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Devadasis Cultural Practice Or Unacceptable Form of Work?* Smita Premchander, V

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Devadasis Cultural Practice Or Unacceptable Form of Work?* Smita Premchander, V Devadasis Cultural Practice or Unacceptable Form of Work?* Smita Premchander, V. Prameela, Shikha Sethia and Coen Kompier** 1. Introduction other Scheduled Castes as well. Te Devadasis are married to the god and hence are not allowed to marry mortal men. Tese girls are substitutes for 1.1 Historical context of Devadasi human sacrifces for the deities in the temples and practice it is believed that Devadasis bring blessings to the Te term ‘Devadasi’ is of Sanskrit origin. Te wom- entire community. As Nityasumangalis, meaning en dedicated to temples and men’s entertainment women who can never be widowed and are ever were called Devadasis in Karnataka, Joginis or auspicious, Devadasis were at one time welcome Mathammas in Andhra Pradesh, Mathangi/Murali guests at weddings and other auspicious functions in Maharashtra, Devaradiar or Dasis in Tamil Nadu but did not participate in funerals or other mourning 5 and Kudikkars in the Travancore region (Kerala). rituals. Te majority of Devadasis are dedicated to In the Medieval period from 8th to 18th century Goddess Yellamma whose other names are Renuka, AD, the Devadasis became more and more attached Jogamma and Holiyamma.1 Te Yellamma cult to the temples and some researchers report that they is popular in Karnataka,2 Andhra Pradesh and enjoyed a respectable status in society, next only to the priests, and that their families were inclined to Maharashtra. A famous Yellamma temple was matrilineal traditions and females had signifcant built in 1514 in Saundatti hills of North Karnataka, power within the household6, 7. which illustrates the signifcance of the cult and by extension, Devadasis at that time. Te temple This view is challenged by other research, continues to be a major site of dedication even which finds that while girl children were made today.4 Devotees of Yellamma who dedicate young Devadasis to consolidate family wealth and to girls are mostly Dalits and Bahujans from the make sure that daughters stayed within their Madiga and Valmiki castes, and sometimes from families, the women had neither agency nor * Tis paper is based on a study conducted by Sampark, Bangalore and International Labour Organisation, South Asia ofce, in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh on the present context of the Devadasi practice and the circumstances of Devadasis in these three states. ** Lead authors *** Contributors: Sameer Taware, Swapna Easwar and Saumya Premchander Reviewers and Advisors: Mrinal Satish, Rhea John and Anamika Lahiri 229 India Exclusion Report control. Srinivasan8 states that women were made of Dalit women. Te real nature of the practice to be the ‘economic backbone’9 of the family, as is refected in the derogatory terms used for the ‘earned and ancestral wealth was acquired through institution at the local level, which are equivalent to them’.10 The temple allotted land to families who ‘free to fuck’. dedicated girls, to be kept within the family over In the 19th century, with the advance of British generations, as long as someone was employed imperialism in India, native traditions, customs and with the temple. Women were also not free to practices like Sati, Child Marriage and the practice move to other professions, unlike men, keeping of Devadasi were under threat. Temples lost royal their ties with the temple property secure. This patronage and their wealth diminished. Devadasis land however was owned by the temple rather had to resort to sex work for their livelihood. By the than the household, and the money, jewellery or late 1800s, reformists who were heavily infuenced goods that the women earned through patrons by their colonial rulers had begun to criticise the was what really constituted household wealth. Devadasi practice and they insisted on legally The senior-most female, usually a retired dancer, banning it.13 Te Madras Devadasi Act of 194714 was managed the wealth and its disbursement. an outcome of such eforts. Further, Te Karnataka During British rule, the Devadasis began to Devadasis Act of 1982 (Prohibition of Dedication),15 lose their wealth and afer independence this trend Andhra Pradesh Devadasi Act of 1989 (Prohibition continued. By the late 1990s when Sampark started of Dedication)16 and Goa Children’s Act (2003)17 its research, hardly any rich Devadasi households were implemented to abolish the practice in India. could be found in the villages. We shall explore Despite the Prohibition Acts being hailed as a the present-day context to examine whether the positive step towards curbing the perpetuation of practice is now more, less or diferently exploitative the practice, their enactment has been criticised than it was historically. because it criminalises the actions of Devadasis but not those of their patrons. 