William Dalrymple, ‘White
Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India‘, 2002:
“...‘Nautch parties and mehfils in Hyderabad at this period,
as in Delhi and Lucknow, tended to be held outside at night in the illuminated
garden courtyards of the great palaces. Some of the most alluring descriptions
of such parties are given by Farzand Begum’s grandfather, Dargah Quli Khan, who
writes how, in the evenings, the courtyards are swept and sprinkled with
water and colourful carpets are spread on a raised platform. Then the
established poets start the recitation of ghazals … [sometimes] shamiana tents
are erected … Dancers entertain the people and good looking women gather in
such large numbers that the mere sight of them appeases the appetite, although
for the lecherous this does not suffice. The illumination of the lamps and
candles is akin to the light in the Valley of Tur. The omrahs occupy a
separate side which is adorned with most beautiful carpets. They are
courteously offered fruits and other delicacies along with perfume. Those
desirous of wine are also provided with it … The sounds emanating from the bow
on the strings of the sarangi are like arrows piercing the heart … The music
makes people listless with ecstasy and the sounds of appreciation rend the air
…”
कै विलास सारंगांना काफ्का खूप आवडायचे...एक मानदंडच होते काफ्का त्यांच्यासाठी...काफ्का म्हणजे वास्तव आणि अद्भुताचे मिश्रण करणारा महान कलावंत...
अद्भुताचे वावडे भारतीयांना कधीच नव्हते...म्हणून भारतीय परंपरेला जवळचा पण ...दुर्दैवाने मराठी लेखकांनी / टीकाकारांनी / वाचकांनी कित्येक दशके दुर्लक्षिलेला....
रायनर स्टॅक (Reiner Stach) यांचे फ्रान्झ काफ्कांचे त्रिखंडात्मक नावाजलेले चरित्र या शतकात प्रसिद्ध झाले.
स्टॅक लिहतात:
"...Since very few people at that time had seen remote
continents for themselves, exoticism was an essential component of the early
entertainment industry; but beyond the element of surprise and of foreignness,
Kafka was eager to immerse himself in images of nonwhite people and foreign
cultures, and he could spend hours listening to people talk about Palestine,
Japan, or America, as though taking solace in the fact that a completely
different life on this planet was not just the stuff of dreams, but a reality. The
“tribal dances,” Kafka later wrote to Felice Bauer, made more sense to him than
the annoying singing and hand-clapping his father used to entertain a
grandchild. He meant what he was writing: The exotic opened his eyes to
magnificent and entertaining utopian vistas.
“What the French woman can do / I can do too. / There’s not
much to it—that’s for sure / They just have that French allure / That’s why
they have more luck. / But the woman from Vienna does show some pluck.” More
popular tune than chanson, warbled with skirts raised high and flicked back and
forth, legs kicking way up. Brod dubbed the performance “the wisdom of the
cabaret”; it was deemed suitable for minors and thus also for women.
Chantant, variété, cabaret—a series of chiefly French terms
were applied to the entertainment spots at which things of that sort were
offered, and the advertisements that appeared in the Prague newspapers on a
daily basis indicate an astonishing kaleidoscope of performances. There were
chansonettes with highly trained voices alongside buffoons, stand-up comedians,
and brash emcees; there were satirical and “spicy” scenes; women performing
“Indian” dances and exotic-looking singers; striptease acts that were
advertised as “veil dances”; one-act vaudeville-style operettas; Japanese
performers—and on occasion one could also marvel at Viennese celebrities such
as the chansonette Mela Mars (a member of the art nouveau cabaret known as Die
Hölle [“Hell”]) or the actor and trend-setting cabarettist Egon Friedell, whose
posters never failed to mention that he held a doctorate. “Generally speaking,
I quite appreciate these sorts of things,” Kafka wrote to Felice Bauer, “I
believe I grasp them from deep down, from incalculably deep down, and enjoy
them with a racing heart.”..."
... आणि मॅक्स ब्रॉड (Max Brod) ना लिहलेल्या १६ डिसेंबर १९०६च्या एका पत्रात काफ्का लिहतात:
"My dear Max,
When are we going to the Indian dancing girl, since the
other young woman has escaped us, her aunt for the present being stronger than
her talent.
Franz"
Dancing girl Malageer
(courtesy: William Dalrymple's another book 'The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857', 2006)
मला ते 'aunt' वाचून हसू आले .... भारतीय परफॉर्म करणारी मुलगी म्हणजे aunt पाहिजेच!
गाजलेल्या खालील चित्रात, सगळ्यात डावीकडे बसलेल्या, इतर पाच नाचणाऱ्या मुलींच्या aunt असाव्यात ...
गाजलेल्या खालील चित्रात, सगळ्यात डावीकडे बसलेल्या, इतर पाच नाचणाऱ्या मुलींच्या aunt असाव्यात ...
'A Group of Courtesans', sometime 1800-1825
Artist: possibly
Ghulam Ali Khan
courtesy: B. N. Goswamy's 'The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101
Great Works 1100-1900', 2014
