The head of
the Goddess Renuka Devi Yellamma
© K. L. Kamat
The devotees of Yellamma
decorate their forehead
by smearing turmeric (Haldi)
and vermilion (Kum-kum).
Parvatamma is a
"devadasi", or servant of god, as shown
by the red-and-white beaded necklace around her
neck. Dedicated to the goddess Yellamma when she
was 10 at the temple in Saundatti, southern
India, she cannot marry a mortal. When she
reached puberty, the devadasi tradition dictated
that her virginity was sold to the highest
bidder and when she had a daughter at 14 she was
sent to work in the red light district in
Mumbai.
Parvatamma
regularly sent money home, but saw her child
only a few times in the following decade. Now 26
and diagnosed with Aids, she has returned to her
village, Mudhol in southern India, weak and
unable to work. "We are a cursed
community. Men use us and throw us away,"
she says. Applying talcum powder to her
daughter's face and tying ribbons to her hair,
she says: "I am going to die soon and then
who will look after her?" The daughter
of a devadasi, Parvatamma plans to dedicate her
own daughter to Yellamma, a practice that is now
outlawed in India.
Each January,
nearly half a million people visit the small
town of Saundatti for a jatre or
festival, to be blessed by Yellamma, the Hindu
goddess of fertility. The streets leading to the
temple are lined with shops selling sacred
paraphernalia – glass bangles, garlands,
coconuts and heaped red and yellow kunkuma, a
dye that devotees smear on their foreheads. The
older women are called jogathis and are
said to be intermediaries between the goddess
and the people. They all start their working
lives as devadasis and most of them would have
been initiated at this temple.
Girls from poor
families of the "untouchable", or lower, caste
are "married" to Yellamma as young as four. No
longer allowed to marry a mortal, they are
expected to bestow their entire lives to the
service of the goddess.
The devadasi
system has been part of southern Indian life for
many centuries. A veneer of religion covers the
supply of concubines to wealthy men. Trained in
classical music and dance, the devadasis lived
in comfortable houses provided by a patron,
usually a prominent man in the village. Their
situation changed as the tradition was made
illegal across India in 1988, and the temple
itself has publicly distanced itself from their
plight.
The change
started in colonial times. Academics dispute
what the British thought of the custom, but
their presence meant that kings and other
patrons of temples lost their power and much of
their economic influence.
Now the system is
seen as a means for poverty-stricken parents to
unburden themselves of daughters. Though their
fate was known, parents used religion to console
themselves, and the money earned was shared.
Roopa, now 16,
has come to buy bangles at the festival. She was
dedicated to the goddess seven years ago and was
told that Yellamma would protect her. Her
virginity was auctioned in the village, and
since then she has supported her family by
working as a prostitute out of her home in a
village close to Saundatti.
"The first
time it was hard," she admits. In fact,
her vagina was slashed with a razor blade by the
man she was supposed to sleep with the first
time. Her future, like that of other devadasis,
is uncertain. Once they are around 45, at which
point they are no longer considered attractive,
devadasis try to eke out a living by becoming
jogathis or begging near the temple.
Chennawa, now 65
and blind, is forced to live on morsels of food
given by devotees. "I was first forced to
sleep with a man when I was 12," she
says. "I was happy that I was with
Yellamma. I supported my mother, sisters and
brother. But look at my fate now." She
touches her begging bowl to check if people have
thrown her anything. "My mother, a
devadasi herself, dedicated me to Yellamma and
left me on the streets to be kicked, beaten and
raped. I don't want this goddess any more, just
let me die."
BL Patil, the
founder of Vimochana, an organisation working
towards the eradication of the devadasi system,
says that although the dedication ceremonies are
banned, the practice is still prevalent, as
families and priests conduct them in secret. The
National Commission for Women estimate that
there are 48,358 Devadasis currently in India.
"For
certain SC communities [Scheduled Caste – a
government classification of lower castes] this
has become a way of life, sanctioned by
tradition," he says. The priests conduct
the ceremonies in their own houses because
"it is profitable for them".
Patil started
Vimochana partly to stop the children of
devadasis becoming devadasis themselves. He set
up a residential school for devadasi children in
his own home 21 years ago, in order to train
them to become teachers or nurses. Enduring
protests from neighbours who did not want to
live near the untouchable children of
prostitutes, the school has gone on to educate
more than 700 children, and is today housed in
several buildings. "More than 300 of these
children are married and have become part of
society," he says.
Roopa does not
know what her future is. She says that although
she does not like to be "touched" by many men,
the money feeds her family. "I would like to be
a teacher, but this is my fate." she says. As
she walks past Chennawa, she adds: "When I
am old like this aayi
[grandmother] I may become blind like her."
