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Tawaif

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For the 1985 Indian film, see Tawaif (film). For the small kingdoms of Al-Andalus known as tawa'if, see Taifa.

A tawaif was a highly successful entertainer who catered to the nobility of the Indian subcontinent, particularly during the Mughal era. The tawaifs excelled in and contributed to music, dance (mujra), theatre, and the Urdu literary tradition,[1] and were considered an authority on etiquette. Tawaifs were largely a North Indian institution central to Mughal court culture from the 16th century onwards[2] and became even more prominent with the weakening of Mughal rule in the mid-18th century.[3] They contributed significantly to the continuation of traditional dance and music forms.[4]

History

Tawaifs have existed for centuries in the Indian Subcontinent, with one of the earliest references to the profession being the character Vasantasena from the 5th century BC Sanskrit drama Mṛcchakatika. The patronage of the Mughal court in the Doab region and the subsequent atmosphere of 16th century Awadh made arts-related careers a viable prospect. Many girls were taken at a young age and trained in both performing arts, including mujra, Kathak, and Hindustani classical music, as well as literature, poetry (particularly ghazal), thumri, and dadra. The training of young tawaifs also encompassed Urdu writing and enunciation, as well as social skills employed in cultivating patrons and retaining them, particularly the complex etiquette associated with their craft, in which they were seen as experts.[5] Once a trainee had matured and possessed a sufficient command over dancing and singing, she became a tawaif, high-class dancers who served the rich and noble.[6] Unsurprisingly then, their training in music and dance started at a very young age, under the guidance and tutelage of renowned ustaad s (masters). Young girls regularly spent hours in riyaz, learning songs and dance to the exacting standards set by their teachers. The term riyaz, from Arabic, connotes abstinence, devotion, discipline and hard labour. At a mundane level, regular riyaz is necessary for a flawless performance before an audience. Many well-known tawaifs practiced and learned music throughout their careers, seeking masters from different music traditions (gharanas) to add to their performance style.[7]

The tawaif's introduction into her profession was marked by a celebration, the so-called missī ceremony, that customarily included the inaugural blackening of her teeth.[8]

It is also believed that young nawabs-to-be were sent to these tawaifs to learn tameez and tehzeeb which included the ability to recognise and appreciate good music and literature, perhaps even practice it, especially the art of ghazal writing. They also became teachers for the sons of wealthy and elite families, who would often send their sons to kothas so that they could learn Urdu speaking, poetry and etiquette from tawaifs. The boys would be told to sit and observe how a tawaif goes about her interactions. Tawaif's contribution to society, came from a tradition of families and enjoyed a hierarchy. The uppermost echelon of tawaifs was entrusted with the responsibility of teaching adab (etiquette) and kaayda (manners) to the kings and young princes. They would also familiarize the royalty with the finer nuances of poetry, music, dance and literature. By the 18th century, they had become the central element of polite, refined culture in North India.[9][10]

The kotha of a tawaif is a performance space and as a guardian of arts and culture, and is only open to the city's elite and wealthy patrons.[11] In these rarified spaces, tawaifs would compose poetry, sing and dance with live musical composition, as well as performing at banquets, all of which reqquired years of rigorous training. Tawaif is a performer who thrives on sponsorship from the royal and aristocratic families, and the dancers are responsible for performing mujra dance with good manners. True mujra dance is elegant, complex, and artistic, presented in an elegant and elegant manner. At grand occasions such as a marriage or the birth of a male heir, the tawaif is also invited to perform. In such occasions, they usually perform a mythological or legendary story, like singing. The tawaifs would dance, sing (especially ghazals), recite poetry (shairi) and entertain their suitors at mehfils. Like the geisha tradition in Japan,[12] their main purpose was to professionally entertain their guests, and while sex was often incidental, it was not assured contractually. High-class or the most popular tawaifs could often pick and choose among the best of their suitors. Tawaifs performed at temples during holidays and participated in temple celebrations, which had been passed down from generation to generation. They also had the tradition of performing at the Burhwa Mangal bazaar in the spring after Huli Festival.Such events provided significant platform for tawaifs, not just for the patronage but also for the opportunity it offered for tawaifs to showcase their skills to general audiences and, thereby, retain societal acceptability for their trade.[13]

There were hierarchies within the performing artists, and the tawaifs were at the top, a class distinct from street performances and prostitutes. Tawaif is a dancer, not a prostitute, they are not Sex workers, not in prostitution. Tawaif kothas, where the tawaifs often lived and performed, would host meetings of local intelligentsia, presided mostly by the most senior tawaif of the kotha. Tawaifs enjoyed influence among writers, journalists and poets. The poets longed for tawaif to sing their works and asked the famous tawaif if he could sing his poems. In those days, having tawaif perform his own work was a way to ensure that poetry would be remembered and passed down from generation to generation.[14] Tawaif from their unconventional approach to relationships, where female performers were expected to remain unmarried but were permitted to have relationships with patrons. Tawaifs traditionally served loyal mistresses to wealthy patrons. Only once a relationship was terminated, either due to the death of their patron or a mutual decision to part ways, would a tawaif look to enter into another relationship.[15][16]

Some of the most prominent tawaifs in history were Anarkali, Mah Laqa Bai, Bhagmati, Mubarak Begum and Begum Samru (who rose to rule the principality of Sardhana in western Uttar Pradesh), Moran Sarkar (who became the wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh), Wazeeran (patronised by Lucknow's last nawab Wajid Ali Shah), Begum Hazrat Mahal (Wajid Ali's first wife who played an important role in the Indian Rebellion), Gauhar Jaan (a notable classical singer who sang for India's first-ever record), and Zohrabai Agrewali. A number of television and film actresses from Pakistan were tawaifs, including Niggo, Nadira (Pakistani actress), and Naina. A number of singers from Pakistan also were tawaifs, including Zeenat Begum and Tamancha Jan.

