Was Jaddanbai, grandmother of Sanjay Dutt, lovechild of Motilal Nehru? Here is a fact check based on info provided in the book 'Courting Hindustan: The Consuming Passions of Iconic Women Performers of India' written by Madhur Gupta.
I got a WhatsApp message from a friend which had a screenshot of the Wikipedia page of Jaddanbai (maternal grandmother of actor Sanjay Dutt) where it was stated that she was the daughter of Motilal Nehru and Daleepabai. When I checked the Wikipedia page of Jaddanbai, there is no longer a mention of Motilal Nehru who was the father of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Most of the information mentioned in this podcast episode is from pages 131 to 134 of the book 'Courting Hindustan: The Consuming Passions of Iconic Women Performers of India' written by Madhur Gupta which I had reviewed on 18th of August, 2023.
Order links of the book 'Courting Hindustan: The Consuming Passions of Iconic Women Performers of India' below:
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Related links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaddanbai
विकीपीडिया ने संजय दत्त की नानी को बताया मोतीलाल नेहरू की बेटी, जानें वायरल पोस्ट की सच्चाई
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Coming up: Was Jaddanbai, grandmother of Sanjay Dutt, lovechild of Motilal Nehru? A fact check.
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
I got a WhatsApp message from a friend which had a screenshot of the Wikipedia page of Jaddanbai where it was stated that she was the daughter of Motilal Nehru and Daleepabai. When I checked the Wikipedia page of Jaddanbai, there is no longer a mention of Motilal Nehru who was the father of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Let’s take a closer look at who exactly Jaddanbai was. She was born to a renowned courtesan mother, Daleepabai. Jaddanbai’s story began in the politically bustling town of Allahabad around 1892. Legend has it that her mother, Daleepabai, was a child widow from a Brahmin household around an area of east Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces in late nineteenth century). It is said that she was abducted by a wandering group of Muslims who trained and managed tawaifs. A parallel story was that the child widow, Daleepa decided to marry a wandering Muslim musician, Miajaan.
As per the abduction story, it is believed that she was thoroughly and proficiently trained in the high arts that she required to become a consummate courtesan. Soon, Daleepa’s singing and dancing dexterity gained her much prominence, after which her managers got her married into the community to the group’s sarangi player, Miajaan.
No matter which version of the story one chooses to believe, it is evident that fate tricked her into leading a life of a renowned courtesan rather than being a widow.
Around this time, Vazir Jaan, a renowned courtesan of the United Provinces invited Daleepa Bai and her husband to reside with her in Allahabad. It is believed that in another part of the same haveli resided the scion of the Nehru family — Pandit Motilal Nehru.
I think this is where the lovechild angle comes in. Just because Daleepa Bai and her family stayed in the same haveli where Motilal Nehru resided, some people might have let their imagination run wild. We might probably never know the truth, if it is different to what is known right now.
Coming back to Jaddan herself, although she was involved with various men in her lifetime, she was legally married only once. Her eldest child, Akhtar Hussain, was a son from her liaison with a Gujarati Hindu businessman, Narottamdas Khatri. Her second liaison with harmonium master, Ustad Irshad Meer Khan, also ended after he sired Anwar Hussain.
Mohanchand Uttamchand, from a well-to-do family in Rawalpindi, was the third man in her life. He had intentions to study medicine and become a doctor, for which he was to go to England. But after meeting Jaddan and getting absolutely entranced by her beauty and character, he fell in love with her and proposed marriage.
Mohan babu’s family was miffed with him and threatened to break all ties if he went ahead and married a woman four years older than him, who was already a mother of two and whose profession was believed to lead men into scandalous alleys. Nonetheless, he braved the consequences of going against his family to tie the knot with Jaddan Bai.
However, as it generally happens in such cases, whether then or now, Jaddan was ready to marry only if Mohan babu embraced Islam. This conversion was done by none other than the great freedom fighter— Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Yes, the same Maulana Azad who was born in Mecca and master in Islamic theology who went on to become the first education minister of independent India.
Anyway, Mohan after conversion became Abdul Rashid and the nikah took place. Although now an Islam convert, Mohan babu also gave a Hindu name to his bride — Jayadevi.
Both husband and wife elegantly balanced the two religions and even brought up their children with a mixed religious background. As a result of this union, on 1st June, 1929, Fatima Rashid was born. She went on to become the superstar actress of the Hindi film industry — Nargis.
Most of the information mentioned above is from pages 131 to 134 of the book 'Courting Hindustan: The Consuming Passions of Iconic Women Performers of India' written by Madhur Gupta which I had reviewed on 18th of August, 2023. I will also provide links to the respective Wikipedia page and news items in the show notes. You are free to draw your own conclusions based on this.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Historylogy podcast. Hope you learnt something new today. To know more such interesting tidbits from the pages of History, please don't forget to subscribe to the Historylogy podcast on your favourite podcasting app and check Historylogy.com for previous episodes. Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great day and take care. Bye!