Roopa places some
food in Chennawa's hands: "I hope some one
will look after me then. I am not counting on
Yellamma though." She wears her new
bangles, admires them and says it is time for
her to go back to work.
****************************************************************************
*********************************************
Devadasi System in Indian Temples
Copyright©
Zoya Zaidi.
Source:
http://www.sikhspectrum.com/052007/devadasi.htm
Devadasi
system is not only the exploitation of women, it
is the institutionalized exploitation of women;
it is the exploitation of Dalits, the lower
class of untouchables; it is the religious
sanction given to prostitution of helpless
economically and socially deprived women; It is
the glorification of humiliation of women.
Inherent in this system is the fascist belief
that a certain section of the human population,
the lower caste, is meant to serve the ‘higher
caste’s superior men’. Inherent in it is the
feudal-lord-temple-priest-nexus, where the
priest, already having a psychological hold over
the minds of simple people to the point of
dictating their way of life, uses his power to
give ‘religious sanction’ to the practice by
declaring it ‘sacred’, and thus cajole and lure
simple minded villagers into this worst form of
prostitution.
Devadasi
literally means God’s (Dev) female servant (Dasi),
where according to the ancient Indian practice,
young pre-pubertal girls are ‘married off’,
‘given away’ in matrimony to God or Local
religious deity of the temple. These girls are
not allowed to marry, as they were supposedly
married to the temple. She ‘serves’ the priests
and inmates of the temple, and the Zamindars
(local land lords) and other men of money and
power, in the town and village. The ‘service’
(read: sexual satisfaction) given to these men
is considered akin to service of God. The
Devadasi is dedicated to the service of the
temple Deity for life and there is no escape for
her. If she wants to escape, the society will
not accept her.
The
Devadasi system is still flourishing in
parts of India, especially in the South and
specifically in the states of Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Ironically, these are the techno-savvy states
now synonymous with Indian progress in the
global market.
If you take the
beautiful country road from Dharwad, Karnataka,
you will reach the small temple village of
Saundatti in South India. It is in this village
that the Devadasi tradition,
one of the most criticized forms of prostitution
in India
(1),
is still practiced. Despite the governmental
ban, hundreds of girls are secretly dedicated to
Goddess Yellamma every year.
Renuka temple in Saundatti
There are more than
450,000 Devadasies trapped in this form of
prostitution, deified and glorified by the
heinous religious sanctions. According to the
1934 Devadasi Security Act, this practice is
banned in India. This ban was reinforced again
in 1980s but the law is broken every day.
Poverty and ‘Untouchablity’ contribute to the
persistence of this terrible practice.
Continuing Practice of Dedicating Dalits as
Devadasies
Priest Yedurayariah at the Renuka temple
A report
commissioned by the National Commission for
Women (NCW) in India reveals the shocking
reality of how thousands of Dalit women continue
to be forced into the Devadasi system in several
states of India. Estimates
suggest that girls dedicated to temples in the
Maharashtra-Karnataka border area number over
250,000 and are all from the Dalit community of
untouchables. More than half of the Devadasies
become prostitutes.
(2)
According to a
survey carried out among 375 Devadasies by the
Joint Women's Programme, Bangalore for the NCW,
63.6 per cent of young girls were forced into
Devadasi system due to custom, while 38 per cent
reported that their families had a history of
Devadasies. The survey pointed out that Devadasi
system is more prevalent among three Scheduled
Caste communities - Holers, Madars
and Samgars
in Karnataka. Nearly 40 per cent of them
join the flesh trade in cities and the rest are
involved in their respective villages. A
Devadasi, in a way, is considered "public
property" in the village. Devadasies who do not
become prostitutes struggle to survive as
agricultural labourers or maidservants.
Most Devadasies
are single. However, 65 per cent of the
Devadasies were associated with a patron. About
95.2 per cent have children. And among those
with children, more than 95 per cent could not
register the names of their patrons (as the
fathers of their children) in school admission
records. The overwhelming majority of Devadasies
(95 per cent) earn less than Rs 1,000 a month.
(3)
What
is in a name?
In Andhra Pradesh
these Devadasies are called Joginis, while in
Jejuri in Maharashtra they are called Muralis.
