The Cultural Aspects of Eunuchism, part 5

[JesusA (imported)]

Even after the death of Muhammed, the Ummiyyad Caliphs were shocked and repelled when knowledge of eunuchism reached them from Byzantium. But later in the Islamic culture sphere two marked developments of the practice occurred. The first was in the Mameluke, or so-called Slave Dynasty of Egypt which was roughly dated 1254 to 1811, while the second was that of the Ottoman Empire which began in 1300. Under the rulers of these domains, the harem system reached its most extreme Islamic development. In both of these instances, as well as in the earlier "Golden Age" of Haroun ar-Raschid in Baghdad, the Moslems were careful to obtain their eunuchs from the Byzantines or Coptic monks in Egypt. Despite the religious feelings against eunuchism, nearly all the Moslem potentates of the mediaeval world had eunuchs in their service. Castrated slaves were more welcome and fetched a considerably higher price than non-castrates. These Moslems from Spain to Afghanistan and India who were wealthy enough to support a bevy of wives or concubines entrusted their supervision and chastity to eunuchs. Remondino refers to the description of the early traveller, Bisson, who, while in Mecca, saw the chief eunuch of the Grand Sherif, "a large, finely proportioned, powerful black personage" on his way to Stamboul for trial. <p>"He was heavily chained and well guarded. It appears that the eunuch had been only partially castrated, and that the operation had been performed during infancy; his testicles had not fully descended so that in the operation the sac was simply obliterated, which gave him the appearance of a eunuch. In this condition he seemed to have kept perfect control of himself and his passions until made chief eunuch of the Sherif, who possessed a well-assorted harem of choice Circassian, Georgian, and European beauties. The negligee worn at the harem bath and the seductive influence of the Koranic seventh heaven was too much for the warm Soudanese blood of the chief; his forays were not suspected until a blonde Circassian houri presented her lord and master with a suspiciously mulatto-looking son and heir. A consultation of the Koran failed to explain this discrepancy and suspicion pointed to the chief eunuch who was accordingly watched; it was found that he had not only corrupted the fair Circassian but every inmate of the harem as well. The harem was promptly sacked and drowned, and the false eunuch shipped to the Sultan for sentence, the Sherif having the right to sentence and drown the harem, but having no such rights over such a high personage as the chief eunuch."<p>It was probably for reasons such as this that the various caliphs, sultans, beys and pashas considered the best eunuchs to be those who had the external organs entirely removed. The early travellers vary considerably in their estimates of the mortality of this operation. The unskilled techniques of the Coptic monks of such monasteries as Abu-Ghargha in the Nile Valley, a famous eunuch factory, or of the renegade slave traders of the Red Sea region, are estimated by some writers to have been accompanied by a 75 per cent mortality. Slaves captured from the Sudan and Abyssinia by Arab and Egyptian raiders were sold to barbers, monks, and physicians at Khartoum by whom various kinds of operations were performed. Simple castration was said to have caused the deaths of about 33 per cent. The estimated 3800 eunuchs supplied from the Soudanese tribes alone gives some hint of the number of slaves who were passed through Egypt to the Moslem capitals, especially when it is remembered that the 3800 were the survivors of the crude surgery of the times. It is said that the Copts were able to sell a completely emasculated slave for from 750 to 1000 dollars a head. [The high mortality rate was publicized by those who would benefit from such a belief and the higher slave prices which they could obtain. 19th century observers in West Africa reported much lower death rates.]<p>Aside from their duties as keepers of the harem, the Moslem eunuchs were also, curiously enough, assigned to the custodianship of certain shrines. The care of the shrine in Cairo where the shirt of Muhammed is kept is reported still to be entrusted to eunuchs. [As late as 1998 there were several eunuchs serving at major shrines in Saudi Arabia.]