The issue of purdah (literally “curtain,” limiting interaction between men and women outside well defined categories, see Papanek 1982, 194) became central to the effort of the women's movement in India in the early twentieth century. It was viewed as the one custom most responsible for confining Hindu and Muslim women to their traditional domestic roles. Women's protest against purdah provided a commonality of interests that appeared to supersede communal differences and furthered cooperation o…