JADDAN BAI: Nainon se Naina Milaaye, Are Haan re Pardesiya…

Jaddanbai Hussain was born around 1892 to Miajaan and Daleepabai, one of chilbila, Meja Allahabad’s most renowned courtesans. Her mother Daleepabai used to be known as Dilipa Devi and was from a Hindu Brahmin family before being abducted as a child by a wandering group of people who trained and managed tawaifs. She was thoroughly groomed and went on to be very successful in this profession, working as a singer and dancer. Her managers then arranged her into a marriage with a Sarangi player employed by the troupe whom her mother only knew as Miyan Jaan. Later on, it is speculated that Daleepabai began a relationship with a married lawyer with the approval of her husband who lived in the same haveli as her. Miyan Jaan died when she was five. Jaddanbai moved to the city and became a singer but had difficulty due to her lack of formal training. She later approached Shrimant Ganpat Rao (Bhaiya Saheb Scindia) of Calcutta and became his student. Shrimant Ganpat Rao died in 1920 while she was still a student, so