<p>In the Mameluke and Ottoman empires, eunuchs, as in Byzantium of the earlier period, could aspire to high office. In the Turkish domain, the honorific title Agha was given to eunuchs associated with the royal court. In most Moslem countries eunuchs ere permitted to marry and the relationship between them and their wives had made for some finer points of Islamic law. Nor is the marriage of eunuchs particularly unusual, it was known also in Byzantium and the Biblical reference to the wife of Potiphar is a case in point. Voltaire mentions a certain Kislav Agha, in Constantinople of the Ottoman period, who, lacking both penis and scrotum, was the possessor of a vast harem. In such cases, the factor of the prestige motive must undoubtedly be considered.<p>Moslem Indian also made considerable use of eunuchs for the guarding of women. This was particularly true of the Mogul rulers of India. Some of these eunuchs came to India by trade from Egypt and the Levant, but others were probably obtained from the Hindus themselves. The appearance of the trait in Vedic India suggests a long history of the custom in that country. The Mahabharata (III, xlvi, 50) mentions eunuchs as entertainers and dancers. Indeed, it may be for this reason that the practice arose in India. Perhaps nowhere were eunuchs held in greater contempt than among the Hindus probably because of the correlation with the caste system. Eunuchs, moreover, were excluded from all participation in civil, military, and ceremonial affairs. In the main, they seem to have been members of low castes whose very presence defiled those of higher caste ranking. The castration of certain males in low castes whose hereditary function is that of dancers seemingly still occurs. The laws of Manu forbid the marriage of eunuchs and there is a suggestion that the sacrifice of eunuchs in certain sectarian rituals occurred in Vedic times. Eunuchs are considered bad luck, as the passage in Temple's Legends of the Panjab indicates: "When I was in my mother's womb, eunuchs danced at the door. And so I am lame and have no hair on my head."<p>With Hindu influence the aspect of eunuchs as dancers is carried to the East Indies. Indeed, some of the Moslem sultanates of Indonesia still employ eunuchs for this purpose. In this area eunuchs do not seem to be connected with the harem system, rather their presence seems to antedate the Muhammedan period. Among the petty Malay sultans the institution of the harem seems to have been the exception rather than the rule, and the eunuch seems not to have taken on the role of guardian of the sultan's women.

[JesusA (imported)]

Even after the death of Muhammed, the Ummiyyad Caliphs were shocked and repelled when knowledge of eunuchism reached them from Byzantium. But later in the Islamic culture sphere two marked developments of the practice occurred. The first was in the Mameluke, or so-called Slave Dynasty of Egypt which was roughly dated 1254 to 1811, while the second was that of the Ottoman Empire which began in 1300. Under the rulers of these domains, the harem system reached its most extreme Islamic development. In both of these instances, as well as in the earlier "Golden Age" of Haroun ar-Raschid in Baghdad, the Moslems were careful to obtain their eunuchs from the Byzantines or Coptic monks in Egypt. Despite the religious feelings against eunuchism, nearly all the Moslem potentates of the mediaeval world had eunuchs in their service. Castrated slaves were more welcome and fetched a considerably higher price than non-castrates. These Moslems from Spain to Afghanistan and India who were wealthy enough to support a bevy of wives or concubines entrusted their supervision and chastity to eunuchs. Remondino refers to the description of the early traveller, Bisson, who, while in Mecca, saw the chief eunuch of the Grand Sherif, "a large, finely proportioned, powerful black personage" on his way to Stamboul for trial. <p>"He was heavily chained and well guarded. It appears that the eunuch had been only partially castrated, and that the operation had been performed during infancy; his testicles had not fully descended so that in the operation the sac was simply obliterated, which gave him the appearance of a eunuch. In this condition he seemed to have kept perfect control of himself and his passions until made chief eunuch of the Sherif, who possessed a well-assorted harem of choice Circassian, Georgian, and European beauties. The negligee worn at the harem bath and the seductive influence of the Koranic seventh heaven was too much for the warm Soudanese blood of the chief; his forays were not suspected until a blonde Circassian houri presented her lord and master with a suspiciously mulatto-looking son and heir. A consultation of the Koran failed to explain this discrepancy and suspicion pointed to the chief eunuch who was accordingly watched; it was found that he had not only corrupted the fair Circassian but every inmate of the harem as well. The harem was promptly sacked and drowned, and the false eunuch shipped to the Sultan for sentence, the Sherif having the right to sentence and drown the harem, but having no such rights over such a high personage as the chief eunuch."