They are known by different names in different
areas. Jogan Shankar gives the names by which
they are known in various parts, such as Maharis
in Kerala, Natis in Assam, and Basavis in
Karnataka. In Goa they are called `Bhavanis',
and `Kudikar' on the West-Coast, `Bhogam-Vandhi'
or `Jogin' in Andhra Pradesh, Thevardiyar' in
Tamil Nadu, `Murali', and 'Jogateen' and 'Aradhini'
in Maharashtra. In Karnataka, old Devadasies are
called as `Jogati' and young Devadasies as `Basavi'.
The term `Basavi' refers to feminine form of `Basava'
a bull which roams the village at will without
any restriction. Hence `Basavi' alludes to the
foot loose position of the woman.
(4)
Genesis and growth of Devadasi system
There are many
opinions about the genesis and growth of this
system. For a comprehensive understanding of the
dominant schools of thoughts, many factors have
to be taken into consideration while trying to
trace its origin and development. Factors like
religious beliefs, caste system, male domination
and economic stress have been recognized as the
stimulants behind the perpetuation of this
phenomenon.
The beginning can
perhaps be mapped out in the inscription found
in temples. The word Emperumandiyar
which was used in the sense of
Vaishnavas before 966 A.D. got the meaning
of dancing girls, attached to Vishnu
temples, in inscriptions of about 1230-1240
A.D. in the time of Raja Raya III. [Raghavacharya:
I, 118]. In many quarters the emergence of the
Devadasies has been linked to the downfall of
Buddhism in India that the Devadasies were
Buddhist nuns can be deduced from many
evidences: They are unknown to ancient India.
Jaatakas, Kautillya or
Vatsayana do not mention them, but later
Puranas found them useful. The
system started only after the fall of Buddhism
and records about them start appearing around
1000 A.D. [Bharatiya Sanskruti Kosh,
IV, 448]. It is viewed that the Devadasies
are the Buddhist nuns who were degraded to the
level of prostitutes after their temples were
taken over by Brahmins during the times of their
resurgence after the fall of Buddhism.
The Devadasi
system was set up (Times of India
report dated10-11-1987) as a result of a
conspiracy between the feudal class and the
priests (Brahmins). The latter, with their
ideological and religious hold over the peasants
and craftsmen, devised a means that gave
prostitution a religious sanction. Poor,
low-caste girls, initially sold at private
auctions, were later dedicated to the temples.
They were then initiated into prostitution.
According to the
famous Indian scholar Jogan Shankar, the
following reasons played a major role in
supplanting the system with firm roots:
1. As a
substitute for human sacrifice, being an
offering to the gods and goddesses to appease
and secure blessings for the community as a
whole;
2. As a rite to
ensure the fertility of the land and the
increase of the human and animal population;
3. As a part of
phallic worship which existed in
India from early Dravidian times;
4. Probably
sacred prostitution sprang from the
custom of providing sexual hospitality for
strangers;
5. Licentious
worship offered by a people, subservient to
degraded and vested interests of the priestly
class; and
6. To create a
custom in order to exploit lower caste people in
India by the upper castes and classes.
On the basis of
historical studies and research one can see the
way this ‘sacred prostitution’ established
itself and grew to become a part of Indian
society. Vasant Rajas, ‘Devadasi: Shodha ani
bodha’, (Marathi), Sugava Prakashan, Pune, 1997,
mentions of an inscription of 1004 A.D., in
Tanjor temple mentioning the numbers of
Devadasies as 400 in Tanjor temple, 450 in
Brahideswara temple and 500 in Sorti Somnath
temple. According to Chau Ju-Kua, ‘Gujarat
contained 4000 temples in which lived over
20,000 dancing girls whose function was to sing
twice daily while offering food to the deities
and while presenting flowers.’ Eminent
Indian historians like R.C Mazumder and U.N
Ghoshal have corroborated these facts. They have
acknowledged a ‘high proportion’ in the number
of the Devadasies in the temples during the
medieval period.
Sadly, due to
continuation of the factors responsible for the
birth of this system, the tradition has
maintained itself over the centuries. It is
found in all parts of India, but was more
prevalent in the south. In some parts of
Maharashtra and Karnataka it is still prevalent
and has become a source of exploitation of lower
castes
(5).
Dalit
Devadasies
It is interesting
to note that the untouchables
belong to the Dalit community and are lower
caste Hindus, though, otherwise are not allowed
to drink water from the same well as the rest of
the higher caste people of the village. They
cannot eat from the same plate or sit in the
same place as upper caste people.
They work mostly as
night-soil cleaners.
When it comes to
sex they are not only ‘touchable’ but are
actually forced into sex by the higher caste
Hindus and practices such as the Devadasi system
are invented to facilitate and perpetuate their
exploitation.
