During the rule of the Nawabs of Awadh, courtesans commanded importance and influence in the court and in the houses of nobility of Lucknow. Things changed with the colonial annexation of Awadh and the Ghadar or the Mutiny of 1857. Courtesans came under scrutiny of the British and were penalised for their role during the mutiny as supporters of the rebellion. (While they were patently non-combatants, they provided money and shelter to the rebels.) The profession became debased, and the courtesans ended up as common prostitutes. At our Online Talk #MoreThanMujras, historian Veena Talwar Oldenburg presents the perspective of the courtesans, rather than that of their male clientele, based on her interactions with them and their first-hand accounts.

About the speaker:

Veena Talwar Oldenburg was born and educated in Lucknow and still has her ancestral home there. She moved to the United States in 1970 and stayed on after her PhD in history to teach in New York. She is currently a Professor of History at Baruch College and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has written several scholarly articles and published two books, The Making of Colonial Lucknow, 1856-1877 (University of Princeton Press) and Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime (Oxford University Press, New York).