The Unheard Secrets

In ancient times, cosmetics were used not just for enhancing outer beauty, but to attain punya , ayush , aarogyam and anandam . Do you know that cosmetology, that is, the skill of using cosmetics, has always been a part of our culture. This ' chatushashti ' art forms like painting, dance, drama, music and sculptures is a part of 64 arts ( chausath kala) which were used to be practised since ancient times. It is believed that the ancient science of cosmetology was born in Egypt and India. Things related to cosmetology, were used during the Indus Valley Civilisation as well. In those times, both women and men were equally conscious about  their appearances. In the timeframe of Indus valley civilisation, kohl (kajal) was applied on the eyelashes and below the eyebrows. During those times, the method of preparing kajal was quite natural. Aside from its asthetic appeal, kajal was originally worn as a form of protection for the eye. The belief was that darkening around the lids cou...

I GUESS YOU HEARD IT RIGHT. HEARING THE WORD ' TAWAIF ' WOULD DEFINITIELY STRIKE A PICTURE OF SHAMA LIT KOTHAS, POT BELLIED MERCHANTS WITH THEIR MOUTHS STUFFED WITH PAAN THROWING AWAY MONEY , THE SCENT OF ALCHOHOL AND OPIUM FILLING IN THE ROOM, DANCERS DRESSED UP IN HEAVY ATTIRE....FRANKLY SPEAKING, BOLLYWOOD HAS RUINED IT ALL. GOING BACK TO THE COLONIAL AND PRE-COLONIAL ERA, THESE FORGOTTEN LEGENDS WERE NOT ONLY ACTED AS SPIES, BUT WERE ONE OF THE HIGHEST TAX PAYERS OF LUCKNOW. Tawaif’ was once a word that people used to not shy away from. Considered as an authority on etiquette, courtesans were the epitome of adab, and custodian of etiquettes and poise, who apart from contributing to music, dance, theatre, and the Urdu literary tradition, went on to rule the empires, lead armies, work as spies and even redefined the socio-political discourse in many ways.                                 ...

And just like our society... Unfortunately History took our women, their valour, their courage...FOR GRANTED. There is no doubt that their sacrifices and their pain has been glorified time and again, undermining their heroic deeds, their tales of bravery and their participation which changed the course of history. On this International Women's Day, lets celebrate these 'she'roes and their courage...which gradually got hidden within the test of time. Rani Abbakka Chowta was the first Tuluva Queen of Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th century. For her bravery, she came to be known as Abhaya Rani (The fearless queen). She was also one of the earliest Indians to fight colonialism and is sometimes regarded as the 'first woman freedom fighter of India'. Abbakka is portrayed as dark and good looking, always dressed in simple clothes like a commoner. She is portrayed as a caring queen who worked late into the night dispensing justice. Legends a...

The pandemic has ensured that this year’s Durga Puja festivities will be remembered, but sadly for being the most low-key celebration in decades. As Bengalis mourn the scaling down of the largest festival in their year, it’s worth asking how worshipping the Goddess acquired this special place in their hearts. Until as recently as the late 1700s, Durga Puja in Bengal was not a festival of the masses. The puja was restricted to the houses of rajas and zamindars. Some commoners had access to the pujas, but only as visitors, by invitation. Durga Puja was essentially a celebration of the rich and the powerful. The main reason for this was that the Puja was an expensive affair. It ran for four days and involved numerous rituals that were impossible for the common man to sustain financially. It was an incident in a nondescript village in the Hooghly region that turned the tide. Guptipara, about 100 km from Kolkata, is the reason that Durga Puja became democratised. In ...

This is the lesser-known story of three brothers and their adopted city – of how they made music in the narrow lanes of a big city, and made history by giving Hindustani classical music a home in Bombay. It is inconceivable then, at that point, that Bombay, an undisputedly cosmopolitan city with determinedly metropolitan roots, got home to a gharana of Hindustani traditional music. While there was no deficiency of popular entertainment, Bombay likewise willingly volunteered to belittle traditional music. As the British extended their compass for an area and benefit, a few self-governing imperial courts disintegrated, and their entertainers lost their support. Performers started to visit the city of Bombay, and some remained to make it home. Along these lines, around the year 1870, three siblings of impeccable family – Nazim, Chajju and Khadim Hussain Ali Khan, the children of Ustad Dilawar Hussain Khan – chose to move to Bombay from Bijnaur close to Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. ...

The pen is to poetry, what the feet is to dance; Poetry is an integrated form of art, and classical dance is described as visual poetry – the foremost amalgamation of art which has been characterized by the Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni. Praised as the prime treatise of performing arts, Natya Shastra is a text that covers almost all aspects of performances and has also been vastly accepted beyond geographical boundaries.  The Natyashastra is the world's oldest treatise on performing arts. It is more than 2,500 years old. This encyclopedic work on art by Bharata  muni  is divided into 36 chapters and contains more than 6,000 verses. This is how Bharata narrates it thus: At the end of the sata yuga  and at the on-set of the  Tretayuga , people on earth got addicted to base sentiments such as excessive desire, greed, jealousy, and anger and found their state of happiness mixed with sorrow. So the  deva s, with Indra leading...

Emerging   from   the undergrowth in a  town   in North Bihar are   the  choice  and   frequenting stays   of a  failed to remember regal capital. However, these are no customary vestiges. The superb complex, which incorporates an amazing royal residence, a secretariat, other authoritative structures and numerous sanctuaries, flaunts fluted columns, tall pilasters, resplendent domes, complicatedly cut patios and scalloped curves planned in particularly European style yet mixed with Indian components. Rajnagar was  the seat of the Maharaja of Raj Darbhanga, in present-day Madhubani locale in Bihar. Found 50 km away from Darbhanga town and 190 km from Patna, this regal  capital was plainly worked with much love and intricate details. Developed in the mid twentieth century by a Maharaja who encircle himself with plushness, Rajnagar is presently just a sorry excuse for its self, a considerable lot of its designs diminis...