It is these
powerful sections of the society, who control
not only the economic and social activates but
also the minds of the poor villagers that pose
the biggest impediment to elimination of this
evil. There is a crying need for a more
comprehensive legislation to emancipate these
vulnerable girls
(2).
A
word about Untouchables or Dalits
Caste
permeates every pore of Indian society in
hidden and insidious ways. It is so complex
that few Indians understand it completely,
although it is present in our lives in
subtle and not-so subtle ways.
Even though the caste hierarchy is a Hindu
construct, conversion does not always help:
Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and Muslims
often still cling to their caste identities
when searching for marriage partners.
Many
sociologists believe the caste system in
India originated as a way of dividing labour
and as a method of exercising social control
for maintaining order. Its power – and
almost absolute acceptance – stems from the
fact that caste derives religious sanction
for India’s majority from the 4,000-year-old
Manu Sashtra or the Laws of Manu. According
to this, society was divided into four broad
social orders, or varnas, at
the head were the Brahmins, a priestly
class, who are the most pure. From the arms
came the Kshatriyas, the warriors and
rulers. From the lower limbs were born the
Vaishyas, the traders. And from the feet the
Sudras, the lowest caste, destined to serve
the other three.
‘Untouchables’ were considered so impure and
polluting that they were not even included
in the system by Manu. This translated into
their complete exclusion from society. Their
hamlets were outside the village, and they
could not even talk to or walk on the same
path as the other castes, much less touch
them. When the British ruled in India, they
left this caste distinctions alone to avoid
unrest. In some ways they even reinforced
it, finding Brahmins useful as clerks and
administrators who served the British Empire
faithfully. Today, in India, the
Untouchables call themselves ‘Dalits’, which
means ‘Broken People or the Down-trodden
people’. There are almost 180 million dalits
in India alone and at least another 60
million around the world who face caste
discrimination of various kinds.
(6)
Perpetuation of the Devadasi System
Traditional
empires - being despotic - restricted trade
to the palaces and temples, forbidding the
common masses from trading or traveling.
Only priests, the royalty and certain
privileged merchants (who were closely
regulated) traded and traveled. And one
lucrative trade that the priests and princes
often monopolized was the oldest and most
despotic of all, prostitution.
Doubtless the
girls were seduced by a theology of
mysticism, just as the widows who, as
suttees, threw themselves on
their dead husbands’ funeral pyres and
believed they were attaining spiritual
purity, but the sexual economics of female
exploitation provide a candid explanation of
what was happening.
(7)
Legends to support Devadasi system
To keep the
Bahujans and Dalits under control, stories
were manufactured and incorporated in
various Mahatmyas in the
Puranas. There are three
important legends, we should know about. It
may be useful to know these traditional
stories told by Brahmins and believed to be
true by the sufferers themselves. Vasant
Rajas, "Devadasi: Shodha ani Bodha",
(Marathi), Sugava Prakashan, Pune, 1997, has
given the account of various legends in
Puranas concerning this practice.
Legend of Renuka or Yallamma
According to
this legend, Renuka appeared from the fire
pit of 'Putra Kameshti' Yadnya
performed by a Kshatriya king Renukeswara.
She was married to Rishi Jamdagni. The
couple had five sons including Parasurama.
One morning she was late in coming home from
the river as she was sexually aroused by
watching the love play in the river, of a
Gandarva raja with his queens. This enraged
Jamdagni who ordered his sons to kill her.
All other sons refused and were burned to
ashes by the Rishi's curse, but Parsurama
beheaded her. The Rishi gave him three
boons. By first, Parshurama asked to bring
back to life his four brothers. By second he
wanted his mother to be made alive. But her
head was not available. So Parshurama cut
the head of a woman from 'Matang' caste, and
Jamdagni revived his wife with Matangi's
head. By third he wished to be free from the
sin of matricide. But Renuka was cursed by
Jamdagni to have leprosy and was banished
from the hermitage. However, some ‘Eknatha’,
'Jognatha' Sadhus in the forest cured her.
She returned back to Jamdagni who pardoned
her and blessed her that she will attain
great fame in Kaliyuga
The temple of
Renuka was built in 13th century in Soundati
hills. The Jains believe that Renuka is
their 'Padmawati'. For centuries, the
devotees of Renuka, who are mostly Dalits
and Bahujans, assemble there twice a year on
Magha and Chaitra full moon days for
pilgrimage and offer their daughters to make
them Devadasies.
