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Monday, February 23, 2026
TopicGauhar Jaan

Topic: Gauhar Jaan

Gauhar Jaan to Azurie, women led India’s cultural revolution—this Delhi exhibit celebrates them

Tina Das -
‘Pathbreakers 2.0’, on display till 26 April at Delhi’s IHC, delves into the lives of India’s earliest women artistes who broke the glass ceiling in their respective fields.

Tawaifs weren’t just into art and culture. Their role in Independence remains forgotten

Aditi Narayani -
When the British Raj encountered Tawaifs—women with agency and autonomy—they were confounded and threatened, unable to categorise this community within their social divisions.

Janki Bai, singer disfigured by 56 stab wounds sold more records than her contemporaries

Vikram Sampath -
Janki Bai not only trained in music and dance, but also learnt English, Sanskrit and Persian, and wrote a collection of Urdu poetry.

Bangalore Nagarathnamma, the singer who took to Sanskrit and feminism in 19th Century India

Vikram Sampath -
European record companies participated with artists like Nagarathnamma, a devadasi, at a time Indian society hounded them in name of morality.

Hindustani vocalist Abdul Karim Khan’s music has special relevance in these communal times

Vikram Sampath -
Listening to Abdul Karim Khan at the age of 11, Bhimsen Joshi is said to have made up his mind that this was how real music ought to be.

Salem Godavari, Carnatic vocalist who fought superstitions to record erotic compositions

Vikram Sampath -
Salem Godavari is a forgotten footnote and sadly evokes no memory in Carnatic musicians or connoisseurs.

Gauhar Jaan, India’s first record artist, took Rs 3,000 a session & threw parties for her cat

Vikram Sampath -
Gramophone’s search for ‘native’ voices in 1900s brought it to India’s Gauhar Jaan, who would go on to have 600 records to her name.

On Camera

YourTurn

Opinion

Nick Jonas wearing a mangalsutra is validation for many Indians. He’s our favourite jiju

Stela Dey -
Nick Jonas is not trying to modernise the mangalsutra, but his gesture shows that choices can be equal. If commitment must be flaunted, it need not be gendered.

Patel’s 1950 letter to Nehru: Find no legal power to deal with Press or men like Syama Prasad

Everyone’s ‘damaged’ in modern dating. Love will soon be called a mental illness

Economy

In the West, there’s anxiety. In India, optimism—Rishi Sunak says India poised to be leader in AI

Vrinda Tulsian -
On Wednesday, the former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was speaking in New Delhi at a Carnegie & Observer Research Foundation event on AI.

Defence

Suspected brake failure leads to Tejas accident after landing, airframe likely to be written off

Snehesh Alex Philip -
The IAF, so far, remains mum on this accident which has led to grounding of the fleet for safety checks.

National Interest

No country is ever fully sovereign. Cold War era taught India its real meaning

Shekhar Gupta -
India’s fraught neighbourhood places multiple constraints on its strategic choices. It leaves no time to take a deep breath, lean back and reset.

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