Women Performers and Cultural Life in Peshawar during Maharaja Ranjit Singh Era

Abstract

Aim of the Study, Peshawar is an important city of cultural interaction of various nations and groups, having variety of languages, religion, ethnicity and literature. Despite the fact that this city had gained much importance under Mughals but, contrary to Lahore, Delhi and Agra, it lacked in the activities of performing arts. The development of arts and crafts depends upon the growth of civilization which this district lacked in past times.

Methodology: This is qualitative research and comparative-historical has been adapted to conduct it. The document analysis is also applied to verify the contents of documents. The information contained in data of one nature is compared and analyzed with the information available in data of other nature.

Findings: The performing female community of Peshawar valley was set up during Sikh era. It was the strict attitude of Sikh rulers, especially the Governor Abitabile who helped these female performers to settle their despite opposition from local side. The British maintained their settlement during their rule for social and cultural purposes as courtesans.

Conclusion: Most of such female performers of Peshawar were brought from Lahore or Punjab. In this sense, the origin of these courtesans of both cities was same. Maharaja and his courtiers invited, bought and sold thousands of females as performing courtesans.