B. S. Kamble
from Sangali dist. mentions the influence of
the blind faith over Dalits to an extent
that a backward class member of legislature
had established a shrine of Renuka's image
in Bombay Mantralaya ["Sugawa", Marathi
journal, Ambedkar prerana issue, December
1998, p. 51]
Legend of Renukamba
There is a
temple of Renukaamba, built in 14th century,
at the top of Chandragutti hill in Shimoga
district in Karnataka. The gullible masses
from Dalit and Bahujan communities are made
to believe that Renukaamba Devi is the
incarnation of Renuka or Yallamma of
Saundatti. The specialty of this temple is
that Dalit women must go naked to worship
this Devi. It is called 'Betale Seva' or 'Nagna
Puja' i.e. naked worship.
A legend in
the Purana says that if the girls go naked
and pray to the Devi they get good husbands
and married women get all their wishes
fulfilled, the childless women get children,
and that those Shudra women and girls who do
not follow these traditions meet with a lot
of calamities.
The chief
Minister of Karnataka had to appoint a
committee to investigate whether "Nagna-puja"
has any religious sanction of Hindu Sastras.
The report was submitted in 1988 and states
that there is no such sanction in Hinduism.
In 1992 a ban was imposed on "Nagna-puja".
There was a hue and cry raised against it,
but since then it has stopped.
Legend of Khandoba
The third
deity of Devadasies is Khandoba of Jejuri,
although there are eleven 'pithas'.
It is the 'kul-daivat' of
dalits, though many others worship him
including some Muslim devotees, who
presumably were dalits, and worshipped this
deity before their conversion to Islam. Even
robbers would attend the annual fair and
finalize their plans there. They were,
presumably, of ex-criminal tribes, which was
a part of the Dalit community. Brahmins have
homologized this deity and made out stories
that Shankara took this form of Martanda, to
protect the Brahmins from the Asuras.
People offer
their sons and daughters to this deity. The
terms used are Waghya for male
and Murali for female. It is a
form of Devadasi. Murali, whose token
marriage is performed with Khandoba, remains
unmarried throughout her life and leads a
life same as the Devadasi of Yellama. After
Ambedkarite awakening in the Matang society,
who forms the majority of Murlis, this
practice has declined albeit not completely
stopped.
Jogam Shankar gives more details:
'Muralis' are girls dedicated to god
Khandoba in their infancy or early childhood
by their parents. "Poor deluded women
promise to sacrifice their first-born
daughters if Khandoba will make them mothers
of many children. Then after the vow the
first-born girl is offered to Khandoba and
set apart for him by tying a necklace of
seven cowries around the little girl's neck.
When she becomes of marriageable age, she is
formally married to Khandoba or dagger of
Khandoba and becomes his nominal wife.
Henceforth she is forbidden to become the
wedded wife of any man, and the result is
that she usually leads an infamous life
earning a livelihood by sin. Some of these
girls become wandering muralis. Others
become ordinary public women in any town or
city, while a few are said to live for years
with one man.
The parents of such girls do not feel
ashamed to take her earnings, because they
belong to Khandoba, and what they do is not
considered a sin in the eyes of his
devotees. Kunbis, Mahars, Mangs and other
low castes make Muralis of their daughters
in this fashion" (Fuller: 1900: 103). High
caste people of the region also worship
Khandoba but their mode of expressing
reverence to the god differs. Thus "Not a
few high caste people visit Jejuri to pay
their vows; but they never give their own
girls to Khandoba but buy children from
low-caste parents for a small sum of money,
which is not a difficult thing to do and
offer them instead of their own children".
(Fuller, Marcus B., "The wrongs of Indian
Womanhood", Edinburgh:Oliphant Anderson and
Ferrier, 1900). [Jogan Shankar, p. 50]
(4)
Devadasi: A pan-Indian practice
The
Devadasi system is not just concentrated in
one part or region of India - it can be
found all over India, in Goa, Asam, and
Orissa, apart from the above mentioned south
Indian states.
The famous Lord Jagannath Temple
in Orissa has been associated with the
Devadasi system for several hundreds of
years. In Orissa, the history of the
Devadasi system can be traced back to the
6th and 7th century during the reign of
Sailadbhawa dynasty. The queen Kalawati had
employed many Devadasies for serving the
Lord Jagannath. There was a time where
devoting oneself in the temple was
considered to be highly prestigious. At that
time, girls from even rich, aristocratic
families were also offered.
According to tradition, a Devadasi is a
woman married to a god, and thus
Sadasuhagan -- at all
times married and hence at all times
blessed. In reality, she becomes the wife of
the powerful in the community. At
that time the Devadasies had to maintain
strict discipline. They were considered a
personal possession of the temple and were
not allowed to mingle with the rest of the
people. They were not allowed to keep in
touch with men.