<p>It was probably for reasons such as this that the various caliphs, sultans, beys and pashas considered the best eunuchs to be those who had the external organs entirely removed. The early travellers vary considerably in their estimates of the mortality of this operation. The unskilled techniques of the Coptic monks of such monasteries as Abu-Ghargha in the Nile Valley, a famous eunuch factory, or of the renegade slave traders of the Red Sea region, are estimated by some writers to have been accompanied by a 75 per cent mortality. Slaves captured from the Sudan and Abyssinia by Arab and Egyptian raiders were sold to barbers, monks, and physicians at Khartoum by whom various kinds of operations were performed. Simple castration was said to have caused the deaths of about 33 per cent. The estimated 3800 eunuchs supplied from the Soudanese tribes alone gives some hint of the number of slaves who were passed through Egypt to the Moslem capitals, especially when it is remembered that the 3800 were the survivors of the crude surgery of the times. It is said that the Copts were able to sell a completely emasculated slave for from 750 to 1000 dollars a head. [The high mortality rate was publicized by those who would benefit from such a belief and the higher slave prices which they could obtain. 19th century observers in West Africa reported much lower death rates.]<p>Aside from their duties as keepers of the harem, the Moslem eunuchs were also, curiously enough, assigned to the custodianship of certain shrines. The care of the shrine in Cairo where the shirt of Muhammed is kept is reported still to be entrusted to eunuchs. [As late as 1998 there were several eunuchs serving at major shrines in Saudi Arabia.]<p>In the Mameluke and Ottoman empires, eunuchs, as in Byzantium of the earlier period, could aspire to high office. In the Turkish domain, the honorific title Agha was given to eunuchs associated with the royal court. In most Moslem countries eunuchs ere permitted to marry and the relationship between them and their wives had made for some finer points of Islamic law. Nor is the marriage of eunuchs particularly unusual, it was known also in Byzantium and the Biblical reference to the wife of Potiphar is a case in point. Voltaire mentions a certain Kislav Agha, in Constantinople of the Ottoman period, who, lacking both penis and scrotum, was the possessor of a vast harem. In such cases, the factor of the prestige motive must undoubtedly be considered.<p>Moslem Indian also made considerable use of eunuchs for the guarding of women. This was particularly true of the Mogul rulers of India. Some of these eunuchs came to India by trade from Egypt and the Levant, but others were probably obtained from the Hindus themselves. The appearance of the trait in Vedic India suggests a long history of the custom in that country. The Mahabharata (III, xlvi, 50) mentions eunuchs as entertainers and dancers. Indeed, it may be for this reason that the practice arose in India. Perhaps nowhere were eunuchs held in greater contempt than among the Hindus probably because of the correlation with the caste system. Eunuchs, moreover, were excluded from all participation in civil, military, and ceremonial affairs. In the main, they seem to have been members of low castes whose very presence defiled those of higher caste ranking. The castration of certain males in low castes whose hereditary function is that of dancers seemingly still occurs. The laws of Manu forbid the marriage of eunuchs and there is a suggestion that the sacrifice of eunuchs in certain sectarian rituals occurred in Vedic times. Eunuchs are considered bad luck, as the passage in Temple's Legends of the Panjab indicates: "When I was in my mother's womb, eunuchs danced at the door. And so I am lame and have no hair on my head."<p>With Hindu influence the aspect of eunuchs as dancers is carried to the East Indies. Indeed, some of the Moslem sultanates of Indonesia still employ eunuchs for this purpose. In this area eunuchs do not seem to be connected with the harem system, rather their presence seems to antedate the Muhammedan period. Among the petty Malay sultans the institution of the harem seems to have been the exception rather than the rule, and the eunuch seems not to have taken on the role of guardian of the sultan's women.

