The Tawaif of Lucknow and the Systematic Erasure of Their Identity

The 18th century witnessed the decline of Delhi and thereafter the consolidation of Awadh as the cultural lodestar. Under the patronage of the Awadhi royalty, various art forms flourished, and so did the Tawaif, the courtesans. They had established themselves as a notable group of women in the years that the Awadh dynasty had Lucknow as its capital city, under the generous patronage of the official elite and royalty. The courtesans commanded great sway and stature in the society and being invited to their salons for cultural soirees was something that elevated one’s status and bestowed prestige. They had gained an influential position in the courts of both Hindu and Muslim rulers before the beginning of displacement of these rulers by the British. Abdul Hamid Sharar constructed a remarkable history of the Nawabs of Awadh. He was of the opinion that the “morals, manners and distinctiveness of Lucknow culture and society were sustained by the courtesans.”

However, these courtesans were subjected to exhaustive social and moral regulation from the

mid-19th century onwards. They faced this by both the colonial state as well as the emerging

Indian middle classes, who hitherto had been excluded from the elite culture. Their sexual and

financial autonomy made them stand in juxtaposition to the conventional notion of a

“respectable woman”. They were deemed immoral, promiscuous and vulgar. What followed was their downfall; and with that, the downfall of the art forms associated with them. “Their lifestyle is resistance rather than a perpetuation of patriarchal values.” As emphasized in this statement, Veena Oldenberg’s research, Lifestyle as Resistance: The Case of the Courtesans of Lucknow, laid stress on how these women did not silently submit to the restrictions placed on them, they rather resisted and rebelled against the new order. Her work has been a pivotal source for this paper.

Thus, this research paper has primarily focused on documenting the systematic erasure of the

identity of the Tawaif, who were once a widely popular and celebrated figure and were seen as repertoire of grace, etiquette, and eloquence of the Awadhi Culture. We have tried to understand the social and economic conditions of these women and the backdrop against which they rose and fell in the social hierarchy. In contemporary texts, the word Tawaif, or courtesan is viewed as derogatory and shrewd. This paper attempts to reduce the negativity around the word and challenge the present notion of these courtesans as public women. This paper also intends to highlight the importance of these women in the consolidation of pre- colonial-era culture and art forms and their contribution to society.

Author: Mantasha Kalam and Akanksha Singh

Full Paper: The Tawaif of Lucknow and the Systematic Erasure of Their Identity

Structural Violence and Retaliation by Women in India

Structural Violence and Retaliation by Women in India: Through the lens of

Troilokyo Tarini and Phoolan Devi

ABSTRACT:

Women in Indian History have not only been subjected to gender-based violence but also violence meted out to them by oppressive caste structures allowing them to exist along the fringes. Due to the structural positioning of patriarchy and caste, women have often found themselves surrendering to the subjugating forces at play. However, there have also been examples in history, where women have not only resisted the violence, they were subjected to but also have retaliated by reclaiming their social and political agencies.

This paper delves into the lives of two such women who were able to decapitate the existing

patriarchal and caste hegemony in the Indian social fabric and prove against women being the ‘weaker’ sex. What became important in their case was that they appropriated the violence they were met with to reclaim their position and resist their exploitation to rise up the social ladder. Troilkyo Tarini was a woman who was consistently abandoned by the men in her life. Her first husband died and her second lover sold her off to Sonagachi – the notorious brothel of Calcutta. It was here in the underbelly of the city that she found the means to retaliate against the epistemic ostracism, disenfranchisement, and violence meted out to her. Soon she was able to use her body as well as her brain to reclaim her social standing. She spent the rest of her life as an auteur who would con the traditional upper-caste Bengali “Bhadralok” men into promises of marriage and orgies and later steal their riches. She would disenfranchise the kind of men of their capital who initially exploited her.

On the other hand, born into a rural lower caste family in Uttar Pradesh, Phoolan Devi endured

extreme poverty and an abusive marriage where she was raped multiple times by her then-

husband. It was then she turned to violence and joined a gang of bandits, being the only woman there. Owing to caste disparities, when her lover from the gang was killed and she was raped by several ‘thakurs’ in turn for several days, she resorted to violence and used her position in the gang to exact revenge on her perpetrators by shooting them till death. Later she was imprisoned but after being released, she ran for election as a member of parliament for the Samajwadi Party and was twice elected to the Lok Sabha.

Thus, in our paper, we plan to plot the lives of these women and establish how structural caste and gender violence instigated in these women, a rescue and reclamation in the form of retaliation.

Our research explores the ulterior themes of disenfranchisement and consequential violence

against women and their reactions. Through our paper, we have also focussed on how women like them have broken the medieval stereotype of women surrendering themselves to the patriarchal frameworks and have created a space for their social and political agency.

Author: Rishav Chatterjee, Deep Acharya

Full Paper: Structural Violence and Retaliation by Women in India: Through the lens of

Troilokyo Tarini and Phoolan Devi

Railways, Deforestation and Ecological Degradation: A Case study of Colonial Punjab (1850-1855)

ABSTRACT:

This paper is an attempt to understand the Imperialist policies of 'development' which created

disturbance and alteration in ecology from 1850-1885 in Colonial Punjab. It revolves around the process of deforestation which was intensified by the introduction of Railways in 1853, creating an insatiable demand for wood, for fuel, sleepers and carriage building - and promoted enlarged consumption with easy communication resulting in indiscriminate felling of trees, sometimes to desolation. Great Britain- the leading industrialized nation, lacked a 'forest sense' and neglected forestry to an extent that 95% of her timber requirements came from foreign countries including Ireland, South Africa, North-East USA., Canada and India for ship-building, iron-smelting and farming and on some occasions to symbolize political victory. Certain stories and folklores reveal the different ways in which the British tried to 'civilise the savage' forest tribes (a process which Ramchandra Guha calls "savaging the civilized") and push them out of their native lands, encouraging them to take up a sedentary lifestyle which was often met with resentment. When the demand for natural products increased in England, with the pretext of bringing up the society, the English brought a rise in commercial forestry which in return resulted in ecological degradation. Railways were a necessity for the English to transport heavy goods. With the introduction of Railways, followed the rise of commercial forestry in the form of plantations which turned the ecological balance upside down.

Author: Anne Mary Shaju, Cherry Hitkari, Harshita Kumari, Raunika Singh

Full Paper: Railways, Deforestation and Ecological Degradation: A Case study of Colonial Punjab (1850-1855)