It is
probably during this period that the ancient
classical temple dance forms like
Odissi (Jagannath Temple Orissa,
Kutchipudi (Andhra Pradesh) and
Bharatnattiyam (Tamilnadu)
developed and flourished to reach their
zenith. However, in the course of time
discipline declined and the Devadasies came
to be viewed as objects of desire by the
rulers and the priests.
(8)
Branding of Deavadasis
We have the
valuable testimony of Al-Biruni to the
effect that the kings maintained this
institution for the benefit of their
revenues in the teeth of the opposition of
the Brahmana priests. But for the kings, he
says, no Brahmana or priest would allow in
their temples women who sing, dance and
play. The kings, however, make them a source
of attraction to their subjects so that they
may meet the expenditure of their armies out
of the revenues derived there from.
The truth is
that Brahmins and kings used to fight for
the possession of these girls. Ultimately
the conflict was resolved by an
understanding and Devadasies were branded on
their chest with emblems of 'Garuda' (eagle)
and 'Chakra' (discus) for kings and 'Shankha'
(conch) for Brahmins; Branded just like
animals, slaves or Jew women in Auschwitz.
(4)
Modern Devadasi: A giant step
backwards
It was only as late as 1975 when
awareness of this deplorable act came to the
fore. Around five hundred
women gathered in Kohlapur to discuss and
find solutions to this problem. In 1985, a
conference was held at Nipani which gave
strength to the voice demanding the
abolition of the Devadasi system.
Gradually the demand to end this practice
increased and compelled the
Karnataka government to pass an act banning
the Devadasi system. Some of the
provisions in the Karnataka
Devadasi (Prohibition of Dedication) Act of
1982 are:
· Anyone found guilty
in helping a girl to become a Devadasi or
even attending the ceremony is liable
to get 3 years prison term and
would be fined up to maximum Rs 2000/-
· Parents and
relatives would be fined up to maximum
Rs 5000/- if they are
found guilty encouraging the girl to be
dedicated
But these are
just few of the preventive measures. At
times the arm of the law falls woefully
short in protecting the unsuspecting girls.
As a result, the Devadasi tradition is still
prevalent in many parts of India and,
according to Farida Lambey, vice-principal
of the Nirmala Niketan College of Social
Work, it continues to "legitimize" child
prostitution. In some Nat
communities in Rajasthan, many
families openly usher their young daughters
into prostitution, insisting that it is part
of the community’s tradition.
But as Ms
Shubhadra Butalia of Karmika says “The
Devadasi system is a form of open
prostitution. Poor people dedicate their
daughters to the system in the name of
appeasing the gods.” But how many
more girls will be sacrificed for the sake
of appeasing the gods?
(8)
Muralis
and Waghayas of Jejuri
Devadsi
Temple to Lord Khandoba in Jejuri,
Maharashtra
The
government of Maharashtra finally woke up to
this fact in 2004 and appointed a study
committee to take stock of the Devadasi
system in Maharashta. Based on the
committee's recommendations, the Maharashtra
government recently passed the Anti-Devadasi
Bill to ‘provide for a
comprehensive law to abolish the practice of
dedication of women as Devadasies to Hindu
deities, idols, objects of worship, temples
for religious institutions and to protect
the women so dedicated against exploitation’.
Devadasi system perpetrators in Jejuri,
Maharashtra
The Bill will
abolish the Devadasi system and penalize the
perpetrators of this crime with a fine of Rs
10,000-50,000 besides rehabilitating
Devadasies through alternate employment and
homes. There is also a provision for the
formation of district and state-level
Devadasi control groups, consisting of
persons from civil society organizations.
These groups will have the power to make
recommendations to the government towards
abolishing the Devadasi system.
According to
Minister of Women and Child Welfare
Harshavardhan Patil, ‘We
found that despite the 1934 Devadasi
Security Act, the tradition is still
prevalent...Therefore, we have passed a more
stringent Bill, which will soon come into
force.’ However, the
government is yet to give a firm commitment
on exactly when the Act will come into
force.
Dr Neelam
Gorhe, an MLA who has worked closely with
Devadasies through her NGO, the
Stree Adhar Kendra, is skeptical:
‘the
state government's intention might be good
but it does not have any specific measures
for eradication and rehabilitation. It has
not even found out just how many Devadasies
there are in the state; so how are they
going to go about the rehabilitation?
Without specific numbers, what kind of funds
will they allocate?’
According to
Gorhe, in the south Maharashtra districts of
Kolhapur and Sangli alone, they’re at least
200 Devadasies, who live in poverty and have
taken to prostitution in the name of God.
