Lost Histories of Tawaifs

Navina Jafa
They were the women public performers who were repositories of Indian Performing Arts only
to be marginalized as prostitutes in the making of Classical Dance and Music. Their identity and
world today an exotic commodity as subject in the Bollywood, and for Dance theatres in a
Capitalist Market. They were collectively called the Nautch girs. They were the Tawa’ifs of
North India, the Maharis of Odisha and the Devdasis of the South. This article is based on a
survey on Tawa’ifs in more than 10 towns of North India over a span of 8 years. - Navina Jafa

Figure 1 Vidyadhari Bai of Banaras

Meandering the labyrinth lanes of Dal Mandi in Varanasi riding the pillion of a motorcycle ended
dramatically when a bull blocked our way, the driver skirted around, I rolled and landed on the
doorstep of Jamil Kashmiri, son of Agha Arsh Kashmiri of the Parsee theatre to meet resource
persons linked with Tawa’ifs. Entering the house, I met Sharafat and Khurshid Ali Khan of
Chahnama Mohalla who played with a league of famous Ganikas as traditional women
performers were called and shared elaborate information on Tawa’ifs of which an incident
narrated was, “We played with the great Rasoolan Bai; but something might interest you…Some
bai jis went out of their way to support freedom fighters. Dhaneshri Bai who lived in the house
behind the Police station in Chowk braved and provided shelter to Chandrashekhar Azad who
was running from the British. Who would have thought to check the house of a Tawa’if?”

Figure 2 Rasoolan Bai - Varanasi

The discourse of Cultural Nationalism which started in mid-19th and gained momentum in the
20thc comprised of among various features an important aspect was the creation of the category
of the ‘Classical’ performing arts. A process that saw the marginalization and subversion of the
largest category of women performers in public space known as Tawa’ifs in the North, Devadasis
in the South and the Maharis of Odhisa. They came to be perceived as prostitutes and social
pollutants by the growing ‘respectable’ middle classes engaged in social reform and national
movements. Ironically, they were resurrected as exotic femme fatale in Movies and ever since
their image is cashed on by the creative and cultural industry. Theirs is an untold subaltern
narrative relevant to urban history, sociology, performing arts and gender studies.
 Figure 3 Devadasi

Figure 4: Shashimani The last Maharai Performer in Odisha

Social politics of the creation of the classical Category of Performing Arts:

The performing arts traditions remained outside the patronage frame of the British Empire. It
was left to the people of India at large to support the arts and creative communities. Grouped in
intricate caste categories performing arts communities including the women performers who
were aligned to patrons in fascinating patterns that were both formal and informal and was
reflected in the large number of performative spaces such as Courts, temples, bazaars, houses of
elites, streets and other community spaces which allowed simultaneous equations of performers
with variety of patrons.

Figure 5 Performance space - A Courtyard in Haveli or Palace

The process to categorize the arts as classical and folk began only at the beginning of 20thc as
part of Cultural Nationalism. Stalwarts such as Bhatkhande backed by courtly patronage began
the codification of music and musical instruments. The modality of this process manifested itself
as a new module called ‘All India Music conferences’. These were patronized by Princely India
and powerful landed elites. The conference models (comprising of seminars and performances)
were more about music than dance. Predominantly dominated by males both as organizers and
as performers, the female performers were rarely featured. For example, the coming of
Balasawarswati came to perform Bharatnatyam in the North in Banaras Music Conference in
1936 became big news.

Figure 6 Balasaraswati

The process of the making of Classical led to the creation of institutions to teach music and dance.
Euro Greek Centric Idea of the classification of the 'Classical' was about the perception of the idea
of ‘clean’ and ‘steeped in purity’. The new order of performing arts institutions both under the
state and private acquired sacred legitimacy by employing the Male gurus as authentic
repositories of classical performing arts as against the traditional women artists.
The Untold Story of the Tawa’ifs:

Figure 7 &7: Dehla Bai - Bihar & Janki Bai - Banaras

The study of the Tawa’if in over 10 North Indian cities for 8 years (1991-99) revealed that their
history was not limited to sources of oral history but unconventional primary sources such as
diaries, letters among others. Their patrons were power elites in cities and rich landowners in
rural areas associated with courts, trade, priests and professionals. Their performance spaces
were their parlors in urban bazaars, courts, temples, and homes of elites. Equipped in performing
arts, languages, literature, and etiquette they became gurus of lifestyles to sons of elites and
brand ambassadors for poets since they popularized their poetry through performances. They
were perceived as fashionistas by wearing and displaying a beautiful shawl or sari made by
master craftsmen. “There was a time, Baltan Bai stepped out into the bazaars in Rampur wearing
a spectacular shawl. I recall my uncle her patron requesting her to source another similar piece
for his wife,” said Imtiaz Ali from a family of landowners.

