Begum of Bhopal, whose munificence is commemorated in the closing lines of the poem. Cup JcT Dad is in the same homiletic tradition as Hali's Musaddas. If Muslims are to adapt to changed conditions, their women cannot go untouched. The point of view expressed is, in fact, the Indo-Muslim equivalent of the Victorian domestic ideal. Their women could only become "angels in the house" if they were educated. With educated wives and mothers, the Muslim home could be a place of warmth and enlightenment, where husbands could enjoy the company of their loved ones, and children could be initiated earlier into both religious and secular knowledge. But here, the comparison with Victorian society ceases, for in Indo-Muslim families, women were secluded behind the veil of purdah, and men's and women's spheres of activity were rigidly segregated. Hali proposes no change in this basic social system, but rather advocates education for women so that they can better perform their traditional roles. In form Cup icT Dad is a nazm or topical verse, having the structure of a tarklb band (a poem divided into stanzas, each stanza having the rhyme-scheme of a ghazal, with different rhyming couplets separating the stanzas). Hali opens with a stately invocation in praise of women, a generalized picture of their important role in society. The tone then changes as he turns to the particulars of Indian women's lives, from birth through childhood, marriage, and motherhood. The language is more idiomatic, even cliche-ridden, the tone intimate and sympathetic. This is followed by a section in praise of motherhood and another in favor of the many social reforms which had emerged during the period of British rule: the abolition of satT and infanticide, raising the age of consent, and the amelioration of the widow's lot. The worst oppression suffered by women, however, was the denial of education. Without instruction, women could not properly perform the functions for which they were suited: motherhood and childrearing. Education for women, therefore, was not only necessary, but it was just, part of God's design. And since Divine justice was on their side, women's right to education would inevitably be vindicated. The poem ends on an optimistic note, looking forward to the foundation of a school for girls in Aligarh. -47-