Review of RedFort - Remembering Magnificent Mughals , written By Debashish Das

 Ok so before getting started with the main topic, I would like to name few personalities that you must have heard about :  Rani Lakshmibai , Tatya tope , Chandra Shekhar azad , Bhagat singh , yes well known freedom fighters but have you heard about Azeezunbai , Mubarak begum, Adala , Hussaini?

 

The Answer is NO.

The topic I will be discussing today is considered as Taboo in the Indian society.

The names which I just recited were Known variously as tawaifs in the North, devadasis in the South, baijis in Bengal and naikins in Goa. These professional singers and dancers were compared with prostitutes in the late 19th century by Britishers. As a result, their contribution to India's classical arts was never recognized and their role in freedom fighting movements was sidelined.

 

In their glory days of Mughal era, the Tawaifs were at the centre of art and culture in India, proficient in both music and dance. They enjoyed wealth, power, prestige, political access, and were considered authorities of culture. These women were so renowned for their cultural knowledge that in 18^th century ,High-profile families used to send their daughters to tawaifs to learn aadaab and tehzeeb which means Politeness & Etiquettes.

To be associated with a tawaif was considered to be a symbol of status, wealth, sophistication and culture...no one ever consider her to be a bad woman or an object of pity."

 

When the Britishers arrived, most of them without their wives, they understood none of the culture here When their settlements took shape and their wives arrived, the tawaifs began to be branded as home-wreckers, prostitutes and contaminants.

 

From 1857 onwards, as the revolt against the British unfolded, houses of tawaif became havens for revolutionaries, and meeting places for freedom fighters. Once again, the tawaifs were ahead of the curve. Those who had accumulated wealth provided rebels financial support as well.

The tawaifs were wealthy people having luxurious houses. But their involvement in the 1857 uprising, many of them were put on lists of properties to be seized & branded them as characterless and unworthy.

By the late 19th century the distinction between 'tawaifs' and prostitutes became so blurred that the former were considered outcasts. The remaining descendants of this beautiful tradition were sent out of the walled city. The area is now called G.B. Road and is the largest red- light area of Delhi.

 

So this was the short story about the forgotten & unsung talented revolutionaries of India who always lived on their own terms & remained Aazad from Mental & physical barriers of the colonial India.