Chapter- I
Introduction
Religion is not just part of our
daily belief; instead, it is a huge and accomplished organisation that has a tremendous
line of dimension both socially and economically which goes by a lot of names.
The social ideologies go by mostly by our beliefs and ideas related to the
God’s we are worshipping and the rituals we are following towards it. These
ideologies are adopted into conditions and realities, which take part in our
thoughts without acknowledging them. Thus, our thinking will revolve around it
only, unable to distinguish between reality and dream. It is incidentally,
clear that the ongoing patterns of ritual are an important element in the
institutionalization of religion, if it is believed that certain ceremonies and
sacraments can be properly performed only by a priest, then the religious
institution will be partly determined to the need to maintain and protect a
professional priesthood and the institution of the devadasis in the temples.[1]
Globalization in the past years, had
produced immense wealth to the privileged section, mean while it has increased
the gap between the poor and rich section of the society. In the Colonial
educational system, the education was mainly provided on the bases of racial
identity, gender and for the privileged sections, which itself is the
initiative of inequality. With increase of technologies, policies this,
inequality and distinguishing a person by racial and cultural identity has only
increased.
In spite of women’s autonomy being
an important predictor of the performance of programs and policies for
international development, gender based discrimination is one of the burning
issues that needs to be addressed commonly across many countries, and within
various disciplines; apart from gender discrimination, many factors lake caste,
sexual orientation, ancestry, socio- economic class, religion, and geographic
location, play an important role in determining the social position of an
individual.[2]
Even though India is one of the largest democratic country in the world, our
country is still bound to evil practices which mainly involves the minority
section of the society.
In
India, in the past, the Devadasis were an integral part of the Hindu society
and Hindu temples dedicated themselves to the temple’s services for eternity.
There is a lot of information gathered from the inscription that gives a
glimpse into the ideals and structural works of the devadasi system. The majority
of inscriptions received from South India points towards that, the practice of
Devadasi service started from the 9th century AD onwards.
The term Devadasi is a Sanskrit word,
which means, the woman who devoted herself to the temple’s services and the
deity in the temple or female slave of God. Their practice arises between their
social condition, economic norms, religion, and gender labels. They lead their
lives as unmarried servants of God and the temple from a very young age through
rites according to the Hindu marriage ceremonies. The term Devadasi is a
feminine term of Deva- Dasa, who is a servant to God. Though the term has its
origin in Sanskrit, the prevailing custom and practices are in no way related
to the Gods or deities mentioned in Sanskrit literature, especially, especially
the Trinity; Devadasis were a common feature in almost all the major
Brahmanical temples.[3] The Devadasis is a temple
woman, whose life is dedicated to the services and functions of God and her
identity is related to the Temple which they serve forever.
It has been stated that every temple
which is being built was aiming toward the earthly recreation of paradise and
aiming to honour it. The Gandharvas and Apsaras portrayed in the temples give a
musical atmosphere to the temple and the devotees who came to worship. So, to
make these elements in a humane form they bring forth the concept called
Devadasis, who dances and sings for God when the images of God are being
carried throughout the town in possession. Through this, a common name came for
them is, the ‘Dancing Girl’.
With the establishment of caste and
religion, and its softened names, which eventually started from 9th
century onwards majorly in South India. With the establishment of temples and
the services were started or got stronger. The major duties of the Devadasis
were to sing for God, Dance for the Gods at the time of possession, fan the
God/ idol, to carry sacred light. Since, they were an integral part of the
temples, they were pandered to perform daily duties in the temples such as,
transforming temples, decorating temples, dressing the deities, cleaning, etc.
In the next days, they will teach the young girls about singing and dancing and
making the traditional system keeping alive. Their dance should be pleasing to
God only, but unfortunately, it became entertainment to the people and
attracted many to the temple. It has been described that the devadasis in a way
that they were held to be married to the God, and had no other duty but to
dance before his shrine, hence they belonged to the God’s and had no other duty
but to dance before his shrine. Hence, they were called the God’s slaves and
were generally patters of piety and propriety.[4] Even in the present-day
situation, they are still being called the same and slaved to the temple and
Brahmans. Devadasi’s system reached its zenith during the 10th and
11th AD, but in the meanwhile, there has been some kind of
degradation started to happen, which is making the position of the Devadasis
vulnerable. Soon afterward the position of devadasis was been started to filled
with backward class women (Dalit/ depressed class) in the society.
