Delhi - Those Times and Lives - 8

(Continued excerpts from William Dalrymple's The Last Mughal)

If Zafar wanted an early night - which meant one that ended around midnight - singers might be admitted to his bedchamber, where they would sing behind screens, while his masseuses worked on his head and feet, and the Abyssinian guards took their place at his door...Sometimes it is clear that such singers came out from behind the bedroom screens: one of Zafar's last marriages was to a singing girl named Man Bai, who became known as Akbar Mahal, following her wedding in 1847, when Zafar was seventy-two.

Dancing girl Piari Jan
(photo taken from the book)

On such nights, when Zafar retired relatively early, many of the princes would head out in to the town as things began to wind down in the Fort. Some might have assignations in the kothis of the Chawri Bazar, where lights and the movement of dancing could be seen behind the lattices of the upper floors, and the sounds of tabla and singing could be heard as far away as Chandni Chowk. 'The women deck themselves in finery', noted one visitor, 'and position themselves at vantage points to attract the attention of men, either directly or through pimps. An atmosphere of lust and debauchery prevails here and the people gather at night and indulge themselves.'
The beauty and coquettishness of Delhi's courtesans were famous; people still talked of the celebrated courtesan Ad Begum of a century earlier, who would famously turn up stark naked at parties, but so cleverly painted that no one would notice: 'she decorates her legs with beautiful drawings in the style of pyjamas instead of actually wearing them; in place of the cuffs she draws flowers and petals in ink exactly as is found in the finest cloth of the Rum'. Her great rival, Nur Bai, was said to be so popular that every night the elephants of the great Mughal umrah completely blocked the narrow lanes outside her house, yet even the most senior nobles had 'to send a large sum of money to have her admit them...whoever gets enamoured of her gets sucked in to the whirlpool of her demands and brings ruin in on his house...but the pleasure of her company can only be had as long as one is in possession of riches to bestow on her.'
(next: the mushairas of Delhi)

Also in the series:
Delhi - Those Times and Lives - 1
Delhi - Those Times and Lives - 2
Delhi - Those Times and Lives - 3
Delhi - Those Times and Lives - 4
Delhi - Those Times and Lives - 5
Delhi - Those Times and Lives - 6
Delhi - Those Times and Lives - 7