The Nautch Girls of India

British Rule and its Social and

Economic Impacts on the

Dance Girls of India

2015 Reynolds Faculty SymposiumGhazala Hashmi

Professor of English

Overview of Presentation

• The background and history of the nautch girls in India

• The relevance of the nautch girls within the dramatic political reshaping of the Indian subcontinent from the 18th century onward

• A brief history of the English East India Company

• Discussion of the ways in which British cultural hegemony shaped the East Indian’s own perceptions of the nautch girls and also devalued their role in the preservation and transmission of cultural artifacts such as high poetry, sophisticated manners, and dance traditions

The ArgumentBritish colonial rule deliberately targeted and disrupted the role of cultural players within Indian feudal society in order to create political instability.

The undermining efforts of the East India Company were supported by three major elements of expanding colonial rule:• the arrival of Christian missionaries on the

subcontinent in the late 19th century• the increased migration of English women in the

late 19th century• the social sensibilities of Victorian England• Orientalist assumptions about the sexuality and

sexual behaviors of non-European peoples

At significant cost to themselves, East Indian communities assimilated the reductive values of the colonizer, participating in what some theorists have termed “the colonization of the mind.”

The Nautch Girls of IndiaBackground

Cultural values and traditions

Roles in High Society

Early Colonial Perspectives

Contributions to Literary and Linguistic Traditions

The Ghazal• a highly-structured, lyrical poem• sung out loud, typically within an

organized, public performance• languages of the ghazal include Urdu,

Farsi, Turkish, and Pashto• renowned poets include Rumi, Hafiz, and

Ghalib

Other Essential Contributions of the Nautch Girls

Tameez• Good manners

• A sense of

decorum

• An ability to

discern• Demonstration

of good judgment

Tehzeeb• Culture• Refinement of

thought, action, and words

• Cultured

sensibility• Courtliness

(linguistic equivalent of Castiglione’s sprezzatura)

The East India CompanyHistory, Structure, and PowerThe English “Nabob”Consequences and Impacts onthe Modern World:• The rule of the Company

Man

• Forerunner to companies such as British Petroleum (BP) and colonizing monopolies characterized by political domination and control of resources

Lingering Influences of Colonial AttitudesCase Study: Pakeezah, an Indian film released in 1972

Pak means “pure” or to make clean an object that was once unclean.

Pakeezah reflects orientalist assumptions about the nautch girl, that she is unclean, a prostitute,and a social pariah. At the same time, it also seeks to undermine these assumptions.

Concluding Comments• Assimilation of Western values with

regard to women’s roles within public performance, high society, and preservation of literary and dance art forms proved detrimental to the societies of nautch girls.

• The loss of political, economic, and social capital among the nautch cultures had a broader impact on South Asian society.

• Negative societal judgment of women’s public performance remains evident today and is more indicative of English Victorian values than of indigenous attitudes that preceded British colonial rule.