Mujra

Mujra is a dance performance by women in a format that emerged in Mughal Empire, where the elite class and local rulers of the society (often connected to the Mughal emperor's court) used to enjoy and provide patronage for it.[1] According to the Pakistani national daily the Dawn, the Heera Mandi Red-light area in Lahore is a centre for Mujra since 15th and 16th centuries Mughal rule.[2]

Background and history

It also includes poems from other Mughal periods like the emperors from Akbar to Bahadur Shah Zafar's ruling periods.[3] Mujra was a respected dance form during mughal era. According to Pakistani film maker Saad Khan, the director of Showgirls of Pakistan, “Mujra dancers were high taxpayers to the Mughal Empire, they had wealth and land".[4]

In Lahore, Mughal empire's Heera Mandi neighbourhood, the profession was a cross between art and exotic dance, with the performers often serving as dancers amongst Mughal royalty or wealthy patrons. "The wealthy even sent their sons to the salons of tawaifs, high-class dancers that have been likened to Japanese geishas, to study etiquette."[2][5]

As a musical genre, mujras historically reconstruct an aesthetic culture of sixteenth-to-nineteenth-century South Asia in which heightened musical and dance entertainment afforded a medium for exchange between one woman and many men — what ethnomusicologist Regula Qureshi calls, "an asymmetry of power that is tempered with gentility."

Present day

Modern Mujra dancers perform at events like weddings, birthday and bachelor parties in countries where traditional Mughal culture is prevalent, such as Pakistan. To a lesser extent, dancers in Pakistan often perform a modern form of mujra along with popular local music.[6][5]

Dawn newspaper, Karachi, describes Lahore's Heera Mandi area as, "Pakistan's oldest red light district was for centuries, a hub of traditional erotic dancers, musicians and prostitutes."[2]

Most women hope for an international dance career or South Asian dance career at a film studio.

Mujra in the Marathi and Hindi-Urdu languages means:

  • Payment of respects
  • Musical performance by a dancing-girl
  • To salute deferentially

A documentary about mujra dancers called Showgirls of Pakistan was released globally in 2021. It is a feature-length documentary directed by Pakistani film maker Saad Khan.[4]

In Pakistan's Lollywood films like Anjuman (1970), one can see many mujra dances being performed before the movie is over[7] while in Pakistani dramas such as Deewar-e-Shab (2019) and Umrao Jan Ada (2003), there were also several Mujra performances.

See also

Further reading

References
  1. Elahi Zaheer, Ehsan. Exploring Pakistani Culture, Tradition, Diversity, and Modernity. ISBN 9798861193757.
  2. 'How Facebook is killing Lahore's Heera Mandi' on Dawn (newspaper) Published 23 August 2016, Retrieved 2 October 2019
  3. Sanjoy Hazarika (6 October 1985). "THE RICHES OF MOGUL INDIA BRING A DYNASTY TO LIFE". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  4. Mustefa, Zab (20 April 2021). "'Showgirls of Pakistan' Doesn't Need Your Victim Narrative". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  5. Soumya Rao (15 May 2019). "Mughal-era courtesans are the unsung heroes of India's freedom struggle". Quartz India. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  6. John Caldwell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, , Southeast Review of Asian Studies Volume 32 (2010), pp. 120-8, Retrieved 2 February 2017
  7. Watch 'Mujra dance' being performed in Pakistani film Anjuman (1970 film) on YouTube Retrieved 2 October 2019
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