A matriarchal community with complex class and caste structures they were linked directly to
feudal lifestyles and economies. The value of a girl child was higher than that of a male. Ramesh,
a car mechanic and son of Savita Bai in Sitapur said, “I regretted that I was born a son, for when
my sister was born, my aunts and grandmothers organized a three-day jalsa (celebration). Food,
clothes were distributed and spectacular performances organized. My birth was mourned!

A section of Tawa’if who were artists performed for all but had intimate relations with only the
person who won them in auctions and sustained their parlors or Kothas. However, certain castes
within Tawa’ifs functioned as prostitutes. The intricacies of their household organization were
unraveled by records comprising among several documents household registers commissioned
by the British who appointed Munshi Dholak Ram to conduct house to house surveys in several
cities including Lucknow, Sitapur, Hardoi ET. The registers carried information such as for
example the name – Mussamat caste and religion – Kanchan -Shia, Occupation - singing and
dancing, home having two men and 6 ladies.

While Birth and death municipal registers revealed other castes such as Mirasins, Domnis,
Gandharava, Ramjani. The most powerful class irrespective of castes were the Deredar Tawa’ifs.
An authentic primary source on their lineages and rituals on Hindu Tawa’ifs were the pilgrim
records (bahi khatas) in Gaya, and Allahabad and written records with some Sufi masters.
Organized in panchayats their elected leader was called Choudhraiyan. Dilbar, son of Mumtaz
Choudhraiyan (the 1920s) in Delhi said that she had migrated to Delhi from the court o Maharaja
Bhupinder Singh, Patiala and that her one sister was Sardari begum on whom a movie is made.’

Land reforms in the post-independent era, along with the 19th c Anti Nautch- movement saw the
destruction of the feudal socio-economic system and the Tawa’if system which cannot be
resurrected. Several who were young, beautiful, and talented edged their way into the world of
films. While others married mostly their musicians - inversing the matriarchal structure to one
that gradually became patriarchal.

The shifting meter of their socio-cultural identity raises pertinent pointers to two complex issues
related to the arts themselves and to the gender politics of the traditional women artists in the
public domain.

Whether it was the likes of Begum Akhtar, Asghari Bai in the North or MS Subbalakshmi in the
South in the field of Music, or others in the field of dance, even as successful radio and
performing classical artists, they struggled to be included as respectable classical artists and
gurus.

Stigmatized as pollutants neither the few who were alive nor were their musicians willing to talk
to those who ventured to document them. “After days of persuasion Tabla Nawaz Ata Hussain
Khan agreed to take me to meet the two Mirasins - Firdauzi and Ameeran. Their small house had
curtains hanging made of torn jute sacks; a beautiful old woman fair, white-haired wearing a light
pink Salwar-Kameez opened the door and greeted us with a regal salaam. Inside hung a yellow
bulb on a thin wire under which sat yet another beautiful woman. Frugal hospitality accompanied
the animated conversation through the night saw the recounting old describing their life in the
palace in the court of Nawab Hamid Ali and exchanging nuances on Kathak dance, life, music, and
rare compositions. At dawn we went for a wash to the Ram Ganga River, before bidding me
farewell they presented a small box saying ‘beti, yeh humari taraf se tofa le lo, (Daughter, take
this small gift from us) on opening I found a simple silver ring. For me, it was no less than a
Kohinoor. As we parted ways I saw those two pairs of beautiful tired eyes, refined mannerism,
memories of those beautiful songs enacted in trembling voices. That interlude had an
amaranthine quality which remains etched in my mind.” Their pathos can be experienced by this
description by a patron in Varanasi, “A photographer asked a woman in tattered clothes begging
in the Chowk, ‘can you tell me the house of the famous Artist Badi Moti Bai?’ and the lady replied
‘Is naa cheez ko Badi Moti kahate hain’ – This worn out body in front of you is called Badi Moti
Bai’. No! All is not glamor of Bollywood imaging of Umarao Jaan, a piercing shriek of pain echoes
the histories of these women lost in the air.