Umrao Jan Ada: Courtesan of Lucknow (Mirza Mohammad Hadi Ruswa)

First published more than a hundred years ago, Umrao Jan Ada tells the story of a Lucknawi courtesan, a woman of great charm with a reputation as a poet and singer. The novel re-creates the gracious ambience of old Lucknow and takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the palaces of wealthy nawabs, the hideouts of colourful vagabonds to the luxurious abodes of the city's courtesans. It captures the culture and decadence of a way of life that has now vanished for ever.

About the Author:

Khushwant Singh and M. A. Hussaini's translation preserves the full flavour of the original narrative of one of the first Urdu prose writings.

From the Preface:

In the preface to the novel Umrao Jan Ada, Mirza Mohammad Hadi Ruswa recounts how he came to write the story of the courtesan of Lucknow in the following words:

About ten years ago a friend of mine, Munshi Ahmad Husain, who lived somewhere near Delhi paid a visit to Lucknow and rented an upper storey flat in the Chowk. Here a party of friends used to meet in the evenings and pass a few pleasant hours reciting and discussing poetry.

The apartment next to Munshi Ahmad Husain's was occupied by a courtesan whose ways were quite different from those of other women of her profession. She was never to be seen on her balcony nor was known to receive any visitors. The windows of her apartment were draped with heavy curtains and the door opening on the main street was always bolted-her servants used the back entrance. There was a window connecting this apartment to Munshi Ahmad Husain's but this was also kept shut and secured by an iron bar twisted in the shape of a hoop. Sometimes at night we could hear the voice of a woman singing: that was the only indication that someone lived in the apartment.

One evening, we were as usual reciting ghazals. I recited a couplet, and a soft voice in the neighbouring apartment exclaimed "Wah, Wah!" This made us very curious. Munshi Sahib called out loudly: "It is no good applauding a poet in this manner; if you are fond of poetry why not honour us with your presence?" There was no answer, so we resumed our recitation.

Shortly afterwards, a maid-servant came in and asked, "Which of you gentlemen is Mirza Ruswa?" My friends pointed to me. "Will you please oblige my mistress by having a word with her?"

She asked.

"May I know who is your mistress?"

"Pardon me, Sir, but I am not allowed to divulge her identity."

My friends started teasing me; "You must have known her quite well at some time or the other, otherwise how could she invite you in this manner?" I was still scratching my head trying to place this lady when the maidservant said, "My mistress knows you quite well, Sir. That is why she desires you to visit her."

I had no choice and accompanied the maid to the next apartment.

The lady turned out to be Umrao Jan whom Ruswa had know well many years before. After the inevitable polite preliminaries, he persuaded her to join a sitting on the terrace of Munshi Ahmad Husain's apartment. This is described by Ruswa in the following words.

It was a moonlit night in summer Munshi Sahib had the terrace sprinkled with water to make it cool. Carpets had been spread on the floor and covered with white sheets. Surahis fresh from the potters', fragrant with a smell of earth and fresh water, were lined up on the parapet. The Pan leaves had been delicately scented. The stems of hookahs had garlands of flowers twined round them and their smoke pervaded the atmosphere like heady incense. The only light besides that of the moon was a candle flickering in a glass shade, the shama which was placed in front of the poet whose turn it was to recite.

Accurate details of the life of Mirza Mohammad Ruswa are not available and there are material contraindications between the accounts given by his contemporaries. Ruswa himself mentions that his ancestors came from Persia and that his great-grandfather became an adjutant in the army of the Nawab of Oudh.

The street in which the family home was situated is to this day known as Ajitun Ki Gali (Adjutant's Lane). He has not much to say of his grandfather and father except that they were keenly interested in arithmetic and astronomy.

Ruswa was born in 1857 (the year of Mutiny) in the city of Lucknow where he also received his education. His parents died when he was sixteen and he became a ward of his maternal uncle, who relieved him of much of his inheritance. A man who befriended Ruswa was one Haider Bakhsh, a famous calligraphist of his day he not only taught Ruswa the art of penmanship but also gave him money when he was in need. (Haider Bakhsh made a considerable fortune by counterfeiting revenue stamps. He was arrested and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment). Amongst many people who helped Ruswa in his writing career was the famous Urdu poet 'Dabeer'.

Ruswa studied at home and passed his matriculation and Munshi Fazil examinations. Thereafter he took an Overseers diploma from the Thomason Engineering School, Roorkee. For some time he was employed in the railway in laying tracks in Baluchistan. All through these years, he continued to write and study; his passions were chemistry, alchemy and astronomy. After a short term in Government service he resigned returned to Lucknow, to teach and to write. He got a job as a teacher in the Local Mission School and then as a lecturer at the Christian College where he taught mathematics, science, philosophy and Persian. He left Lucknow for Hyderabad and worked in the Bureau of Translation of the Osmania University for a year. He returned to Osmania again n his seventies and died of typhoid fever on 21 October 1931.

Ruswa's first work was published in 1887 when he was thirty years old. This was a long poem recounting the romantic tale of Leila and Majnun. It was not well received. (His versification was amateurish, his wit unwitty, his satire stale and flat.) Portions of the work were condemned by critics as commonplace and vulgar. The criticism did not dampen Ruswa's ardour to write poetry: he continued to compose mediocre verse to the end of his days.

Note on Some Historical Personages in the Novel:

BAHU BEGUM (d. 1794): Wife of the second ruler of Oudh, Nawab Shuja-ud-Dowla. Both husband and wife were buried at Faizabad.

BEGUM MALIKA KISHWAR: Mother of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. She went to the English with her younger son, Prince Sikandar Hasmat, to plead for restoration of the monarchy in Oudh. Died in Paris in 1857.

NAWAB WAJID ALI SHAH: The last ruler of Oudh was born in 1822, became ruler in 1847, was forced by the British to abdicate in 1856. He died in Calcutta in 1877.

PRINCE MIRZA SIKANDAR HASHMAT: Younger brother of Wajid Ali Shah. Went with his mother to the English to plead for restoration of the monarchy in Oudh. Died in Paris in 1858.

PRINCE MIRZA BIRJEES QADR: A son of Wajid Ali Shah, was proclaimed King of Oudh during the revolt of 1857. As he was a minor at that time, his mother, Hazrat Mahal, led the forces fighting the British.