[JesusA (imported)]

Even after the death of Muhammed, the Ummiyyad Caliphs were shocked and repelled when knowledge of eunuchism reached them from Byzantium. But later in the Islamic culture sphere two marked developments of the practice occurred. The first was in the Mameluke, or so-called Slave Dynasty of Egypt which was roughly dated 1254 to 1811, while the second was that of the Ottoman Empire which began in 1300. Under the rulers of these domains, the harem system reached its most extreme Islamic development. In both of these instances, as well as in the earlier "Golden Age" of Haroun ar-Raschid in Baghdad, the Moslems were careful to obtain their eunuchs from the Byzantines or Coptic monks in Egypt. Despite the religious feelings against eunuchism, nearly all the Moslem potentates of the mediaeval world had eunuchs in their service. Castrated slaves were more welcome and fetched a considerably higher price than non-castrates. These Moslems from Spain to Afghanistan and India who were wealthy enough to support a bevy of wives or concubines entrusted their supervision and chastity to eunuchs. Remondino refers to the description of the early traveller, Bisson, who, while in Mecca, saw the chief eunuch of the Grand Sherif, "a large, finely proportioned, powerful black personage" on his way to Stamboul for trial. <p>"He was heavily chained and well guarded. It appears that the eunuch had been only partially castrated, and that the operation had been performed during infancy; his testicles had not fully descended so that in the operation the sac was simply obliterated, which gave him the appearance of a eunuch. In this condition he seemed to have kept perfect control of himself and his passions until made chief eunuch of the Sherif, who possessed a well-assorted harem of choice Circassian, Georgian, and European beauties. The negligee worn at the harem bath and the seductive influence of the Koranic seventh heaven was too much for the warm Soudanese blood of the chief; his forays were not suspected until a blonde Circassian houri presented her lord and master with a suspiciously mulatto-looking son and heir. A consultation of the Koran failed to explain this discrepancy and suspicion pointed to the chief eunuch who was accordingly watched; it was found that he had not only corrupted the fair Circassian but every inmate of the harem as well. The harem was promptly sacked and drowned, and the false eunuch shipped to the Sultan for sentence, the Sherif having the right to sentence and drown the harem, but having no such rights over such a high personage as the chief eunuch."<p>It was probably for reasons such as this that the various caliphs, sultans, beys and pashas considered the best eunuchs to be those who had the external organs entirely removed. The early travellers vary considerably in their estimates of the mortality of this operation. The unskilled techniques of the Coptic monks of such monasteries as Abu-Ghargha in the Nile Valley, a famous eunuch factory, or of the renegade slave traders of the Red Sea region, are estimated by some writers to have been accompanied by a 75 per cent mortality. Slaves captured from the Sudan and Abyssinia by Arab and Egyptian raiders were sold to barbers, monks, and physicians at Khartoum by whom various kinds of operations were performed. Simple castration was said to have caused the deaths of about 33 per cent. The estimated 3800 eunuchs supplied from the Soudanese tribes alone gives some hint of the number of slaves who were passed through Egypt to the Moslem capitals, especially when it is remembered that the 3800 were the survivors of the crude surgery of the times. It is said that the Copts were able to sell a completely emasculated slave for from 750 to 1000 dollars a head. [The high mortality rate was publicized by those who would benefit from such a belief and the higher slave prices which they could obtain. 19th century observers in West Africa reported much lower death rates.]<p>Aside from their duties as keepers of the harem, the Moslem eunuchs were also, curiously enough, assigned to the custodianship of certain shrines. The care of the shrine in Cairo where the shirt of Muhammed is kept is reported still to be entrusted to eunuchs. [As late as 1998 there were several eunuchs serving at major shrines in Saudi Arabia.]<p>In the Mameluke and Ottoman empires, eunuchs, as in Byzantium of the earlier period, could aspire to high office. In the Turkish domain, the honorific title Agha was given to eunuchs associated with the royal court. In most Moslem countries eunuchs ere permitted to marry and the relationship between them and their wives had made for some finer points of Islamic law. Nor is the marriage of eunuchs particularly unusual, it was known also in Byzantium and the Biblical reference to the wife of Potiphar is a case in point. Voltaire mentions a certain Kislav Agha, in Constantinople of the Ottoman period, who, lacking both penis and scrotum, was the possessor of a vast harem. In such cases, the factor of the prestige motive must undoubtedly be considered.<p>Moslem Indian also made considerable use of eunuchs for the guarding of women. This was particularly true of the Mogul rulers of India. Some of these eunuchs came to India by trade from Egypt and the Levant, but others were probably obtained from the Hindus themselves. The appearance of the trait in Vedic India suggests a long history of the custom in that country. The Mahabharata (III, xlvi, 50) mentions eunuchs as entertainers and dancers. Indeed, it may be for this reason that the practice arose in India. Perhaps nowhere were eunuchs held in greater contempt than among the Hindus probably because of the correlation with the caste system. Eunuchs, moreover, were excluded from all participation in civil, military, and ceremonial affairs. In the main, they seem to have been members of low castes whose very presence defiled those of higher caste ranking. The castration of certain males in low castes whose hereditary function is that of dancers seemingly still occurs. The laws of Manu forbid the marriage of eunuchs and there is a suggestion that the sacrifice of eunuchs in certain sectarian rituals occurred in Vedic times. Eunuchs are considered bad luck, as the passage in Temple's Legends of the Panjab indicates: "When I was in my mother's womb, eunuchs danced at the door. And so I am lame and have no hair on my head."<p>With Hindu influence the aspect of eunuchs as dancers is carried to the East Indies. Indeed, some of the Moslem sultanates of Indonesia still employ eunuchs for this purpose. In this area eunuchs do not seem to be connected with the harem system, rather their presence seems to antedate the Muhammedan period. Among the petty Malay sultans the institution of the harem seems to have been the exception rather than the rule, and the eunuch seems not to have taken on the role of guardian of the sultan's women.

