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PAPER 4 Detail Study Of Kathak, Nautch Girls, Nritta, Nritya, Different Gharana-s, Present Status, Institutions, Artists Module 2 Nautch Girls And Brief Introduction Of Kathak Gharana-s Nautch / नाच was a corruption of naach, meaning literally - to dance - by the British, who had problems pronouncing Indian words. Thus, Varanasi became Banaras, Trichinapally became Trichy, Vadodara became Baroda. Mumbai became Bombay. Mysuru became Mysore. Many such examples abound. The decline of the Mughal Empire and the rise of European power saw the gradual decadence of Kathak. Most of the petty princes and warlords had little appreciation for the fine arts. So Kathak degenerated into voluptuous and sensuous styles. Although there was an attempt to retain the basic graces of Kathak, the tendency was increasingly towards lasciviousness and the performers became notorious as women of easy virtue. It was this debased form of Kathak that European adventurers called ‘nautch.’ This infamy touched even the temple dancers and certainly did much to disgrace girls from respectable families adopting professional dance as a career.1 The ‘dancing women’ in colonial literature are certainly never called Kathaks nor is their dance ever referred to by that name. Yet, one of Kathak dance’s most contentious issues has long been the question of its connection to the so-called ‘nautch.’ Its application by the Europeans to 1 all types of Indian dance performed by professional women resulted in a stigma that still clings to north Indian dance. Nautch girls and the nautch dance they performed were associated with prostitution and loose behaviour although one searches in vain for such descriptions in the letters and diaries. The observers occasionally seemed relieved and even disappointed that what they saw could not be called immoral.2 Since some dancers had fallen on bad days, due to lack of patronage in temples and by local zamindars, they took to world's oldest profession, i.e. prostitution. Thus, for the British and their followers amongst Indian ruling class, which generally emulated their masters, the word ‘dance’ was replaced with ‘nautch.’ Dancing girls were called nautch girls. There are many paintings depicting these scenes in popular culture of the time, as seen through what is called Company School (so called and named after British Raj, or rule, that originated in East India Company rule). Nautch dance was a term prevalent in north and south India. While south had devadasis and rajadasis, north had kothas or brothels, where the Nabob (British gent or officer, fashioned after Nawab, the local ruler’s title) went for downtime or company and was often entertained through dance and music and other activities that followed. Nautch girls, a prominent part of Indian life and culture during the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, danced for a variety of people that included women and children in addition to men of virtually all social classes, in their homes, in public places, on stage and in various other settings. They performed in Mughal courts, the palaces of nawabs, the mahals (castles) of rajas, the bungalows of officers of the British Raj, the homes of nobles, the havelis (mansions) of zamindars (landowners) and many other places. They were invited to perform at parties, 2 weddings, christenings, religious ceremonies, and many other social occasions. Nautch girls did not need an invitation to perform at religious festivals. They would show up to perform at the homes of their wealthier patrons who were obliged to pay them. While travelling, they would often hold impromptu dance performances on roads, streets and thoroughfares to entertain the masses, make some money and secure free room and board. Nautch girls served the entire spectrum of people in India, across all regions, social classes, castes and religions.3 Nautch girls performed as a part of small troupes known as a nautch party - ten to twelve people or small with just two people. The party always had one or two dancers and usually a singer too. Their husbands usually worked as musicians in the troupe. The nautch party musicians historically played four instruments – sarangi, tabla, manjeera and dholak. A fifth instrument – the harmonium – was introduced to nautch, primarily in Kashmir and Punjab, at the start of the 20th century. Well-known and famous nautch girls however continued to use the sarangi. An experienced maidservant, the mama, was always a part of the nautch party to take care of the female performers, arranging meals, and the safekeeping of the jewelry worn by the nautch girls. An unarmed guard, the muhafiz / मुहाफ़िज़, was an important member of the nautch party given the turbulent times and political upheavals of 19th and 20th century India. His job was to protect all members and possessions of the nautch party. Nautch parties that performed during the night also had one or two 4 mashaljis / मशालजी, or lamp bearers, in the troupe. The dances performed by the nautch girls were simple. They did not follow any one classical style but borrowed liberally from three dance traditions – Kathak, Dasi Attam and folk. The Kathak of early nineteenth 3 century was simple and aesthetically pleasing. The repertoire of toras and tukras was limited, and primary focus was on storytelling. Kathak had not yet been transformed into an elaborate school of dance by Bindadin Maharaj and Kalka Prasad. Dasi Attam, the early form of Bharatanatyam, was more complex but lent itself easily to use in the popular dance of nautch girls. Folk dances added a charming and local flavor to the nautch. It was up to the nautch girls to masterfully incorporate elements of all three styles of dance into their performances. The mor ka nach (dance of the peacock), patang nach (the kite dance) and the qahar ka nach (the bearer’s dance) were considered essential items in every nautch girl’s repertoire. 5 The songs of nautch girls had as their themes either the amorous escapades in the lives of gods or conventional romantic tales, usually about the lover’s yearning for the beloved. Until the end of the 19th century, songs in Persian were as popular as those in Hindi. There are even references comparing the singing style and the rendering of this ghazal by different reputed nautch girls of the day.6 Nautch girls were photographed extensively in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cameras were getting popular and the beautiful Nautch girls were an ideal subject for photographers wishing to document Indian culture. The third factor was a nautch girl’s need to have good photographs that she could send to prospective clients. 7 The nautch girl held the white sahib spellbound for nearly two centuries. Professional nautch girls and their performances have been described in numerous journals, travelogues, memoirs and diaries left by European visitors, missionaries, and civil and military officials. The post-Plassey British nabobs who had made quick fortunes emulated the ostentatious 4 lifestyle of native princes and even maintained their own troupes of nautch girls and musicians for the entertainment of their guests. A dinner in the community was usually followed by a nautch performance. So were other festive occasions, such as the celebration of a King Emperor’s birthday and visits of dignitaries to civil and military stations. Nautch girls would also accompany the British army whenever it was on the move, entertaining the soldiers on the way. The quality of the nautch and the class of nautch girls varied from place to place as did the reactions of the British spectators. In an early 19th century account, Captain Mundy describes a splendid nautch party held in honour of the Commander-in- Chief by the company’s political agent, Captain Wade in Ludhiana where 46 nautch girls entertained the guests, only to be surpassed by the British Resident at Delhi who honoured the Commander-in-Chief with a performance by 100 nautch girls. The nautch became a common form of entertainment in the mansions of the English merchants turned rulers in Bengal and other parts of India.8 The nautch girls were extensively patronised by the feudal rulers, many of whom retained whole sets of them in their service or as inmates of their sizeable harems. It is this picture of Indian dance and dancers that the European and other travellers who visited India during the period carried with them when they returned to their countries. Practically all that they could see by way of dance was the debased Kathak. So it is not surprising that they identified the art of Indian dance in its entirety with the nautch and branded it as a pursuit fit only for the vulgar and depraved – an impression that persisted till the present revival of the art. The purity of the Kathak dance was preserved by the men dancers and the Kathak we see today is largely what has come to us through them.9 The popularity of the nautch was at its peak in the 1860s; a natural 5 consequence of the popularity was the emergence of detractors of the art form. Waves of Christian missionaries started arriving in India after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and frequently opposed the performance of nautch, among many other things, by terming it anti- Christian, immoral and repugnant. Officers of the British Raj, who had heretofore been patrons of nautch girls, were asked to not attend nautch performances.10 As the 19th century wore on, the new group of English-educated Indians were swayed by the writings of some foreign observers who made no distinction between an accomplished professional nautch girl or a devadasi and a common prostitute, dubbing both as fallen women.

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