Who turned Tawaifs into Prostitutes: Another exploit of British

The defame, damage and the decline of the _tawaif_ as a recognised artist in South Asia is often told as a story of changing tastes. The history reads something different: a shift carefully planned by British colonial law, economic disruption, and the social politics of the independence era.

Let’s first understand, Who the Tawaif Was Before 1857.

In the times of Mughals the word “Tawaif” was not limited to body, but intelligence, art, and etiquette. In cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Lahore, and Hyderabad, a _tawaif_ was a respected professional musician-dancer, trained for years in _ghazal_, _thumri_, Urdu _adab_, and _kathak_. Many ran independent _kothas_, owned property, taught elite women, and held cultural influence through patronage from courts and urban elites. Nawabs send their son to learn adab, etiquette, gazal and poetry.

Among these learning women was Ghaur Jan in 1902 from Calcutta, who was the first to record her songs in Gramophone and almost recorded 600 songs in times, another lady named Rasolan Bai from Banaras who’s Thumri still bring tears in eyes of listener. Moreover, today’s Semi classic music born among those khotas.

However, their knowledge and influence was not just limited to music and arts, but they were an active partner in the fight for independence. Many were funding, sheltering and part of secret information networks. The revered Azizan Bai from Khanpur was one of the name that history couldn’t forget, since Azizan let her Khota to be used as secret headquarter in the 1857 revolt, meals were prepared in that kitchen, injured were nursed and she physically joined the rebellion against British while riding a horse and carrying weapons. However, this was the turning point… where everything changed, from a respectable house to a whorehouse.

British is no doubt a very wicked nation, who for their personal gains can forget the difference among God and demon. Everything is fair in war, a phrase said by Francis Edward Smedley in 1789, who was a British no doubt.

When in India our Kingdom believed in justice and fairness even in war or love.

Coming to the point, after 1857, when British acknowledged the power and independence of these ladies they initiated “Anti- Naught movement” and ended their court patronage. Beside introducing the *Contagious Diseases Acts* and *Cantonment Regulations* subjected women associated with male clients to licensing, medical inspection, and police zoning. Records from that period do not distinguish between artists, entertainers, and brothel workers. All were grouped under one administrative category.

At the same time, princely courts lost revenue and authority. Without court _mehfils_, the main economic base for tawaif lineages weakened. Victorian moral discourse further stigmatised public female performance, pushing music and dance training out of “respectable” households.

All of this had a compounding effect. Artistic patronage declined, legal categories hardened, and stigma increased. By Partition, the term “tawaif” had been collapsed in law and public discourse into the single category of “prostitute,” with little institutional space left for the older artist-courtesan model.

Pakistan and India’s early post-colonial laws criminalised brothels and trafficking, but did not create a separate legal category for courtesan-artists. Cinema and recorded music replaced live _kotha_ performance as the main public outlet for song and dance. In Lahore’s Heera Mandi and other urban quarters, communities became more economically vulnerable and more heavily policed.

The tawaif’s marginalisation was mainly caused by one factor: British.

My suggestion we need to learn honest history, not flattened categories. The tawaif was first an artist. British Colonial policy which triggered economic change, and the politics of “respectability” during the freedom struggle helped turned that identity into a criminalised one. Restoring the distinction is a matter of record — and of justice.