Historically, a tawaif was a courtesan who catered to the Muslim nobility of South Asia, particularly during the Mughal era. They were skilled singers (North Indian classical music), dancers (usually Kathak), and poets (Urdu poetry). They were generally highly educated and refined. High-class tawaifs could often pick and choose between the best of their suitors. A courtesan in mid-16th century usage was a high-class prostitute or mistress, especially one associated with rich, powerful, or upper-class men who provided luxuries and status in exchange for her services. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ... The Mughal Empire (alternative spelling Mogul, which is the origin of the word Mogul) of India was founded by Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. ... Dark green region marks the approximate extent of northern India while the regions marked as light green lies within the sphere of north Indian influence. ... Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) generally refers to movement used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting. ... Stamp issued in honour of Kathak Kathak is one of the classical dance forms of India (originally from North India), and the national dance of Pakistan. ... Urdu poetry (Urdu: اردو شاعری, Urdu Shayari) is one of the most dominant and prominent poetries of times and has many different colours & types. ...

The tawaif is celebrated in the Bollywood films Pakeezah (1972), Umrao Jaan (1981), Devdas (2002), and Umrao Jaan (2006 film) (2006), remake of the 1981 original version. Today, the term in Urdu has undergone semantic pejoration and is almost synonymous with prostitute. Bollywood (Hindi: , Urdu: ) is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India. ... Pakeezah (पाक़ीज़ा, lit. ... Umrao Jaan (Urdu: امراؤ جان, Hindi: उमराव जान) is a Bollywood film released in 1981. ... Devdas (Bengali: Debdash; Hindi: देवदास; Urdu: دیوداس) (also called Debdas) (1917) is a Bengali novella by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. ... Umrao Jaan (Urdu: امراؤ جان, Hindi: उमराव जान) is a Bollywood film released on November 3, 2006, starring Aishwarya Rai as the famous courtesan. ... Urdu ( , , trans. ... In diachronic (or historical) linguistics, semantic change is a change in one of the meanings of a word. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ...

See also

• Hira Mandi