Sexual servitude to the Gods
BENGALURU: Devadasi (Deva: God, dasi: female servant): Who is she? Is she the devout and pious caretaker of the goddess of the temple to whom she was dedicated to? Is she a beautiful dancer, singer, a well-bred companion? Or, is she the beautiful dancer of Bollywood film depiction, who falls in love with her dance master and suffers the wrath of the jealous king? She may have been some or all of these at different points of life but what she most certainly was, from the beginning, was being a subject of exploitation.
It was around 2008 that I started examining gender issues in India, and that is how I came across documents on the realities of the Devadasi tradition. Contrary to previous knowledge, I made the shocking discovery that a devadasi is not even allowed to enter a temple, for she is of a low caste! After reading many variations of the myth and the origin of the Devadasi tradition, I had no doubt about the purpose of the myth. It was to use religion to ensure a supply of low-caste pubescent girls for the enjoyment of men.
The myth behind the creation of this tradition would chill an adult. Rishi Jamadagni, husband of Renuka, orders the beheading of his faithful wife for a momentary lapse into sensual thinking. From this myth of momentary infraction, generations of women and their daughters have been turned into sex slaves in the name of religion.
Traditionally, a devadasi mother is supposed to sacrifice at least one of her daughters to this practice or suffer the wrath of the deity. The most horrifying fact is that this practice continues in the 21st century. A recent census report of the Karnataka State Women Development Corporation shows that the state still has nearly 9,733 devadasis. The villages around Hospet, according to reports, have nearly 2000 devadasis. Every village that we visited had at least 20 to 30 devadasis, both young and old, waiting to speak to us, ignoring the hot sun!
Why or how such a practice continues to prevail in any part of Karnataka, when it has stopped in most parts of the country, leaves a big question mark. Some think that such reports are untrue, but the reason the practice persists is simple. Between 2007 and 2011, news of this practice reached international communities. William Dalrymple’s article, ‘Serving the Goddess’ (New Yorker’s August 04, 2008 issue) created a storm in the US. The BBC and VICE sent journalists to investigate and make documentaries on the subject. Beeban Kidron’s Sex, Deaths and the Gods, and Harris’s Prostitutes of God, released one after the other, added to the outcry. But very little help reached the interior region of north Karnataka. Hence the persistence of the tradition in that region.
The existing practice spans Bellary, Raichur, Gadag, Gulbarga, Haveri and Dharwad – the entire northern interior of Karnataka. Most of these areas are drought-prone, villages are remote, economic opportunities and literacy levels are low. Most older devadasis don’t know any other way of life. Absence of exposure, old beliefs and superstitions have left them frozen in the past — systemic rape and denial of basic rights to decide does not register to them as anything out of the norm. When asked most of them said, “Yes, if I had a daughter I would make her a devadasi,” or “If I marry her off who will look after me in my old age?”
Devadasis can’t marry because they are married to a goddess. By the time they reach 40-45 years, men don’t come to them anymore. Their bodies are broken from malnutrition, hard labour, and even HIV infection. Most feel compelled to make their young daughter a devadasi for food and a roof over their heads. No one has come forward to develop any meaningful programmes in these villages. We met a 30-year-old devadasi in the privacy of her home to protect her identity. At the end of our conversation, she said to me, “Everyone comes to take our photographs, no one ever comes back to help us.” We met two young devadasis in their twenties – their parents dedicated them to the goddess because they were born with disabilities. The younger devadasis understand they have been robbed of a childhood, a normal life and fundamental rights over their own body. But most are unskilled labourers and are forced to resort to whatever work they can find to feed their children. Men who violate them, support them mostly when they are young, or when they are not pregnant.
The devadasi women we met in these villages faced several challenges. Many have contracted HIV for not having the means to protect themselves. Most got pregnant soon after they were raped by men who bought them for the first night. In India, their children are considered illegitimate for they were born out of wedlock. The young devadasi mother struggles to support her children on her own – thus reinforcing her dependency on prostitution, or seasonal hard labour, deepening the problem of inter-generational poverty in these communities.
NGO Vimukthi is probably one of the very few organizations, or the sole agency in Hospet, looking after underprivileged women and children with HIV. More recently they have committed themselves to working with devadasi communities. Being a relatively small organization, Vimukthi, does not have the necessary staff or substantial outside funding to meet the challenge. Until now they depended on funding from the state government to pay the staff, but recently they have even lost that. One wonders how, or if, these downtrodden devadasi mothers will ever get assistance to protect themselves from exploitation and educate their daughters to break the cycle!
Between 2008 and 2012, large foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates and Clinton Foundations came forward to fund empowerment projects to eradicate the devadasi tradition in Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka. We have witnessed how these programs empowered and eradicated the tradition in Belagavi. It is time for major Indian corporations, philanthropists, UNICEF and large non-profits to take action.
We are only talking about empowering 9,733 devadasis—not 90,000! In the past, MYRADA (Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency) took a leadership role in eradicating and empowering devadasis in Belagavi and other parts of Karnataka. Perhaps they can assist Vimukthi and advance eradication of this practice from Karnataka entirely. The devadasi system enforces child prostitution in the name of religion. This is not a matter of religion or tradition—this is a human rights issue.