The
Deccan region of India, from the ancient time onwards, saw different phases of
social formation, hunting, and gathering, changes the socio-economic
activities, production and distribution all such things. The dynasties which
ruled the Deccan region after the 11th century such as the Kakatiya,
Vijayanagara started to follow the path of Brahmanism and donated a lot of
lands to the temples, which helped them to expand the agricultural sector and
also made the temples an integral part of that respective regions. And soon the
temple was the major institution that controlled the power structure of the
region. The King had huge respect for the temples and tried to legitimized
their power in society. The religions which existed during that period, the
Vaishnavism and Shaivism, and the temple structure had an influence on the
society and the king had tremendous respect for that as well. They were
considered as the most important persons in the ritual and ceremonies and any
ceremonies won’t be complete without their presence and ritual practice and the
performance of the dancing girls. And the Devadasis held an important role in
every occasion.
To
know about the temple girls and the institutionalized devadasi system a study
is important which helps to understand the role of women in the society, in
temples, and their ideology and situation which led them to choose such
particular occasion of such. The Devadasi who dedicated themselves to the
temples now became a distant memory of our past. They have been considered as nityasumangali
which means they are eternally married to God and have an important position in
society. The people believed that their mere sight or appearance itself will
help to bring good luck to society and their homes. Even though there is a lot
of controversy regarding their role in the role and whether they practiced
prostitution or not.
Soon
after, the Devadasi custom transformed into prostitution and sex due to the
corrupt temple authorities, and female worshipping of God has diminished in the
meantime, male dominance started to show. The women became more depend upon the
men in economic needs. The Devadasis were considered as who brings good fortune
to the society, so it was this intend which made the men to control them.
Hence, this shift in power and thought was a major factor in making the
traditional Devadasi system into sex work.
The
evidences which collected from Vijayanaraga, points out the emergence of a
system which economically supports the Devadasis in the temples as well as in
courts. The rise of performing art tradition started in South India, with the
patronage of Maratha rulers, who promoted the custom and soon it evolved. With
the end of empires and kingdoms, the temples also weakened, which affects the
Devadasis and soon they took up the profession of sex worker in Karnataka.
When
the Muslim kingdoms started to invade the Southern sections of India, they also
destroyed the temples and took away it’s rich. When the temples trembled down,
the Devadasis went to search for landlords and the zamindars. In the 1900’s the
Wadiyar dynasty had banned in appointing the Devadasis to the temple services.
The
Devadasis were divided into two sections, depending on the job that they should
do. The first section took care of the cleaning works and decoration. The
second section was in charge of dance and music in the temple premises. The caste
played an important part in dividing the Devadasis and giving them jobs, the
lowest section was in charge of cleaning and decoration, mean while the high
caste enjoyed luxurious life.
Before
the arrival of British, mainly during the 17th and 18th
century, the act of sex was considered to be a pure ritual and everyone looked
upon it, since it was in connection with creating life. Having sex with the
Devadasi was considered as a good deed to men, because they are considered to
the consort of God. This whole outlook has changed with the arrival of British.
Having sex with more than one person, and having sex for money was looked down
by the society and considered as prostitution.
With
the arrival of British, and imposition of the Christianity made a change in
society morally. Then the status of women was, as wife and mother. They were
trapped in the household, and reproductive work only. At that period, any
sexual activity which was not intended for reproductive purpose was seen as an
immoral work in the society. For the first ever time, irrespective of caste
Lord Curzon had brought new policies such as, reservation, which after
Independence Government of India had amended. Even after all this the gender
and caste became a major barrier to implement it.
With this new movements have started for the
abolition of Devadasi system. The important personality who led this massive
movement was Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy. Laws were passed during 1930s and 1947 and
the central government was in support of this bill. The practice was condemned
by the society, explaining that it will pollute the society and is evil in
nature. In a letter to Gandhi, Muthulakshmi Reddy expressed her concerns
regarding the prevalence of the practice stating that, ‘if I haven’t taken a
more active role in the present political movement, it is because I place the
honour of an innocent girl- saving her from an inevitable life of shame and
immorality- even about that of swaraj.’[5] This address created, an
opposition in the ideal, in which there are another section of women whom are not
faithful in Hinduism alone. This division had made two sections of women in the
society, which are ‘good’ and ‘bad’. They even went far and degraded the ‘bad
women’ as prostitutes in the society.
The
major organisations and persons who went so far to protect the Devadasi system
in the 1930s consider that practice as a cultural and heritage system which
needs to be protected. One of the major personalities who supported the non-
abolition of Devadasi system was, S Satyamurthi, a member of Indian National
Congress from Madras presidency. He argued that, the abolition of Devadasi
system will eventually eliminate the role of priests in the temple, and he
wanted to preserve the temple traditions and customs from the colonial
ideologies.
