Umrao Jaan Ada by Mirza Mohammad Hadi Ruswa

ISBN: 8172235070
Cover price: Rs. 295
Extent: 288 pages
Publishers: HarperCollins India

Translated from the Urdu by Khushwant Singh

Official Site for J.P. Dutta's "Umrao Jaan" the movie.


One evening in 1905, renowned Urdu poet Mirza Mohammed Hadi Ruswa was at a poetry evening with his friends when they heard someone say "wah,wah" ( urdu, to express appreciation at the recitation of a poem or ghazal) to a couplet that Ruswa had recited. Upon investigation they found that the voice belonged to none other than Umrao Jaan a famed courtesan of the early 20th century in the Princely state of Lucknow. She was retired and happened to be staying in an adjoining apartment. Ruswa persuaded the aging beauty to join them in reciting verses, where the last lines of one of her verses went something like this:

Who will listen to the tale of

my woeful heart?

Far and wide have I wandered on

the face of this earth

And I have much to impart.

Ruswa was intrigued, he asked Umrao Jaan if she would be willing to tell him her life story...she agreed and thus "Umrao Jaan Ada" ,perhaps the first great modern Urdu novel ,
was born. THe version I read has been ably translated from the Urdu by Khushwant Singh.

The Courtesan:



Umrao Jaan practiced her trade somewhere in the middle half of the 19th-century in Lucknow. Like the Geisha of 19th-century Japan, she was well-versed in the arts (conversation, dance,poetry, literature etc.) and young nawabs (the sons of princes) were sent to these courtesans to learn all that a young aristocrat needs to know. For the most part, courtesans were respected but because they also handed out sexual favors to clients who paid generously, they were not considered to be part of the "respectable" Muslim class.


The Book:

The book is written in first person, to perhaps create the illusion of an autobiography . The author also employs a dialogue narrative where the courtesan and author, both grown old, reminisce, flirt with one another and quote ample verses from various ghazals (poems).

We get to read about Umrao's life right from the time she was kidnapped as a child and sold to a "kotha" house up until the time she meets the poet Mirza Ruswa. The descriptions of Nawabi Lucknow, the palatial, "haveli-type" houses, the beautiful Begums, the handsome Nawabs, the lavish style with which they lived, while not as beautiful or as evocative as Kyoto, Japan in Arthur Golden's 'Memoirs of a Geisha" are still very interesting to read .



Despite reserving some harsh words for others in her profession I thought Ruswa treats Umrao with a lot of empathy in the book, making her out to be a strong woman, rather than a "fallen" one. The fact that he lets her tell her own story and present her unique opinions on love, men, women, marriage etc. has made this a very strong female narrative and the last few chapters of the book where Umrao discusses age and beauty; the courtesan and love; the need for younger men by older women; men vs. women in love, all make for very profound reading and is probably the most powerful part of the book. However, as one other reviewer opined, the rest of the novel reads more like a Balzac novel with its details of traveling, descriptions of households, the finery ofclothes and decoration etc.

This novel will probably not hold everyone's interest, but if the position of women amidst a patriarchal, feudal society interests you, this is the book for you.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has seen either or both the "Umrao Jaan" movies - what did you think of them?