Her Swan Song

Revisiting the memoirs of a courtesan

- Shreya Ila Anasuya

MALKA PUKHRAJ’S MEMOIRS, Song Sung True, begin with the story of her birth, in 1912, in a small village called Hamirpur Sidhar, along the banks of the Chenab, at a time when Jammu and Kashmir was still a princely state and British colonisation of the subcontinent was on its last legs.

A celebrated ghazal and folk singer, Malka was employed at the court of Hari Singh, the king of Jammu and Kashmir, when she was only nine years old. After she left his court, she moved to Pakistan, prior to Partition, and settled in Lahore, gave private concerts and began singing for the radio. Like her contemporary Begum Akhtar, Malka made a name for herself as a singer of ghazal, thumri and dadra, as well as folk songs in her native Dogri. She is especially remembered for her rendition of Hafeez Jallandhari’s “Abhi toh main jawan hoon,” but her repertoire was vast, and she had a long and prolific career. She passed away in Lahore, in 2004, but before that, she completed her memoirs, which were edited and translated into English by the historian Saleem Kidwai.