Dance Bar Girls

There has been a recent controversy about the dance bar girls in Maharashtra.  While the Supreme Court has upheld the High Court’s decision to allow them to function, Government is still adamant and finding ways to continue banning them.  One of the view is that these girls are responsible for increased crime rate, extra-marital affairs and teen-age crime.

Going back to ancient Indian literature, we do find three types of women: (i) ordinary woman; (ii) commercial sex workers; and (iii) Apsaras or celestial nymphs.

As per Kama Sutra, a perfect woman is supposed to have 64 arts. Out of them there are certain arts  which make woman super-woman and these are art of dancing, art of music, art of gambling, art of gaming and the art of sexuality.  

The women who have expertise in these arts were differentiate from ordinary women and were called Apsaras, whose job was to entertain other people and international guests.  They were different from commercial sex workers as they would not sell their virginity for money.  

In today words, dance bar girls, cheer girls in IPL and the dancer in Lucknow Kothas can be compared to them.  The classical examples are the role played by Rekha in the film Umrao Jan and Meena Kumari in the film Pakija.  Their job was to entertain and they were not available for sexual exploitation.

I personally feel that Apsaras are there and they should be allowed to be there as long as one can strictly follow that they do not end up with sexual exploitation.