[JesusA (imported)]

Even after the death of Muhammed, the Ummiyyad Caliphs were shocked and repelled when knowledge of eunuchism reached them from Byzantium. But later in the Islamic culture sphere two marked developments of the practice occurred. The first was in the Mameluke, or so-called Slave Dynasty of Egypt which was roughly dated 1254 to 1811, while the second was that of the Ottoman Empire which began in 1300. Under the rulers of these domains, the harem system reached its most extreme Islamic development. In both of these instances, as well as in the earlier "Golden Age" of Haroun ar-Raschid in Baghdad, the Moslems were careful to obtain their eunuchs from the Byzantines or Coptic monks in Egypt. Despite the religious feelings against eunuchism, nearly all the Moslem potentates of the mediaeval world had eunuchs in their service. Castrated slaves were more welcome and fetched a considerably higher price than non-castrates. These Moslems from Spain to Afghanistan and India who were wealthy enough to support a bevy of wives or concubines entrusted their supervision and chastity to eunuchs. Remondino refers to the description of the early traveller, Bisson, who, while in Mecca, saw the chief eunuch of the Grand Sherif, "a large, finely proportioned, powerful black personage" on his way to Stamboul for trial. <p>"He was heavily chained and well guarded. It appears that the eunuch had been only partially castrated, and that the operation had been performed during infancy; his testicles had not fully descended so that in the operation the sac was simply obliterated, which gave him the appearance of a eunuch. In this condition he seemed to have kept perfect control of himself and his passions until made chief eunuch of the Sherif, who possessed a well-assorted harem of choice Circassian, Georgian, and European beauties. The negligee worn at the harem bath and the seductive influence of the Koranic seventh heaven was too much for the warm Soudanese blood of the chief; his forays were not suspected until a blonde Circassian houri presented her lord and master with a suspiciously mulatto-looking son and heir. A consultation of the Koran failed to explain this discrepancy and suspicion pointed to the chief eunuch who was accordingly watched; it was found that he had not only corrupted the fair Circassian but every inmate of the harem as well. The harem was promptly sacked and drowned, and the false eunuch shipped to the Sultan for sentence, the Sherif having the right to sentence and drown the harem, but having no such rights over such a high personage as the chief eunuch."<p>It was probably for reasons such as this that the various caliphs, sultans, beys and pashas considered the best eunuchs to be those who had the external organs entirely removed. The early travellers vary considerably in their estimates of the mortality of this operation. The unskilled techniques of the Coptic monks of such monasteries as Abu-Ghargha in the Nile Valley, a famous eunuch factory, or of the renegade slave traders of the Red Sea region, are estimated by some writers to have been accompanied by a 75 per cent mortality. Slaves captured from the Sudan and Abyssinia by Arab and Egyptian raiders were sold to barbers, monks, and physicians at Khartoum by whom various kinds of operations were performed. Simple castration was said to have caused the deaths of about 33 per cent. The estimated 3800 eunuchs supplied from the Soudanese tribes alone gives some hint of the number of slaves who were passed through Egypt to the Moslem capitals, especially when it is remembered that the 3800 were the survivors of the crude surgery of the times. It is said that the Copts were able to sell a completely emasculated slave for from 750 to 1000 dollars a head. [The high mortality rate was publicized by those who would benefit from such a belief and the higher slave prices which they could obtain. 19th century observers in West Africa reported much lower death rates.]<p>Aside from their duties as keepers of the harem, the Moslem eunuchs were also, curiously enough, assigned to the custodianship of certain shrines. The care of the shrine in Cairo where the shirt of Muhammed is kept is reported still to be entrusted to eunuchs. [As late as 1998 there were several eunuchs serving at major shrines in Saudi Arabia.]