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. Known variously as tawaifs in the North, baijis in Bengal and naikins in Goa, these professional singers and dancers were dubbed as “nautch girl” during the British rule.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] Unsurprisingly then, their training in music and dance started at a very young age, under the guidance and tutelage of renowned ustaads (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.^[8]

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.^[9]

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. The 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.^[10][11]

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.^[12] In these rarified spaces, tawaifs would compose poetry, sing and dance with live musical composition, as well as performing at banquets, all of which required 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 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,^[13] 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 Holi 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.^[14]

There were hierarchies among the performing artists, and the tawaifs were at the top, a class distinct from street performers and prostitutes. (A Tawaif is a dancer, not a prostitute.) 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 a tawaif to sing their works and asked the famous tawaif if she 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.^[15] A Tawaif had an 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.^[16][17]

Some of the most prominent tawaifs in history were Anarkali, Mah Laqa Bai, Bhagmati, Lal Kunwar, Qudsia Begum, Zainabadi Mahal, 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, 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 down upon with disfavour by the colonial government, and the tawaifs were eventually forced to go into prostitution due to a lack of employment opportunities. Social reformers in India opposed them as social decadence.^[18] The institutions survived until India's independence in 1947. Some of the famous tawaifs include:^[19]

• Begum Akhtar (7 October 1914 – 30 October 1974) Indian singer and actress, known as Mallika-e-Ghazal (Queen of Ghazals).
• Binodini Dasi (1862–1941) Indian Bengali actress, pioneering entrepreneur of the Bengali stage.
• Fatma Begum (1892–1983) Indian actress, director and screenwriter.
• Husna Bai Thumri singer.
• Jaddanbai (1892–1949) Indian master music composer, singer, actress, and film maker.
• Rattan Bai (15 July 1890 – 1 January 1986) Indian actress and singer.^[20]
• Kajjanbai (15 February 1915 – December 1945) Indian singer and actress, often referred to as the "Nightingale of Bengal".
• Malika Pukhraj (1912 – 2004) Pakistani ghazal and folk singer.
• Malka Jaan, and daughter Gauhar Jaan (1873–1930) who created the very first Indian song recording in 1902.^[21]
• Mukhtar Begum (12 July 1901 – 25 February 1982) Pakistani classical, ghazal singer and actress. She was known as The Queen of Music for singing songs in films and on radio.
• Rasoolan Bai (1902 – 15 December 1974) Indian Hindustani classical music vocal musician.
• Roshan Ara Begum (1917 – 6 December 1982) Sitara-e-Imtiaz, vocalist belonging to the Kirana gharana of Hindustani classical music. She is also known by her honorific title Malika-e-Mauseeqi (The Queen of Music) in both Pakistan and India.
• Shobha Gurtu (1925–2004) Indian singer in the light Hindustani classical style, known as The Thumri Queen.
• Zareena Begum of Lucknow (1947 – 12 May 2018)^[22]
• Zohrabai(1868-1913) Hindustani classical singer of the Agra gharana.
• Zeenat Begum (11 November 1931 – 11 December 2007) Pakistani singer, known as The Queen of Yesteryear for singing songs in films and on radio.
• Tamancha Jan (10 July 1918 – 20 October 2008) Pakistani folk singer, known as The Singing Siren and The Nightingale of Lahore.

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 rehearsal 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.^[23]

Popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

• Martha Feldman, Bonnie Gordon. The courtesan's arts: cross-cultural perspectives. pp. 312–352.
• Essay on Asia art, history, epigraphy and culture in Honour of Gouriswar Bhattacharya

External links

• The Tawaif, The Anti – Nautch Movement, and the Development of North Indian Classical Music