Chawri Bazar
Historic bazaar where a tawaif entertainment district became a wholesale paper and brass trade.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Chawri Bazar in Old Delhi opens with its evenings as a district of tawaifs, the wealthy performer-courtesans whose Kathak, Hindustani music and Urdu poetry drew nobles up the stairs of the kothas through the Mughal era. It traces the lane's role as a place where disputes were settled and deals struck, the very meaning behind its name, before the Indian Rebellion of 1857 reshapes the street below. A verse by the poet Maulana Rasakh once captured this street, worth listening for as you walk it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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