The
one’s who’s supporting the abolition and the ones who are not found their own
reasons to state the problem, but none of them tried very much to address the
Devadasi community themselves. This is in a sense, it can be understood as, the
women were the reasons for discussion but most of the times they were not
included in the meetings and no one recognise their involvement in it. This is
a reflective of a large number of human rights and feminist propaganda that
either condones or condemns prostitution whilst completely disregarding the
interests of those directly affected by such movements and campaigns; such
discourse not only reinforces social structures and gender hierarchies that
marginalize those involved in the trade but also form definitions that are
implicated in law constructing the identity of a prostitute or sex worker as a
victim to social oppression.[6]it aims to overthrow the
custom of thinking that, the women sexuality will be exploited when she is in
the public sphere. In the meantime, they are indirectly trying to popularise
the moral assumption that, women’s sexual oppression should be in the private
sphere, such as that of wife, and later on becoming mother. This victimization
of prostitutes fosters ‘individual and collective images of victims and victimization’
that reinforce notions of misogyny and coercion as being characteristic of
prostitution thereby relegating all those involved to victimhood; this is
problematic since sex workers who do not fit into these popular descriptions of
the trade are socially outcast and remain outside the legal and political
domains of discourse.[7]
In
the Devadasi community also, there are ones who supports the bill and those who
doesn’t. the ones supporting the bills are in the section of mostly abused and
drained in both economically, and socially section. The one’s who opposed the
bill, views that it is view to restrict their economic freedom by abolishing
the custom. Gail Pheterson, in her book, The Prostitution Prism, highlights the
underlying gender hierarchies that are reflected in radical feminist theory,
even though radical feminists approach the issue as an expression of male power
and dominance, she argues that this approach is implicitly embedded in ideas of
sexuality being limit withing familial boundaries.[8]
The
feminist ideology considers that, the prostitution is the case in which the male
dominance and male sexuality is clearly visible and controls the female
sexuality. Most sections of the society, who preaches moral values, considers
that, sexuality experience should happen with the private section only such as
in family and reproductive purposes. Hence, the prostitutes are considered as
they don’t belong to the realm of social moral values, and they are having the
male dominance over the society and they aren’t doing it for reproductive
purposes alone.
The
left- wing feminists consider the prostitutes as the mere tools for the male
society to complete their sexual desire and through that trying to conquer
women in the society. Through making the women body a product the men are
trying to control the women’s body and establishes power over them. These
ideals reflect in the debates for the abolition of the system and can are
largely implemented in the human right’s address on this issue.
The
Devadasi tradition is not related religious ideologies, even though it has
roots to the religious customs. The major objective of the devadasis nowadays is
being used for sexual pleasure and nothing more. The young girls, when they
attain puberty through rituals the first client will get into sex with her, and
her life as Devadasi starts. Since this practice hereditary the Devadasis
either adopts or dedicates the female heir for the deity/ for the temple to
follow their ideals and rituals. The major ideology which passes down to new
generation is that, it is their sacred duty to continue these rituals, because
in their past their families had attained material and economic benefit from
the temples and from the court. Hence, the women in the society couldn’t truly
escape from this, because all of them are tied to a fate.
Most
of the devadasi were from the Harijan caste, the lowest caste in Hinduism.
These lower caste women are again being downgraded not only due to their gender
but also in the caste and were the bottom at the ladder. The issues which they
are facing now became a wide topic for the human rights issues. Presently, the
Devadasi system is practiced mainly in South India and directly abuses the
women’s freedom irrespective of their gender and social/ caste status and
exploits them to the core. It is important to consider the issues which they
are facing and made to be a major topic of discussion and formulate new laws
for their protection and survival in the society.
Even
though the Devadasis from the lowest class section are the one’s suffering the
most, now it isn’t the case, because most of the Devadasis are economically
broke. The caste and social status only add oil to the flame, and forcing them
to continue their prostitution work. Through which they are losing their values
of freedom of choosing their own profession, forced to prostitution work,
suffers from rape and inequalities from the societies and from their own
families. They have to dedicate their own daughter or adopted daughter, to the
Devadasi work in order to maintain their landholding as well as the benefits
which they receive from the temple. Even though laws are being passed by the
Colonial Government to prevent and abolish such practices, it didn’t have a
wider strong implication, due to that, the Devadasi system continued not only
on the basis of religious identity but also the lack of choice which the girls
had. The young ones undergo the Devadasi
customs depend upon their social, and economic status, belief in religion and
God, also their inability to make their children marry and pay their dowries.
