput]] households between 16th and 20th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ramya |last1=Sreenivasan|editor=Indrani Chatterjee |title=Slavery and South Asian History |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |page=136}}</ref>
Female slave-servants or slave-performers could be elevated to the rank of concubine (called ''khavas'', ''pavas'') if a ruler found them attractive. The entry into concubinage was marked by a ritual; however, this ritual differentiated from rituals marking marriage.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ramya |last1=Sreenivasan|editor=Indrani Chatterjee |title=Slavery and South Asian History |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |page=144}}</ref> Rajputs often took concubines from [[Jat]], [[Gujjar]], [[Ahir]], [[Muslim]] but did not take concubines from the untouchable castes and refrained from taking [[Charan]]s, [[Brahmin]]s, and other Rajputs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Sabita |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bSmDwAAQBAJ |title=The Politics of Marriage in India: Gender and Alliance in Rajasthan |date=2019-05-27 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-909828-6 |pages=154|quote=In medieval Rajasthan, there seems to have been different categories of concubines. The pardayat was given chuda (bangles) by the Rani almost accepting her as a co-wife. Also, the Rajputs could keep woman of any caste as pardayat but not a Charan, Brahmin, or a Rajput woman.}}</ref> There are instances of wives eloping with their Rajput lovers and becoming their concubines.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Priyanka |last1=Khanna |title=Embodying Royal Concubinage: Some Aspects of Concubinage in Royal Rajput Household of Marwar, (Western Rajasthan) C. 16 Th–18 Th Centuries |publisher=Indian History Congress |page=338 |jstor=44146726 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44146726}}</ref>