They were called naachne-gaanewali with derision, the tawaifs, whose place in Indian society and contribution to the performing arts are gradually being recognised.

The stage show O Gaanewali, by Avanti Patel and Rutuja Lad, gives these women their due through their stories and music. They are also active on social media, making their research and performances accessible. Popular cinema has done tawaifs no justice, usually turning them into tragic romantic figures, trapped in a disreputable world—either vamps who entrap men or helpless victims, who wait for a male saviour to rescue them.

O Gaanewali: Restoring The Legacy Of India’s Forgotten Courtesan Artistes | Instagram - @ogaanewali

Traditional and semiclassical forms like thumri, dadra, bandish, hori, chaiti, kajri, jhoola, sawan, tappa, and ghazal were kept alive through the performances of these gaanewalis, some of which Patel and Lad performed (along with excellent accompanists), as they narrated anecdotes about famous singers like Rasoolan Bai, Gauhar Jaan, Begum Akhtar, and the oddly named Jankibai Allahabad, aka Chhapan Chhuri, who got that moniker when she was stabbed 56 times. She went on performing with a scarred face and even wrote a book of Urdu poetry. (A fictional version of her was seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi, where Sanjeeda Shaikh played a scarred courtesan.)

They may not have been integrated into respectable society, but in the golden age of the tawaif culture—from the 18th to the early 19th century—these........

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