THE TAWAIF, THE ANTI - NAUTCH MOVEMENT, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC:
Part 5 - The Anti-Nautch Movement
| Part 1 - Introduction Part 2 - The Tawaifs Part 3 - Evolution of the Will to End the Tawaifs Part 4 - Evolution of the Means to End the Tawaifs Part 5 - The Anti- Part 6 - The Passing of the Torch Part 7 - Affects of the Anti- Part 8 - Epilogue SUMMARY OF TOPICS COVERED EARLIER The tawaifs were an Indian equivalent of the Japanese geisha. At the end of the 19th century there was a British inspired persecution of dancing girls. This persecution included the tawaif. However for there to be an effective persecution, there had to be both a will as well as the means to carry it out. The will was provided by a combination of Victorian moralistic and political considerations. The means was provided by the British consolidation of their control over the Indian subcontinent. |
We have shown at great lengths the mustering of both the will to execute an anti-
Conditions In India Leading to the Anti Nautch Movement
By the late 19th century, many things had changed in regards to British living in India. Whereas a century earlier, social intercourse between Indians and British expatriates had been extensive, in the Victorian era, this tended to be frowned upon. Earlier generations of British freely married Indian women and merged with the local population. But in Victorian India, interactions were carefully proscribed by etiquette. Any Britisher who went beyond the necessary interactions might be accused of "going native". This was of course a great social sin and caused the offender to be subjected to extreme ostracism. While earlier generations of British knew very well that they were economically and technologically no better than their Indian counterparts, later British were completely convinced that British culture was superior to Indian culture in every regard. This mindset created a widespread disdain for the local culture and traditions.
Such disdain for the local culture was easily demonstrated in the deteriorating relations between the British and tawaifs. In the early days of the East India company, it was very normal for British to hire nautch-girls (many of whom were tawaifs) to dance at their social functions. However by the later part of the 19th century, social functions tended to be more of the ballroom dancing that one might find in England. Indian dancing started to be frowned upon.
Official function with traditional nautch
The rising unacceptability of Indian dance and its practitioners is illustrated by an incident that occurred in 1890. Prince Albert visited India and was entertained to a traditional Indian dance. Visiting dignitaries had been entertained to traditional Indian dance for as long as anyone was aware; however this time things were little different. There were protests from many quarters, especially from a Christian missionary by the name of Reverend J. Murdoch. He printed a number of publications strongly condemning these "nautch parties" and called for all British to refrain from attending them.
The persecutions of Indian dancers by Reverend Murdoch was just a small indication of a social phenomenon that was emerging. This was the spread of the Social Purity movement from Great Britain to India. As it turned out, once the Social Purity Movement spread to India, it would assume a character that in some ways was different from its original British form.
The large number of missionary based publishing houses was one reason for the rise of the anti-
The views of many of these Christian missionaries were at times extreme. Many Christian publications went so far as to say that simply looking at an Indian dance was sufficient to arouse unchristian feelings. But it was not just British and Indian Christian converts that were behind the Anti-
Anti-Nautch Movement in Full Force
It is difficult to ascribe the birth of a movement to a particular date, but for the purpose of this article we will consider 1892 to be the birth of the anti-
However, religious zealots have never been ones to allow facts to interfere with their thinking. They were resolute in their efforts. Since they were unable to get any official action on this matter, they started to directly target individuals who hired dancers to entertain at their social functions. They called for the British to boycott dance girls and functions where "nautch-
The anti-
Salvation Army in India
Another example of the extreme zeal of many who pursued the anti-
The efforts of the anti-
At this time, the situation of the tawaif was very bad. The social expectations created by the anti-
In this environment, there were serious concerns whether their art-
| Part 1 - Introduction Part 2 - The Tawaifs Part 3 - Evolution of the Will to End the Tawaifs Part 4 - Evolution of the Means to End the Tawaifs Part 5 - The Anti- Part 6 - The Passing of the Torch - Next Page Part 7 - Affects of the Anti- Part 8 - Epilogue |
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