PENGUIN BOOKS NaUtch GIrlS Of thE raj Pran Nevile was born in lahore and took his post-graduate degree from there. after a distinguished career in the Indian foreign Service and the United Nations, he decided to become a freelance writer and has specialized in the study of social and cultural history of India. his particular fascination with the performing arts inspired him to spend many years researching in libraries and museums in the UK and USa. Nevile has written extensively on Indian art and culture and also acted as a consultant for two BBc films on the raj. he is the author of Lahore: A Sentimental Journey, Love Stories from the Raj, Beyond the Veil: Indian Women in the Raj, Rare Glimpses of the Raj, Stories from the Raj: Sahibs, Memsahibs and Others, K.L. Saigal: Immortal Singer and Marvels of Indian Painting.

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Nautch Girls of the Raj

Pran Nevile

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First published by Penguin Books India 2009 Copyright © Pran Nevile 2009 All rights reserved 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ISBN 9780143064787 Typeset in Bembo by InoSoft Systems, Noida

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    Intr oduction    

To the memory of my friends Saeed Ahmad Khan M.L.Chopra Raj K.Kakkar Raj K.Nigam Jagmohan Mahajan Amar Nath Sehgal Yusuf Ebrahim Dr R.K.Bhardwaj

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Still, to the cadence of the sprightly air, Her supple limbs and waving head she plies; Now, drooping forward, bows with modest care; Now, backward bending, flash her beaming eyes; And, midway, now her form is seen to rise, Till, once more, standing, she resumes the dance: And many a varied attitude she tries, And many a winning smile and am’rous glance, That—lost on us—might even Mahomet entrance! (From ‘Tom Raw the Griffin’ by Sir Charles D’oyly, c.1828)

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Contents

Preface Introduction

xi 1

1. The Glamour of the Nautch Girl

7

2. Sahibs and Nautch Entertainment

23

3. Nautch Parties by Rajahs and Nawabs

39

4. Music and Motion

47

5. Lifestyle, Customs and Rituals

65

6. Celebrated Nautch Girls

79

7. Patrons and Playmates

99

8. The Anti-Nautch Campaign

113

Epilogue

125

Select Bibliography

131

Picture Credits

135

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Preface

Ever since my boyhood days I have had an earnest fascination for dance and music and especially for the practitioners of the arts. I was keen to study the aesthetic pursuits and achievements of the dancing girls through the ages. Having a deep interest in the study of social and cultural history of the Raj period, I decided to discover how and why the icon of performing arts called the ‘nautch girl’ was banished from the entertainment scene by the end of the nineteenth century. It was with a missionary zeal that I undertook the study of Raj literature comprising journals, diaries, memoirs and the visual record bequeathed to us by contemporary artists both British and Indian relating to the subject of ‘nautch’. I found revealing accounts of the famous celebrities and their captivating performances. The interesting part was the sahibs’ fascination for this entertainment and their generous patronage. The nautch girl was not merely a woman of pleasure but an accomplished and a refined person with dance and poetry in her blood.

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Historians, sociologists and fiction writers have done little justice to the nautch girl by depicting her either as a vamp or as a showgirl. Modern writers on the Raj have also paid little attention to the cultural scene and the status of dance and music during the period. I have tried to examine every possible factor—historical, socio-economic and cultural—that contributed to the rise and fall of the nautch girl, once the reigning queen of entertainment. It is important to recognize and acknowledge her vital contribution over the centuries to the preservation of our heritage of classical dance and music. It is my modest attempt to bring alive the nautch girl of yore and provide a peep into a world now lost to us forever. I would like to express my gratitude to the British Library, Oriental and India Office Collection, where I did most of my research over the years. Further, I am grateful to them and the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as other art galleries for providing me with the visual material that enriches the flavour of the narrative. Last but not least my heartfelt thanks go to Penguin Books for evincing interest in my work, and especially to Paromita Mohanchandra, who worked on the text and arrangement of illustrations with a keen interest in the subject. Pran Nevile New Delhi January 2009

Introduction

A

n integral part of Indian culture, the institution of performing artistes has been recognized as a necessary element in the organization of society. From time immemorial Indian poets have sung praises of the ‘public woman’, the professional entertainer. The epics give us a colourful description of her intimate connection with royal splendour. The Puranas highlight her auspicious presence as a symbol of good luck. Buddhist literature also testifies to the high esteem in which she was held in society. She appears through the ages in different incarnations, from apsara in divine form to ganika, devadasi, nartaki, kanchani, tawaif and nautch girl. Dance and music, according to Indian tradition, are divine creation. The supreme Lord Brahma is said to have commissioned the sage Bharata to compile the Natya Shashtra, the sacred treatise on dance and music. The text deals with the arts of music, dance and drama as well as with every related subject including the drama scripts, portrayal halls and stages suitable for performances. However, the major part of the text covers dance with a detailed account of 1

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the hand and foot movements, the use of different parts of the body and the essential requirements for a good dancer. While codifying the dance art, Bharata realized that only women could perform the graceful lasya dance. He informed Brahma about his problem, whereupon the supreme Lord created the apsaras, the first performing women artistes, to entertain the gods. Poets have composed songs extolling the beauty of apsaras and how they delighted the gods as they danced merrily to the accompaniment of music by the gandharvas, the mythical divine singers. Urvashi, peer among the apsaras, who is said to have been born on earth, imparted divine knowledge of dance and music to human beings. Devadasis, as temple dancers, were the first recipients of this art, and over the centuries, their devotional dances became an essential part of the temple service. The devadasi system was prevalent all over India which is evident from glimpses of social and cultural life in the Mauryan period, provided by Kautilya. As time passed, the exchange of devadasis between the temple and the court became an established practice. In ancient India there were ganikas, accomplished in sixty-four kalas (arts) which included dancing and singing. Known for their physical charm, they entertained the rich and the famous who vied with each other to win their favours. To be seen with a ganika was considered a status symbol. The encounter between the ganika and the ascetic is a stock motif in Sanskrit literature. In course of time, dancing grew more and more popular and every king and chieftain had his own troupe of professional artistes who were accomplished in dance and music.

    Intr oduction    

With the advent of Islam, the devadasi institution disintegrated in north India but it continued to flourish in the south. For the Mughal rulers, dancing was an essential component of royal entertainment and they brought to India Persian dancing girls known as domnis, lolonis, horokenis and hentsinis with their own distinctive style of dancing. The interaction of Persian dancing style with that of the traditional Hindu form brought a glorious fusion of Hindu–Muslim arts and a new kind of alloyed dance form was evolved, popularly known as ‘Kathak’. The wealth and prosperity of the Mughals encouraged the cultivation of all art forms, and with royal patronage Kathak came to be regarded as a sophisticated form

Akbar watching a performance by celebrated dancing girls from Mandu from Akbar Nama c.1590

Cover shows a painting by Mrs C. Belnos (c.1820) Cover design by Mugdha Sadhwani

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