Decline

Singer and dancer, Gauhar Jaan (1873–1930)

The annexation of Oudh by the East India Company in 1856 sounded the first death-knell for this medieval-era institution. It was soon looked upon with disfavour by the colonial government, and the tawaif were eventually forced to go into prostitution due to a lack of employment opportunities. Social reformers in India opposed them as social decadence.[17] The institutions survived until India's independence in 1947. Some of the famous tawaifs include:[18]

They used to be the only source of popular music and dance and were often invited to perform on weddings and other occasions. Some of them became concubines and wives of maharajas and wealthy individuals. They were the first singers to record on gramophone with the emergence of that new technology. With the emergence of movies, however, they lost popularity.With their traditional spaces and modes of music practise under attack, many tawaifs found space as performers in the newly emerging industries of mass entertainment, such as the gramophone, theatre and later films. The earliest singers to record for the gramophone, in the early 20th century, came from tawaif backgrounds, as did the first actresses of Parsi theatre and, later, the ‘talkies’, films with sound. A majority of tawaifs could not make this transition, however, and continued to perform within their kothas to a dwindling group of patrons.[21]

In Films

The image of the tawaif has had an enduring appeal, immortalized in Bollywood movies and Pakistani dramas.[22] Films with a tawaif as a character include

In Indian Drama Series

Lajwanti (TV series)[26]

Dastaan-E-Mohabbat Salim Anarkali (2018)

A Suitable Boy (2020)

Jubilee (2023)

In Documentary films

In Pakistani dramas

In Literature

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mapping cultures". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 11 August 2004. Archived from the original on 27 November 2004.
  2. ^ Schoffield, Katherine Butler (April 2012). "The Courtesan Tale: Female Musicians and Dancers in Mughal Historical Chronicles, c.1556–1748". Gender & History. 24 (1): 150–171. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0424.2011.01673.x. S2CID 161453756.
  3. ^ "Fall of a culture". Tribune India. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  4. ^ Dance in Thumri, Projesh Banerji, Abhinav Publications, 1986, p. 31
  5. ^ "A hundred years of unsung love". Mid Day. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  6. ^ "The Last Song of Awadh". Indian Express. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Tawaifnama: A brief history of Tawaif culture in India". 7 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Zumbroich, Thomas J. (2015) 'The missī-stained finger-tip of the fair': A cultural history of teeth and gum blackening in South Asia. eJournal of Indian Medicine 8(1): 1–32". Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Chronicling courtesans". 11 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Prabha Khaitan Foundation launches Vikram Sampath's book 'Mera Naam Gauhar Jaan Hai'". 29 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Tawaifnama: A brief history of Tawaif culture in India". 7 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Courtesans resisted male dominance". The Times of India. 29 December 2002. Archived from the original on 16 September 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  13. ^ "Chronicling courtesans". 11 February 2020.
  14. ^ https://www-firstpost-com.translate.goog/living/tawaifs-and-tehzeeb-notes-from-a-symposium-on-courtesans-contributions-to-art-freedom-struggle-6739081.html?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=zh-CN&_x_tr_hl=zh-CN&_x_tr_pto=sc
  15. ^ "The Sonshine Years: Bitter-sweet Memories of Growing up in Kamathipura". 4 March 2022.
  16. ^ "Tawaifnama: A brief history of Tawaif culture in India". 7 July 2021.
  17. ^ Indian Classical Dance and the Making of Postcolonial National Identities: Dancing on Empire's Stage, Sitara Thobani, Routledge, 27 March 2017
  18. ^ A Few Famous Tawaifs of the Time, THE TAWAIF, THE ANTI – NAUTCH MOVEMENT, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC: Part 6 – The Passing of the Torch, David Courtney, 23 February 2016
  19. ^ GAUHER JAN FIRST INDIAN RECORD IN KOLKATTA, Oct 31, 2009
  20. ^ "Zareena Begum, Awadh's last royal singer, dies at 88". www.hindustantimes.com. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  21. ^ "In search of the other song". 25 January 2011.
  22. ^ Booth, Gregory D. "Making a Woman from a Tawaif:Courtesans as Heroes in Hindi Cinema". University of Auckland. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  23. ^ "Umrao Jaan". The Times of India. 4 November 2006. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  24. ^ "Ash glows at the mahurat of Umrao Jaan". Rediff. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  25. ^ "The Black Woman". Washington Bangla Radio. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  26. ^ "TV adaptation of Rajinder Singh Bedi's 'Lajwanti' launched". 15 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  27. ^ "Bazar 1990 comprehension |Manto | bazar| telefilm". KTV Prime. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2021 – via YouTube.
  28. ^ ""Deewar-e-Shab" Teaser Is All About An Artisan's Love Story [Video]". propakistani.pk. 28 December 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  29. ^ "'Tawaifnama' review: Banaras down the ages through the eyes of tawaifs". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  30. ^ Taboo Urdu edition release www.oup.com.pk/pdf/higherEducation/urdu.pdf Kalunk
  31. ^ "StreeShakti - the Parallel Force".

Further reading

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