Prostitution is legal in India. A tawaif was a highly sophisticated courtesan who catered to the nobility of India, particularly during the Mughal era. The tawaifs excelled in and contributed to music, dance mujra , theatre, and the Urdu literary tradition, [8] and were considered an authority on etiquette. Tawaifs were largely a North Indian institution central to Mughal court culture from the 16th century onwards [9] and became even more prominent with the weakening of Mughal rule in the midth century.
Goa was a colony in Portuguese India set up in the early 16th century, and this Portuguese stronghold contained a community of Portuguese slaves. During the late 16th and 17th centuries the Portuguese trade in Japanese slaves resulted in traders from the Portuguese Empire and their captive lascar crew members from South Asia bringing Japanese slaves to Goa.
These were usually young Japanese women and girls brought or captured from Japan as sexual slaves. The culture of the performing art of nautch , an alluring style of popular dance, rose to prominence during the later period of Mughal Empire and the British East India Company Rule.
Women and girls were recruited from poor rural Indian families and paid directly by the military. The red-light districts of cities such as Mumbai developed at this time. The British Raj enacted the Cantonment Act of to regulate Prostitution in colonial India as a matter of accepting a necessary evil. They were licensed by military officials and were allowed to consort with soldiers only.
From time immemorial Indian poets have sung praises of the 'public woman', the professional entertainer. The epics give us a colourful description of her intimate connection with royal splendour. The Puranas highlight her auspicious presence as a symbol of good luck.