Insight
of Devadasis are deeply rooted to their cultural and religious beliefs in the
society. Even thought they are being criticized by the society, they are still
considered as auspicious to marriage ceremonies, and their presence is
important in most of the popular ceremonies with the Upper caste Hindu
community. The Devadasis who devote themselves to Yellamma, have a semi- holy
status during the festival celebrations, and they are being worshipped by the
local and gives a new meaning to the Devadasi custom.
The
studies regarding women in India, during the past few weeks, have raised the
questions of women’s downgrading in the society, misrepresentation and
inconspicuousness of gender analysis in the conventional subjects and practices
hallowing. The caste structure has been recognised not only as backward, but
also oppressive in nature, making various inequalities in the state, and in the
modern days it is wide spread. The feminists’ scholars are better suited for
the formulation of questions and raising questions regarding this barrier
between the class and gender, because they are the one’s who suffered the most.
In the society, where the power, honour and every valuable thing is related to
class and gender.
With these questions in mind, over the past
few decades, the role of women has completely changed with the rise of feminism
regarding the issues of gender and made curious explorations in that regard. It
made consciousness in the about the society that the Gender equality is a must
in the society. Over the years, the feminist scholars are arguing for the
issues of gender, class and race which is related to oppression in the society
and to find an solution for this. Most of the feminists and historians believe
that, the caste not only creates a social division but also creates a sexual
division as well.
Even
though laws are there to prevent the Devadasi custom, its still being followed
and women continued to be dedicated. Most of them are from lower caste and thus
making it not just caste- based discrimination but gender based also.
Governments and NGOs are working to eliminate this custom at the same time
trying to empower women. Even though the Devadasis want to escape from this
burden the economic and social insecurities continue to force them to dedicate
their young girl children to the temple for this practice.
A
statutory body called, the National Commission for Women (NCW) states that,
hundreds and thousands of women who belongs to the Dalit and backward caste are
waiting for their turn to become Devadasis. Nearly 250,000 women still
dedicates themselves in the temple premises and gave their full devotion to the
local deity. The majority of the Devadasi system and its practices exists
mostly in Southern part of India.
Theories and
Sources Related to the System
There are a lot of theories
sprouting around the formation of the Devadasi system and its origin. The
theories are occupation and Mother Goddess Theory, Religious Tradition Theory,
Racial Theory, Political or Selfless Citizen Theory, Matriarchy to Patriarchy
Theory, Lineage Continuation Theory, and Traditional Theory.[9]
When coming to the sources related
to the Devadasi system, there is an immense amount of information regarding the
Devadasis and their socio-political and economic structure. The major sources
of information are the inscription from temples, ancient texts, travelogues by
Islam, Portuguese, etc., and various forms of literature. The inscription notes
the donations made by the Devadasis for the temple and the gifts which they
received by their patrons or devotees and also the services which were
performed by them. The most available source of inscription is, donative
inscription, in which it makes note about the gifts and sources which were
received by the temple authorities, public works and tanks. These are important
piece of knowledge which throws light to the world, about the working and
wealth got by the temples and role of Devadasis in it.
The indigenous literature of the
period, Andhra Mahabaratam of Nannaya and Tikkana, Kumar Sambhavam
of Nannechoda, Basava Puranam and Sri Panditaradhya Charita of
Palkuriki Somnatha, Prataprudra Yashobhusanam of Vidyanath, Kridabhiramam
of Vallabhacharya and Amuktamalayada of Krishnadevraya give a
vivid picture of the court life, temple activities of the dancing girls in the
Vijaynagar period. Kasikandam, Palanativiracharitra,
Sivaratrimahatmyam of Srinatha, Simhasana dvatrimsika of Koravi Goparaju,
Vijnanesvaram of Ketana,[10] gives us understanding
about the lives of Devadasis and prostitutes. The foreign travelogues made by
Domingo Paes, Fernao Nuniz and Abdur Razzak is also useful in collecting
knowledge about the Devadasis. Like this, Barbossa a Portuguese traveller,
Isami, Dutch traveller Huighen Van Linschoten also provides us with knowledge
about the Devadasis during the Vijayanagara period as well as other empire
building states of that respective era.
According to James Frazer,
dedicating women to the temple/ religion is considered as Theogony, which is
the result of worshipping Mother Goddess. The Women who dedicated themselves to
the temple were personified as Mother Goddess and were gifted with a lot of
gifts and presents. The Tradition of Mother Goddess came with the influence of
Sanskrit tradition. In which new myths and stories were started to create and
propagate within each region.
