Book Review of Pran Neville's 'Nautch Girls of the Raj' published by Penguin India in 2009. Book Review published in Deccan Herald (Sunday Magazine) on 26.4.2009
The pre-existing Devdasi system disintegrated in North India as it shifted from temples to courts and became confined to royalty and nobility.
Nautch Girls of the Raj is a concise and comprehensive historical account of the emergence and decline of institutionalised dance and music performance called ‘Nautch’ during colonial India. Pran Nevile has traced the origin of this institution from ancient times and treatises like Natya Shashtra. In different eras, the dancing ‘public woman’ had different names and somewhat varied social functions and relevance. Nevile asserts that before the Islamic period, such dancing women had high social standing as ganika, devdasi and nagarvadhu. Preponderance and prosperity of these women find mention in the ancient accounts of Huein Tsang, Alberuni and Kalhana. In the Mughal India, the Persian dancing style coalesced with the classical Indian tradition and gave rise to a new style called later as Kathak. New musical forms like thumri, dadra and ghazal emerged and enriched the dance. Footwork was another element that was added to this dance style. The pre-existing Devdasi system disintegrated in North India as it shifted from temples to courts and became confined to royalty and nobility.
Devdasi system continued in South Indian temples. It also got patronage from the kings particularly in Vijayanagara, Mysore and Tanjore and there was an exchange of dancing women between temples and courts. Thus, classical Indian dance continued and flourished in both secular as well as religious arenas. During British rule, the traditional performance dance acquired a new dimension as it emerged as an entertainment for the sahibs. Nautch became a permanent feature of all sorts of official entertainment. It was quite popular among the British officials and soldiers as evident from their early journals, travelogues, memoirs, diaries and letters. Nautch was an erotic spectacle for the British who had lack of company of British women in India and an all pervasive sense of boredom. On another hand, Nautch was also an integral enchanting part of the ‘exotic Orient’. Neville has cited various comments and poems written by British officers and visitors praising the Nautch and the beauty of Nautch girls. Thus, the institution of nautch flourished in British India as a part of the wider historical process of acculturation of the White sahibs to the culture of the native. After the 1857 mutiny, the empire’s policy changed drastically. Prostitution was one major challenge for the entire British empire across the globe as British soldiers were getting infected with venereal diseases. Indian Contagious Diseases Act was passed in 1864 that established a licensed system of prostitution. At an ideological level, it was a conscious instrument of colonial dominance and white supremacy. The empire wanted to project itself as a moralising authority and since Devdasi system was intertwined with Hindu religion, they called it ‘Temple Prostitution’. Some research has also shown that prosperous courtesans had funded the mutiny. By that time, the population of British women in India and missionaries increased and they disapproved Nautch as immoral. The anti-Nautch campaign by the empire also got support from the reformist educated Indian middle class and followers of Arya Samaj. Pran Nevile has delved into an area and subject of nautch that is not much researched by the historians and social scientists. The book, for its simplicity and broader coverage, gives a fair insight but it lacks a critical analysis of Nautch in the ideological contexts of the empire, race, sexuality and power.
NAUTCH GIRLS OF THE RAJPran NevilePenguin India2009, pp 136, Rs 250
रविवार, 26 अप्रैल 2009
Unravelling the mysteries behind an architectural wonder
Book Review of Giles Tillitson's Tajmahal published in 2008 by Penguin India. Review published in Decan Herald (Sunday Magazine) on 22.3.2009
Giles Tillitson, an India based art historian, has addressed Taj Mahal from various perspectives in a concise book encompassing historical and architectural backgrounds to the recent Taj corridor controversy.
As a monument Taj Mahal has appropriated diverse and competing meanings and symbolic representations; as a national symbol, an edifice to immortalise love and an architectural marvel. It is a part of our collective consciousness. Giles Tillitson, an India based art historian, has addressed Taj Mahal from various perspectives in a concise book encompassing historical and architectural backgrounds to the recent Taj corridor controversy.Tillotson systematically unravels the various layers of the meanings, concepts and metaphorical connotations of Taj Mahal; from its origin as a sepulchral architecture to a cultural icon in the modern India.The construction and design of Taj Mahal has remained a debatable subject, more for the reason that there are no historical records or designs. What we have is ‘Padshahnama’ of Abdul Hamid Lahauri that is an official chronicle of Shah Jahan and travel accounts of Westerners like Francois Bernier, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and Manucci. In Padshahnama, Taj Mahal is called rauza-i-munawwara (an illumined tomb in a garden) but it hardly talks about its construction. The writings of the contemporary travelers are ambivalent and disoriented because of their ethnocentrism. The same sense of cultural supremacy has biased the British historians and architects who were at a loss to believe that such a structure could have been built without a European association.