<p>In the Mameluke and Ottoman empires, eunuchs, as in Byzantium of the earlier period, could aspire to high office. In the Turkish domain, the honorific title Agha was given to eunuchs associated with the royal court. In most Moslem countries eunuchs ere permitted to marry and the relationship between them and their wives had made for some finer points of Islamic law. Nor is the marriage of eunuchs particularly unusual, it was known also in Byzantium and the Biblical reference to the wife of Potiphar is a case in point. Voltaire mentions a certain Kislav Agha, in Constantinople of the Ottoman period, who, lacking both penis and scrotum, was the possessor of a vast harem. In such cases, the factor of the prestige motive must undoubtedly be considered.<p>Moslem Indian also made considerable use of eunuchs for the guarding of women. This was particularly true of the Mogul rulers of India. Some of these eunuchs came to India by trade from Egypt and the Levant, but others were probably obtained from the Hindus themselves. The appearance of the trait in Vedic India suggests a long history of the custom in that country. The Mahabharata (III, xlvi, 50) mentions eunuchs as entertainers and dancers. Indeed, it may be for this reason that the practice arose in India. Perhaps nowhere were eunuchs held in greater contempt than among the Hindus probably because of the correlation with the caste system. Eunuchs, moreover, were excluded from all participation in civil, military, and ceremonial affairs. In the main, they seem to have been members of low castes whose very presence defiled those of higher caste ranking. The castration of certain males in low castes whose hereditary function is that of dancers seemingly still occurs. The laws of Manu forbid the marriage of eunuchs and there is a suggestion that the sacrifice of eunuchs in certain sectarian rituals occurred in Vedic times. Eunuchs are considered bad luck, as the passage in Temple's Legends of the Panjab indicates: "When I was in my mother's womb, eunuchs danced at the door. And so I am lame and have no hair on my head."<p>With Hindu influence the aspect of eunuchs as dancers is carried to the East Indies. Indeed, some of the Moslem sultanates of Indonesia still employ eunuchs for this purpose. In this area eunuchs do not seem to be connected with the harem system, rather their presence seems to antedate the Muhammedan period. Among the petty Malay sultans the institution of the harem seems to have been the exception rather than the rule, and the eunuch seems not to have taken on the role of guardian of the sultan's women.

[JesusA (imported)]

Even after the death of Muhammed, the Ummiyyad Caliphs were shocked and repelled when knowledge of eunuchism reached them from Byzantium. But later in the Islamic culture sphere two marked developments of the practice occurred. The first was in the Mameluke, or so-called Slave Dynasty of Egypt which was roughly dated 1254 to 1811, while the second was that of the Ottoman Empire which began in 1300. Under the rulers of these domains, the harem system reached its most extreme Islamic development. In both of these instances, as well as in the earlier "Golden Age" of Haroun ar-Raschid in Baghdad, the Moslems were careful to obtain their eunuchs from the Byzantines or Coptic monks in Egypt. Despite the religious feelings against eunuchism, nearly all the Moslem potentates of the mediaeval world had eunuchs in their service. Castrated slaves were more welcome and fetched a considerably higher price than non-castrates. These Moslems from Spain to Afghanistan and India who were wealthy enough to support a bevy of wives or concubines entrusted their supervision and chastity to eunuchs. Remondino refers to the description of the early traveller, Bisson, who, while in Mecca, saw the chief eunuch of the Grand Sherif, "a large, finely proportioned, powerful black personage" on his way to Stamboul for trial. <p>"He was heavily chained and well guarded. It appears that the eunuch had been only partially castrated, and that the operation had been performed during infancy; his testicles had not fully descended so that in the operation the sac was simply obliterated, which gave him the appearance of a eunuch. In this condition he seemed to have kept perfect control of himself and his passions until made chief eunuch of the Sherif, who possessed a well-assorted harem of choice Circassian, Georgian, and European beauties. The negligee worn at the harem bath and the seductive influence of the Koranic seventh heaven was too much for the warm Soudanese blood of the chief; his forays were not suspected until a blonde Circassian houri presented her lord and master with a suspiciously mulatto-looking son and heir. A consultation of the Koran failed to explain this discrepancy and suspicion pointed to the chief eunuch who was accordingly watched; it was found that he had not only corrupted the fair Circassian but every inmate of the harem as well. The harem was promptly sacked and drowned, and the false eunuch shipped to the Sultan for sentence, the Sherif having the right to sentence and drown the harem, but having no such rights over such a high personage as the chief eunuch."