The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-11-29
THE NAUTcH GIRLS OF INDIA.
Rise In the Social Scale Of These
Beautiful and Graceful Women.

About thirty years ago, when / visit
ed the Vale OF Kashmir, l was invited
by the Maharajah TO a dinner party,
and as / was in company with party
OF English ladies | wrote to ask the
British Resident in Sirangar If there
would be a nautch. | received re.
ply that there would be "a nautch be-
fore dinner, nautch during dinner.
and nautch after dinner" The invi.
tation was therefore declined, for in
those days the nautch was not consid-
cred respectable.
But quarter of century has work
ed marvellous change even in this
respect. Just as the geisha girl of
Japan has found her place on the
American and English stage, the
nautch girl of India is rising rapidly
in the social scale. Gauhar Jan, the
beautiful nautch girl of Calcutta, was
paid $4,000 for her entertainment in
singing and dancing at the marriage
ceremony of rich merchant in Bonn.
bay recently, and she afterward gave
her services gratuitously in aid of the
Lady Northcote Hindu Orphanage
when the collection amounted 10 a sum
equal to $4,000 At the close of the en-
tertainment a distinguished native no.
bleman pinned medal on her breast.
From time immemorial the nautch
girl of India, like the geisha of Japan,
has been a courtesan whose very pres
ence in an assembly was supposed to
lower its moral standard. But now it
appears that Bib Gauhar Jan of Cal
cutta Is married lady of good repu-
tation; and it Is not improbable that
she will soon take her place on the
vaudeville stage of London and New
York. She is not only graceful, artis-
tic and winsome in the movements OF
her body, but her voice is sweet and
she renders the "bajans" of native mu.
sic with remarkable effect. But while
European society is getting accustom-
ed TO her public appearance, some Of
the best clements OF native society
protest. The head of the Moslem col
lege at Aligarh respectfully declined
her aid on the part of that scholarly
institution. For dancing and singing
are forbidden by the Prophet, although
they form religious ceremony among
the sufis of Persia and the moulavies
of Cairo.
The nautch girls Of India are divided
into six classes, the Baswi Of the Mar
athi, who were dedicated to the servic-
es of the gods, the Bhavin of the An
cient Hindus, who in the vedic age
were women who were dedicated in
their childhood to the service of the
temple, the Kanchani Mohammedan
dancing girls; the Mahari, the low
caste dancing girl of the Deccan; the
Ramjani, the professional beauty, and
the Naikan the deputy" as the name
implies, of the chief lady of the harem,
who dances to please and entertain the
master of the house.
The nautch girl is always modestly
draped, but she is gorgeously be-
spangled with jewels. Gold bangles
adorn her ankles and wrists, heavy
rings beautify not only her fingers but
her ears and her nose, rich jewelled
necklaces embrace her neck, and the
value of these jewels very often ex-
French actress. For at every enter
tainment given. mobiles and princes add
considerably to the stock of jewelry
of the nautch girl.
Not infrequently the nautch girl
contracts a legal marriage, in which
case she seldom fails to, become the
ruling spirit of the household, to the
chagrin and CONSERVATION of all the
other lawful wives. Letters from In
dia confirm the statement of the Daily
Telegraph as to the exceeding beauty
of Gauhar Jan and the universal ap
plause given to her public appearance
es. All this marks a new era in the
social system Of India, both native and
Observation-Disclosures in the New
York Sun.