There are no
exclusive remand homes for Devadasies in the
state. When they are rescued, they are
placed in general remand homes, where they
are taken care of until they turn 18. The
older women are generally given vocational
training. They usually find employment in
cottage industries or as domestic help after
this.
In Jejuri - a
small temple shrine on a hill made famous by
poet Arun Kolatkar's collection of poems 'Jejuri'
- Devadasies are known as Muralis. Here, as
mentioned earlier, there are also the male
counterparts of the Devadasies, known as 'Waghyas'
- dedicated to a lifetime of service to Lord
Khandoba when they were still little boys.
Often, a Waghya shelters a Murali, and many
form relationships. The result of this is
that several Muralis give birth to children,
which further stigmatizes these women and
girls because they are expected to remain
faithful to God.
A visit to
Jejuri gives an insight into how the
Devadasi system works. Today, there are
about seven groups of Muralis and Waghyas
living in Jejuri. Most of them live in
shanties around the temple, often in groups
of two or three. They spend most of their
days in the temple premises, retiring to
their homes only to sleep. A majority of
them are middle-aged, poor, and express
anguish that their 'pure calling' has been
tarnished. Says Ratnamala Jadhav, now in her
50s, who has been a Murali ever since she
can remember, ‘We earn about Rs
3,000 a month through dance performances on
auspicious occasions.’ Their status
as servants of the Lord also makes
rehabilitation difficult.
An
eight-year-old Murali is living in a remand
home in Pune after she was rescued from
Jejuri last year. Locals say that when she
was just a few months old, she was found
under a bamboo basket in one of the corners
of the temple, with a garland around her
neck, turmeric on her forehead, and her
hands and legs tied with a rope. Members of
a local labour organization took her into
their custody, but because the child was
'offered' to Lord Khandoba already, they did
not dare bring her up in any other way. A
60-year-old woman living near the temple
voluntarily offered to look after her.
However, since last year, she began
harassing the little girl, by forcing her to
beg and goading her to encourage male
attention.
A local
journalist got to know her story and sought
the intervention of advocate Varsha
Madgulkar, a local social activist. Both of
them whisked the girl away from the clutches
of her foster mother and registered a police
complaint. The journalist, Vijaykumar
Harishchandre, says,
"Even the
police were hesitant to initiate any action
because she was a 'Murali' and they feared
the wrath of Lord Khandoba. However, with
the intervention of the officers of the
Women and Child Welfare Department, she was
finally rehabilitated in a remand home in
Pune."
The entire
exercise took one month. Comments Madgulkar,
"Due to superstition and in the name
of religion, hundreds of such innocent girls
lead a hellish life."(9)
The Plight of Joginis
Anjamma’s Story
Anjamma is a
Jogini
‘My mother
died when I was three. When I was seven, my
brother got polio and was paralyzed. My
father had to take out a loan and I went to
work rolling bidis (cigarettes) to help pay
it back. But it was not enough and the
landlord to whom my father owed the money
said that he should send me to be dedicated
to the goddess to earn more money. I didn’t
want to go. I felt very bad. My father said:
‘If you don’t obey me, I will die.’ So I
went to the temple. All my relatives came. I
had a new sari and many jasmine garlands.
The priest called a man to tie the wedding
tali [necklace] around my neck.
The man was Rangasamy and he was 25 years
old. I was eight.
Three times a year we
Joginis used to go to the temple for
important festivals. Everyone worshipped us
and treated us well. We danced and went into
a trance. Everyone fell at our feet and
called us goddess. On those days we became
very important. The rest of the time they
made fun of us.
When I was 12, I came of
age (puberty). Rangasamy kept coming and
telling me: ‘I tied tali on
you, why don’t you sleep with me?’ I said
no. But everyone in the village said:
‘Child, you are a Jogini. It is your duty.
You have to sleep with him.’
He had a wife and two
kids. He gave me money and rice. After one
year I had a child, a baby boy. Soon after
that, he abandoned me. I went to Bombay for
construction work to support my child. When
I returned to the village another fellow
called Raghav was very nice to me. He said
to my father: ‘I will protect her.’ He also
had kids. I became pregnant again and had a
girl. But he left me after six years.
I joined the
‘Joginis’ organization. I decided to fight
the system. To prevent my sisters from
suffering like me. I go to temples now and
stop the Jogini dedication. People said:
‘After sleeping with so many men, what’s
your problem?’ The upper caste men started
saying we spread AIDS. I said: ‘You sons of
bitches, motherf*******s, bastards, go tell
that to your wives and mothers. I’ll get the
government to do DNA tests on all Jogini
kids and you can take them. I’ll take the
Joginis away and look after them. I’ll
expose each of you who sleep with us and
then abuse us.’ Yes. They’ll shut their
mouths and run when they see me now.’
