Dancing With Power: Courtesans As Cultural Patrons in Mughal and Deccan Courts

Abstract

This research explores the multifaceted role of courtesans as cultural patrons and knowledge producers in the Mughal and Deccan courts between the 16th and 19th centuries. Moving beyond their traditional portrayal as mere performers or entertainers, this study repositions courtesans, particularly tawaifs and high-ranking court dancers, as influential figures within the socio-cultural and intellectual fabric of Indo-Islamic courts. By examining their patronage of poetry, music, dance, and literature, this work argues that courtesans played a crucial role as key transmitters of refined aesthetics (tehzeeb), artistic traditions, and linguistic innovations, particularly in Urdu and Persian. This research critically analyses how courtesans occupied a unique space at the intersection of gender, power, and cultural capital. It examines how these women leveraged their aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional labour to navigate and influence courtly politics, elite patronage networks, and public life. Drawing upon tazkiras, court chronicles, poetry, and colonial accounts, the study also interrogates archival silences and gendered erasures in historical narratives. Employing a feminist and cultural historical methodology, this research challenges Orientalist and colonial frameworks that reduced courtesans to symbols of moral decay, instead highlighting their agency as patrons, educators, and cultural diplomats. The present study aims to recover the complex identities of courtesans as active participants in the shaping of courtly culture, aesthetic sensibilities, and literary history.