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'These women were the repositories of high culture..'- Madhur Gupta on his book 'Courting Hindustan' & the untold stories of India's courtesans.
His book, Courting Hindustan, documents the lives of some of the most brilliant courtesans of India, like Begum Samru, Gauhaar Jaan, Balasaraswati and others, throwing light on their shadowed lives lost within the pages of history
madhur gupta
@Madhur_Gupta · 2:18
And I used to write about them small pieces, some magazine, some newspaper, something. So my commissioning editor, Shashwati, she must have read one of these pieces, and she called me up one fine day. This was four or five years ago, imagine. And she said, would you like to do something like this for us? Like a full fledged nonfiction book?
I also had a question about the book's first word, penned by Sri Birju Maharaj ji. I loved what he had to say about the book, and it perfectly sets the tone for the fascinating right that the book is. And I was quite taken in by the fact that the book has glowing testimonials from Shashi Tharoor, Anushka Shankar, Ustad Zakir Hussain and others
madhur gupta
@Madhur_Gupta · 2:57
And again, I think it's destiny that right time, right places, right people have always, always helped artists out. And I think that was my fate also that these stalwarts agreed to support the book. Also the fact that I truly believe that somebody who's a great maestro, it's not just about the art
The fact is that the courtesans as a group have always existed on the margins of society. But you could say that pre colonial Indian society, in a way, was a bit more liberal. It did have a space for women like Davidasis or Tawaf. However, as you mentioned in your book, the colonial period come completely changed the status quo. Could you perhaps elaborate on this?
madhur gupta
@Madhur_Gupta · 4:23
They mentioned that one of the savers which needs to be done to a deity or temple deity is through dance, which these women used to provide with the Sava, right? So they were not just meant for the king or the courtiers or the princes to feast upon, but they were also part of a deeply spiritual practice that India used to have
I think I'll leave you with one final question. Whatever many of us do know about the wives or courtesans comes from how we saw them being portrayed in some older Hindi movies. Back then, I think it was very common to show the courtesan or the Devadasi waiting for the hero to come and rescue her. But in reality, these strong, capable, self made women were not seeking redemption or awaiting their savior. So what are your thoughts on such stereotypical representation of the courtesan in popular culture?
madhur gupta
@Madhur_Gupta · 2:47
Today, if you are in a relationship which goes on for several years and if it breaks off in time, we do get another partner or we do fall in love again. And so did these cortisans. So this classification of cortisans being lose women or they were damsels in distress, somebody who needed to be saved is a misconception. They were very strong, they were very resilient and they were very independent. They actually took care of their partners