Interview by Mari Marcel Thekaekara.
(6)
Ashama
Former
Jogini Ashama
‘Since the
day of the initiation, I have not lived with
dignity. I became available for all the men
who inhabited Karni. They would
ask me for sexual favors and I, as a Jogini,
was expected to please them. My trauma began
even when I had not attained puberty.’
(Testimony of a 35-year-old former Jogini
named Ashama)
The
Devadasies, spread all over India, lead
intolerable lives. They have been quenching
the thirst of millions of upper caster
Indian males lusts. Since the inception of
this deplorable system, the Joginis have
been subjected to merciless subjugation and
injustice
(10).
Many of these
women were tiny girls when they became
Devadasies, "dedicated" to the sect by
poverty-stricken parents unable to pay their
future dowries and hopeful that a pleased
goddess would make the next pregnancy a boy.
Tradition has for centuries locked
Devadasies into a proscribed and highly
stigmatized social role. Forbidden to marry
or work outside the temple, they have spent
their lives tending the shrines and
decorating altars, singing and dancing,
telling devotional stories and collecting
coins from worshippers to support themselves
and their religious work.
They continue
to face discrimination and indignities on
the basis of caste, remain politically
powerless and suffer from acute poverty,
oppression and exploitation. They run high
chances of acquiring sexually transmitted
diseases. Although in independent India,
many steps have been taken to prevent the
system and rehabilitate the Devadasies, they
are not enough to improve the situation as
the root cause of poverty continues to push
young girl to the roads of ‘sacred
prostitution’.
(10)
*******************************************************************************
I
would like to conclude with my
poem Devadasi’s Saga
on the plight of these Devadasi,
wherein I have tried to
empathize with these exploited
women.
Devadasi’s Saga
I could hear the temple bell
Ringing in my ears,
The day I was born
To an unwedded mother, or rather
My mother was “married” to the temple!
But,
The Temple was not my father!
I could hear the temple bells
Ringing in my ears…
I could hear the temple walls,
Heaving sighs in the dead of night,
Sighs of satisfaction…
I could hear my mother’s sobs,
Intermingle with the sighs,
Sighs of dissatisfaction…
As I slept on the cold-rough stone,
My cradle in the darkest chamber,
Where light hardly ever entered,
I missed a father’s loving touch,
When I asked my mother,
She said:
The temple was my father!
Then one day, through the
Half shut doors, I saw:
The priest heaving and hawing,
Full of sweat…
The pained surprise in my mother’ eyes,
(On being so exposed),
Silently beseeching me
With helpless tearful eyes:
“Go away! You’re still too young!”
But one day, I grew up!
I felt the “touch”,
A creeping crawling, lustful touch,
The expression in the priest’s eyes,
Matched the touch,
As he held me in his clutch…
Nausea welled up in my throat:
It was not a father’s touch,
I could feel it in my innocent bones…
Then Another, and Another…
Now, I am “My Mother”…
Like her, I do not know,
The father of the baby in my womb…
Like my mother, I am going to
Tell, my daughter:
“Temple is your father!”
This has gone on for centuries,
And still goes on…
This will go on forever…
I am the Devadasi of the Temple…
Temples may crumble…
But,
I will go on
Forever…
Author and Copyright©: Zoya Zaidi
Aligarh (UP), India
****************************************************************************
References
1) Devasi-http://theglimpse.com/newsite/printarticle2.asp?articleid=198
2)
http://uk.geocities.com/dalitsnuk/dalitrights/issue6.html
3)
http://www.infochangeindia.org/archives1.jsp?secno=1&monthname=June&year=2002&detail=T
4)
http://ambedkar.org/buddhism/Devadasies_Were_Degraded_Buddhist_Nuns.htm
5)
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring02/Chattaraj/genesis.html
6)
http://www.newint.org/features/2005/07/01/combatting_caste/
7)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-2362622,00.html
8)
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/archive/index.php/t-54857.html
9)
http://www.boloji.com/wfs5/wfs630.htm
10)
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring02/Chattaraj/plight.html
Photo Sources
http://theglimpse.com/newsite/printarticle2.asp?articleid=198
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring02/Chattaraj/genesis.html
http://www.boloji.com/wfs5/wfs630.htm
http://www.newint.org/features/2005/07/01/combatting_caste/
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring02/Chattaraj/plight.html