— Author Indrani Nayar-Gall is an interdisciplinary artist-activist, a former academic and the founder of Yes She Rises, a newly-formed volunteer organization engaged in empowering devadasi women and girls in Karnataka.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...ervitude-to-the-gods/articleshow/63660465.cms
BENGALURU: Devadasi (Deva: God, dasi: female servant): Who is she? Is she the devout and pious caretaker of the goddess of the temple to whom she was dedicated to? Is she a beautiful dancer, singer, a well-bred companion? Or, is she the beautiful dancer of Bollywood film depiction, who falls in love with her dance master and suffers the wrath of the jealous king? She may have been some or all of these at different points of life but what she most certainly was, from the beginning, was being a subject of exploitation.
It was around 2008 that I started examining gender issues in India, and that is how I came across documents on the realities of the Devadasi tradition. Contrary to previous knowledge, I made the shocking discovery that a devadasi is not even allowed to enter a temple, for she is of a low caste! After reading many variations of the myth and the origin of the Devadasi tradition, I had no doubt about the purpose of the myth. It was to use religion to ensure a supply of low-caste pubescent girls for the enjoyment of men.
The myth behind the creation of this tradition would chill an adult. Rishi Jamadagni, husband of Renuka, orders the beheading of his faithful wife for a momentary lapse into sensual thinking. From this myth of momentary infraction, generations of women and their daughters have been turned into sex slaves in the name of religion.
Traditionally, a devadasi mother is supposed to sacrifice at least one of her daughters to this practice or suffer the wrath of the deity. The most horrifying fact is that this practice continues in the 21st century. A recent census report of the Karnataka State Women Development Corporation shows that the state still has nearly 9,733 devadasis. The villages around Hospet, according to reports, have nearly 2000 devadasis. Every village that we visited had at least 20 to 30 devadasis, both young and old, waiting to speak to us, ignoring the hot sun!
Why or how such a practice continues to prevail in any part of Karnataka, when it has stopped in most parts of the country, leaves a big question mark. Some think that such reports are untrue, but the reason the practice persists is simple. Between 2007 and 2011, news of this practice reached international communities. William Dalrymple’s article, ‘Serving the Goddess’ (New Yorker’s August 04, 2008 issue) created a storm in the US. The BBC and VICE sent journalists to investigate and make documentaries on the subject. Beeban Kidron’s Sex, Deaths and the Gods, and Harris’s Prostitutes of God, released one after the other, added to the outcry. But very little help reached the interior region of north Karnataka. Hence the persistence of the tradition in that region.
The existing practice spans Bellary, Raichur, Gadag, Gulbarga, Haveri and Dharwad – the entire northern interior of Karnataka. Most of these areas are drought-prone, villages are remote, economic opportunities and literacy levels are low. Most older devadasis don’t know any other way of life. Absence of exposure, old beliefs and superstitions have left them frozen in the past — systemic rape and denial of basic rights to decide does not register to them as anything out of the norm. When asked most of them said, “Yes, if I had a daughter I would make her a devadasi,” or “If I marry her off who will look after me in my old age?”
Devadasis can’t marry because they are married to a goddess. By the time they reach 40-45 years, men don’t come to them anymore. Their bodies are broken from malnutrition, hard labour, and even HIV infection. Most feel compelled to make their young daughter a devadasi for food and a roof over their heads. No one has come forward to develop any meaningful programmes in these villages. We met a 30-year-old devadasi in the privacy of her home to protect her identity. At the end of our conversation, she said to me, “Everyone comes to take our photographs, no one ever comes back to help us.” We met two young devadasis in their twenties – their parents dedicated them to the goddess because they were born with disabilities. The younger devadasis understand they have been robbed of a childhood, a normal life and fundamental rights over their own body. But most are unskilled labourers and are forced to resort to whatever work they can find to feed their children. Men who violate them, support them mostly when they are young, or when they are not pregnant.
The devadasi women we met in these villages faced several challenges. Many have contracted HIV for not having the means to protect themselves. Most got pregnant soon after they were raped by men who bought them for the first night. In India, their children are considered illegitimate for they were born out of wedlock. The young devadasi mother struggles to support her children on her own – thus reinforcing her dependency on prostitution, or seasonal hard labour, deepening the problem of inter-generational poverty in these communities.
NGO Vimukthi is probably one of the very few organizations, or the sole agency in Hospet, looking after underprivileged women and children with HIV. More recently they have committed themselves to working with devadasi communities. Being a relatively small organization, Vimukthi, does not have the necessary staff or substantial outside funding to meet the challenge. Until now they depended on funding from the state government to pay the staff, but recently they have even lost that. One wonders how, or if, these downtrodden devadasi mothers will ever get assistance to protect themselves from exploitation and educate their daughters to break the cycle!
Between 2008 and 2012, large foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates and Clinton Foundations came forward to fund empowerment projects to eradicate the devadasi tradition in Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka. We have witnessed how these programs empowered and eradicated the tradition in Belagavi. It is time for major Indian corporations, philanthropists, UNICEF and large non-profits to take action.
We are only talking about empowering 9,733 devadasis—not 90,000! In the past, MYRADA (Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency) took a leadership role in eradicating and empowering devadasis in Belagavi and other parts of Karnataka. Perhaps they can assist Vimukthi and advance eradication of this practice from Karnataka entirely. The devadasi system enforces child prostitution in the name of religion. This is not a matter of religion or tradition—this is a human rights issue.
— Author Indrani Nayar-Gall is an interdisciplinary artist-activist, a former academic and the founder of Yes She Rises, a newly-formed volunteer organization engaged in empowering devadasi women and girls in Karnataka.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...ervitude-to-the-gods/articleshow/63660465.cms