There are historians like Ram Nath and P N Oak who consider Taj Mahal as a Hindu architecture. It was only in 2006 that an authentic monograph on Taj Mahal was authored by Ebba Koch whom Tillotson profusely acknowledges. Tillotson asserts that as an architectural design, Taj is not an original conception, rather it is inspired by Timurid (Central Asian), Delhi Sultanate as well as pre-existing Mughal and old Hindu styles. All these styles were assimilated and synthesised to design the unique Taj Mahal. The book also denies lack of historical evidence to corroborate a popular belief that Shah Jahan wanted another Taj in Black marble beside the existing one. There have been controversies regarding the architect who designed Taj Mahal. Tillitson, on the basis of records, tries to put an end to it and cites Ustad Ahmad Lahauri (architect), Amanat Khan (calligrapher), Mir Abdul Karim and Makramat Khan (work supervisors). Since Ustad Ahmad Lahauri was sent to Delhi to design other buildings, the story of cutting hands of Ustad Isa, another name in the guesswork is false. The construction took 17 years and costed 50 lakhs.Tillotson also presents the diverse accounts of Taj Mahal, as seen from the eyes of European travelers, British officers, memsahibs, architects, art historians, Mughal court poets etc. He also analyses the British landscape painters like William Hodges, Daniell Brothers and other company painters including Indians who accentuated its picturesque quality by putting Taj in its landscape setting.In contemporary times, Taj Mahal still acquires different meanings; the ad of ‘Wah Taj!’, for tea of the same brand, Taj Mahal group of Hotels, a lonely Princess Diana standing in front of Taj Mahal, so on and so forth. We also have competing literary perceptions as Sahir Ludhiyanvi, a progressive Urdu poet, considered it as a mockery of the poor people whereas Shakeel Badayuni, in a popular film song said that by constructing Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan left a legacy of love for the world. This legacy enshrined in the mysteries of the marble goes on and on; acquiring new meanings and perceptions and that is truly the mystique of Taj Mahal!
Giles Tillitson, an India based art historian, has addressed Taj Mahal from various perspectives in a concise book encompassing historical and architectural backgrounds to the recent Taj corridor controversy.
As a monument Taj Mahal has appropriated diverse and competing meanings and symbolic representations; as a national symbol, an edifice to immortalise love and an architectural marvel. It is a part of our collective consciousness. Giles Tillitson, an India based art historian, has addressed Taj Mahal from various perspectives in a concise book encompassing historical and architectural backgrounds to the recent Taj corridor controversy.Tillotson systematically unravels the various layers of the meanings, concepts and metaphorical connotations of Taj Mahal; from its origin as a sepulchral architecture to a cultural icon in the modern India.The construction and design of Taj Mahal has remained a debatable subject, more for the reason that there are no historical records or designs. What we have is ‘Padshahnama’ of Abdul Hamid Lahauri that is an official chronicle of Shah Jahan and travel accounts of Westerners like Francois Bernier, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and Manucci. In Padshahnama, Taj Mahal is called rauza-i-munawwara (an illumined tomb in a garden) but it hardly talks about its construction. The writings of the contemporary travelers are ambivalent and disoriented because of their ethnocentrism. The same sense of cultural supremacy has biased the British historians and architects who were at a loss to believe that such a structure could have been built without a European association.
There are historians like Ram Nath and P N Oak who consider Taj Mahal as a Hindu architecture. It was only in 2006 that an authentic monograph on Taj Mahal was authored by Ebba Koch whom Tillotson profusely acknowledges. Tillotson asserts that as an architectural design, Taj is not an original conception, rather it is inspired by Timurid (Central Asian), Delhi Sultanate as well as pre-existing Mughal and old Hindu styles. All these styles were assimilated and synthesised to design the unique Taj Mahal. The book also denies lack of historical evidence to corroborate a popular belief that Shah Jahan wanted another Taj in Black marble beside the existing one. There have been controversies regarding the architect who designed Taj Mahal. Tillitson, on the basis of records, tries to put an end to it and cites Ustad Ahmad Lahauri (architect), Amanat Khan (calligrapher), Mir Abdul Karim and Makramat Khan (work supervisors). Since Ustad Ahmad Lahauri was sent to Delhi to design other buildings, the story of cutting hands of Ustad Isa, another name in the guesswork is false. The construction took 17 years and costed 50 lakhs.Tillotson also presents the diverse accounts of Taj Mahal, as seen from the eyes of European travelers, British officers, memsahibs, architects, art historians, Mughal court poets etc. He also analyses the British landscape painters like William Hodges, Daniell Brothers and other company painters including Indians who accentuated its picturesque quality by putting Taj in its landscape setting.In contemporary times, Taj Mahal still acquires different meanings; the ad of ‘Wah Taj!’, for tea of the same brand, Taj Mahal group of Hotels, a lonely Princess Diana standing in front of Taj Mahal, so on and so forth. We also have competing literary perceptions as Sahir Ludhiyanvi, a progressive Urdu poet, considered it as a mockery of the poor people whereas Shakeel Badayuni, in a popular film song said that by constructing Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan left a legacy of love for the world. This legacy enshrined in the mysteries of the marble goes on and on; acquiring new meanings and perceptions and that is truly the mystique of Taj Mahal!
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