Aishwarya Rai as Umrao Jaan in J.P. Dutta’s film

Lucknow, Nov. 3: A kidnapper snatched her from her parents as a girl; a legion of lovers vied for her in her youth. Now, in death, Umrao Jaan is the subject of a new tug of war.

Two cities that gave her little protection in a time of war are fighting for a piece of her legend. The sudden discoveries of “Umrao’s grave” — in Varanasi and Lucknow — come within days of each other, timed sweetly with today’s release of J.P. Dutta’s biopic, Bollywood’s second film on her.

First, the Jaunpur royal family stumbled on a tomb at the Inhani ki Takia cemetery off Varanasi’s Fatmain Road last week. The inscription said “Umrao Jaan” and gave a date: 27th Razab, 1359 Hijri.

Even before some Lucknow historians had finished trashing the rival city’s claim, some of their citizens “discovered” her grave in Azimulla Khan Karbala in the old city, marked by a solitary stone by the side of a tree. Residents are flocking to the graveyard.

Yet many historians doubt she existed. Whatever is “known” of her life — and provided the basis for Dutta’s and Muzaffar Ali’s films — comes from Mirza Mohammad Hadi Ruswa’s 1904 best-seller Umrao Jaan-e-Ada. According to the novel, she left Lucknow soon after the 1857 uprising.

But where did she go, and did she ever return?

A Jaunpur royal, 65-year-old Riasat Hussain, said: “We have been hearing since long that one Umrao Jaan lived in the kothas in Varanasi’s Pathargarh and Nawabganj. She probably went from Lucknow to Faizabad, her home, where her brother shut the door on her. Then she must have decided to live in Benares.”

Amaresh Misra, author of Lucknow: Fire of Grace, insists Umrao returned and Ruswa met her in Lucknow in 1882. “She was reduced to penury. She told her life story to him.”

“We want the two directors, Dutta and Ali, to visit this place and help build a memorial to her,” Asmat said.

But Javed Siddiqui, who wrote the script for Ali’s 1981 film, said: “I don’t believe she ever lived. It’s a tribute to Ruswa’s art that he has made people think otherwise.”

Historian Jogesh Praveen, who had researched for Ali’s film, believes she existed. He points to the date on the Varanasi tomb, which would be sometime around 1940. But “she couldn’t have lived that long”, he said, adding it could be another courtesan, a namesake mentioned in Ruswa’s novel.

“The other Umrao was frivolous and had no sense of poetry,” said a Lucknow publisher. “The original Umrao was a well-known poet.”

“Who’ll listen to the tale of my wonderful heart?” Umrao wrote. “Far and wide have I wandered on this earth.”

The veil shrouding the end of the journey may help the legend endure a little longer.