1.2 Current context of Devadasi practice Te practice of ofering girls as Devadasis is Many researchers have commented on the followed by Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Communities.18, 19 A majority of the households practice as a glorious one that makes women with Devadasi members at present do not have a Nityasumangalis, taking cues from temple history of dedication in the family indicating the inscriptions and scriptures.11 They tend to fact that they were frst-generation followers of the concentrate on the sacred and auspicious aspects practice.20. of Devadasi duties and how the practice has helped in propagating temple culture and the Te study carried out by Sampark found that associated wealth and traditions.12 The present- 84.57 per cent of the Devadasi women belonged day Devadasi and her glorious ancestors seen in to the Scheduled Castes, followed by 5.14 per temple scriptures and literature are two radically cent Other Backward Castes (OBC), 4.57 per cent different people. Scheduled Tribes, 4 per cent General and with 1.71 per cent belonging to other categories. Te term Devadasi, meaning ‘servant of God’, refects the caste relations at play as it seeks to cover All the Devadasi women in Belagavi district up the abhorrent elements of the practice. Other belong to the Scheduled Castes and 14.55 per cent local terms such as ‘Jogini’ or ‘Basavi’, also obfuscate of Devadasis in Sholapur district are Scheduled the nature of the practice, i.e. sexual exploitation Tribe women. 230 Devadasis: Cultural Practice or Unacceptable Form of Work? The other castes mentioned are Brahmin, case for some Devadasis, the current reality is that Chamar, Dhobi, Gosavi, Hindu Marathas, behind the ritual dedication lies extreme poverty, Koli, Lingayath, Lingayath Wani, Maratha, vulnerability and sexual exploitation of young Dalit Maratha Shinde, Matangi, and Vaddar. Among girls. In the case of the Bedia community, who follow the Scheduled Castes, Devadasis belong to the a similar practice, the whole community is rendered Madar, Madiga and Valmiki communities. While helpless and confned to the sex industry, the the practice is caste-based, in some cases OBCs women being socially assigned to sex work and the and upper caste families dedicate girls due to men becoming pimps or turning to alcohol-related superstitions, for instance, like dedicating a businesses. Te case then, is one of economic and daughter may be followed by the birth of a son, or social subjugation, resulting in extreme forms of that some illness in the family may be cured. The sexual exploitation that have become a normalized cultural construction of the Devadasi system as part of the social structure. Men from castes in an SC practice has also contributed to non-Dalits which the Devadasi practice is common are ofen starting to withdraw a little bit from it. not able to earn sufcient incomes for the family, which pressures them into again dedicating their Earlier the partners of Devadasis were invariably young women to the Devadasi practice. Tis fact from the landed castes, but now their profle too has underscores the extreme need for creation of assets changed. Te women have found that SC people are as a way out of the practice. kinder to them and generally become long-term partners. Ofen the women look for relationships Devadasis are tied to one or more men during the which are more akin to marriage than sex work. dedication period but are never married to them. Marriage afer becoming a Devadasi is virtually Te traditional practice involves girls being impossible, leading to depression, trauma and a dedicated at any age before puberty and forced sense of abandonment and isolation, as marriage in into sex from the time they start menstruating. 21 India is considered to be of key importance to the Devadasis are therefore victims of the worst forms status of a woman. of child labour.22 Tese women are trafcked into the practice and subjected to forced sex, rape and Devadasis are sometimes barred from taking other violent atrocities (bodily disfgurement from up other employment as well.23 Devadasis have biting, beating, torture etc.) from early adolescence. an economic arrangement with their partners by Te Devadasi practice is much more abhorrent than which they are supposed to get maintenance, but sex work; it is a form of caste-sanctioned rape, made this is not enforced and the women don’t have socially acceptable by giving it the status of local recourse to any mediating agency. Teir earnings culture. are low, haphazard and completely dependent on the ‘generosity’ of their partners. Once Devadasis Devadasis are invariably asset-less, with little lose their value as an object of lust, they end up or no farmland, education or skills, and very low in bonded labour, agricultural daily wage labour, incomes (which is the case for a large majority of begging or living by their participation in ritual Dalits). In addition, traditionally, when families functions surrounding festivals, births, cremations, are superstitious, or consist of several daughters, and so on.
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