<p>It was probably for reasons such as this that the various caliphs, sultans, beys and pashas considered the best eunuchs to be those who had the external organs entirely removed. The early travellers vary considerably in their estimates of the mortality of this operation. The unskilled techniques of the Coptic monks of such monasteries as Abu-Ghargha in the Nile Valley, a famous eunuch factory, or of the renegade slave traders of the Red Sea region, are estimated by some writers to have been accompanied by a 75 per cent mortality. Slaves captured from the Sudan and Abyssinia by Arab and Egyptian raiders were sold to barbers, monks, and physicians at Khartoum by whom various kinds of operations were performed. Simple castration was said to have caused the deaths of about 33 per cent. The estimated 3800 eunuchs supplied from the Soudanese tribes alone gives some hint of the number of slaves who were passed through Egypt to the Moslem capitals, especially when it is remembered that the 3800 were the survivors of the crude surgery of the times. It is said that the Copts were able to sell a completely emasculated slave for from 750 to 1000 dollars a head. [The high mortality rate was publicized by those who would benefit from such a belief and the higher slave prices which they could obtain. 19th century observers in West Africa reported much lower death rates.]<p>Aside from their duties as keepers of the harem, the Moslem eunuchs were also, curiously enough, assigned to the custodianship of certain shrines. The care of the shrine in Cairo where the shirt of Muhammed is kept is reported still to be entrusted to eunuchs. [As late as 1998 there were several eunuchs serving at major shrines in Saudi Arabia.]<p>In the Mameluke and Ottoman empires, eunuchs, as in Byzantium of the earlier period, could aspire to high office. In the Turkish domain, the honorific title Agha was given to eunuchs associated with the royal court. In most Moslem countries eunuchs ere permitted to marry and the relationship between them and their wives had made for some finer points of Islamic law. Nor is the marriage of eunuchs particularly unusual, it was known also in Byzantium and the Biblical reference to the wife of Potiphar is a case in point. Voltaire mentions a certain Kislav Agha, in Constantinople of the Ottoman period, who, lacking both penis and scrotum, was the possessor of a vast harem. In such cases, the factor of the prestige motive must undoubtedly be considered.<p>Moslem Indian also made considerable use of eunuchs for the guarding of women. This was particularly true of the Mogul rulers of India. Some of these eunuchs came to India by trade from Egypt and the Levant, but others were probably obtained from the Hindus themselves. The appearance of the trait in Vedic India suggests a long history of the custom in that country. The Mahabharata (III, xlvi, 50) mentions eunuchs as entertainers and dancers. Indeed, it may be for this reason that the practice arose in India. Perhaps nowhere were eunuchs held in greater contempt than among the Hindus probably because of the correlation with the caste system. Eunuchs, moreover, were excluded from all participation in civil, military, and ceremonial affairs. In the main, they seem to have been members of low castes whose very presence defiled those of higher caste ranking. The castration of certain males in low castes whose hereditary function is that of dancers seemingly still occurs. The laws of Manu forbid the marriage of eunuchs and there is a suggestion that the sacrifice of eunuchs in certain sectarian rituals occurred in Vedic times. Eunuchs are considered bad luck, as the passage in Temple's Legends of the Panjab indicates: "When I was in my mother's womb, eunuchs danced at the door. And so I am lame and have no hair on my head."<p>With Hindu influence the aspect of eunuchs as dancers is carried to the East Indies. Indeed, some of the Moslem sultanates of Indonesia still employ eunuchs for this purpose. In this area eunuchs do not seem to be connected with the harem system, rather their presence seems to antedate the Muhammedan period. Among the petty Malay sultans the institution of the harem seems to have been the exception rather than the rule, and the eunuch seems not to have taken on the role of guardian of the sultan's women.