At the heart of India lies the city of Varanasi, enriching itself with its rich cultural and spiritual identity. Known for its ghats and temples, Varanasi’s rich musical past is but one of its many aspects. It is in this regard that writer and poet Yatindra Mishra explores his musical heritage in mesmerizing depth, bringing to light courtesans’ involvement in shaping the cultural identity of Varanasi. It is these women who were the custodians and took the legacy of classical music forward,” Mishra explained during a recent session of TOI Dialogues on how these ostracized women became the custodians. In India, courtesans, or *tawaifs*, have over time been viewed through a double lens—often romanticized in art and literature, yet marginalized in social narratives.
Women of this order had to fight with more than what was apparent to the eye in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly at places like Varanasi. According to Mishra, they were custodians of an intricate cultural legacy and were not just courtesans. They did a lot for the scene of classical music to survive because it required training in different forms and styles to be passed on through generations. To courtesans, music was not merely a profession; it was the medium through which they expressed their feelings and experiences. According to Mishra, the art of the *tawaifs* was a tool not only for aesthetic expression but also for negotiating a complex socio-political terrain. There were long compositions of intricate difficulty in classical forms like *thumri* and *dhrupad*, rich in both lyrics and emotional nuance. Mishra pointed out that most courtesans were highly educated and artistically cultivated, having undergone systematic training under some of the best musicians and composers of their time.
What is more, they were informally training young budding musicians to teach them not only the technical skills but also the aesthetics of music. This mentorship created an extremely rich community of artists that helped to nurture the cultural ambiance of Varanasi. Being the custodians of this tradition, courtesans became very instrumental in preserving forms of music that otherwise might have been lost. As indicated by Mishra, in times like the British colonial period, when cultural ethos was undergoing metamorphosis, these women adopted and saved musical traditions and made them survive. These acts of performance became a site wherein cultural identity was pronounced and sustained without succumbing to homogenization. Mishra reflected on how perceptions of courtesans have changed over the years. So now, in contemporary theory, there is recognition of the contribution they have made to music and the arts that has resulted in a re-estimation of their place in history.
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Literature and cinema took to portraying the *tawaif* as multidimensional figures who fought against the odds borne by society, thus advocating a better appreciation of the aesthetic traditions they left behind. It is in Mishra’s view that the influence courtesans have had on the city’s musical traditions is a greater concern to Varanasi today than it ever has been in the new search for modernity and globalization. The stories of how they endured are reminders of the need to honor and uphold cultural identities amidst a world that moves at an increasingly frantic pace. The inclusion of more narratives inspired by such contributors to the arts, especially from the margins, is called for. Yatindra Mishra contemporaneously projects courtesans in Varanasi as having depth in their inputs into the music culture of the constituent city. Here is embedded a saga of valour, creativity, and the strength of aesthetics that instrumentalizes its retention of cultural fiber. In this act of reclaiming, we memorialize the past while further enriching our perception of the many strands that go on to weave India’s variegated cultural heritage.
It is in a dynamically changing world of music that these historical contributions of courtesans remind us of the project at hand: the creation of inclusivity within artistic narratives so that the voices of all those who have shaped culture notice and appreciate its worth. We can continue with discourses that build greater appreciation for these convoluted relationships among society, culture, and art.