Geo- Political
Milieu
During the Medieval period, there
arose various sections of feudatories and provided unlimited help and support
to the Priest section of the society, temples and Gods, which through excluding
them from tax and providing them with tax free lands. The same condition
prevailed in Andhra region also. The Kakatiya dynasty came to power in the
Andhra region, with their headquarters in Telangana. With their arrival there
happened a tremendous change in the socio- political, economic, and cultural
aspects, which happened from the coastal region to the interiors of Andhra region.
Kakatiya dynasties eastern and
western part is covered with hilly, and forest regions. Which is supported by
major rivers like Godavari, Krishna, and Pennar flowing through the region and
making the land more fertile. Since, these river beds were rich with minerals
the Kakatiya’s saw this as an opportunity, and soon enough they cleared the
forest and started to donate those land to the temples and Brahmins. Which was
good initiative also, in fact, it paved way for the establishment of new
villages and the lands which the Brahmins got were given to the farmers on
contract basis, and they started agricultural work there. As part of
agricultural development, irrigation was set up and they had dug tanks as well.
The kings and wealthy nobles had started to donate lands to the more than one
thousand Brahmins, near the Ganges at the time of Trichana Pallava. This was
indeed a continuation of the past ideologies and ritual passed down to the new
generation.
With the help of Archaeological data
which has been combined with the inscriptions of the period, it has been
pointed out that, the majority of the land grants were given to the priests and
to the temples. Majority of this land grands were connected to the states of
Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Orissa during 5th to
7th century AD, mostly located in the tribal regions of this states.
Due to this a good number of people belonging to the Sudra section as well as
tribal people started to come to the fold of Brahmanism. Soon after that the
Brahmanism ideology had spread and give a legitimization to the state, because
they advocated Varnashram Dharma and believed that the King had bring forth
peace and stability to the kingdom and respected him, and didn’t tolerate any
voice that comes against the king. With the medieval period began, we can see
the evolution from the early medieval and ancient times in terms of clearance
of forests, and rigid regions, land grands to priests and temples, Sudra’s
becoming artisans, the growth of agricultural labourers mainly in contract
wise, and the intermingling with the forest communities. The Kings power was
bestowed upon two major elements, which were temples/ rituals system, and
political power which he holds. The kings were successful in maintaining
political power through sheer force and diplomatic ideals while the he gained
the power of temple authorities was via land grands, concessions which they
received from the courts and donation of gifts to the temples.
In the ancient period it was
sacrifices, which made the God’s to appease upon the land, mean- while in the
medieval period, it has changed to dakshinas also dana’s to the
temples. It was modification from dharmic to ritual authority. The Gifts included land grands to the
priests, and temple, construction of new temples, renewal of the existing ones,
giving helps in the form of money and gold. Through this, the Kings were
supported by the dharmic ideology, and it helped the king to remain strong in
the society.
Construction of temples were considered
to be auspicious during that period, where they thought they could have good
and long healthier life and prosperity in this world and the next. While the
kings constructed the temples as a remark of their power in the society also as
a token of gratitude towards their victory in wars. Some times the Temple has
been named after the deceased king or in the name of a person otherwise the
ones whom are building the temples will dedicate the temple to their loved ones
or to their king or family. Some will build temples for their own self and for
their respective communities.
The temples weren’t just a symbol of
power to the king, but it also regulated wealth in the society and for the
king, thus making the temple as a centre of economic power which is, in most of
the times in par with the state. The temples received a huge amount of income
from agricultural lands, and they used for the welfare of the temples, and
temple authorities, organization of celebrations and festivals which honours
their deity and food offering. They were free from any and most form of
taxation. Through these donations the temple was have to do continuous services
(such as praying, giving help from the authorities and from court) for the
donor or someone he points out. The donations were most of the times given to
the village authorities/ assemblies and commercial firms, with some interest to
that. After a respective period of time, they are liable to give back the money
to the temple with added interest. Which increased the power of the temple. Around
the temple a lot of commercial activities began to happen, making more people
to settle in and made the region a hub of commercial activities as well as
religious activities, through which the government acquired a good amount of taxation
from this. The temple was also related with the local administration region,
where every gathered and discussed about their future attended assemblies. The
temple in a sense both a landlord, whom gave lands for the farmers on contract
and an employer, whom giving job opportunities to many.
Thus, it is the institutionalization
of temple happened during the medieval period. The temples got huge support
from the ruling class, warrior class of the society. Along with the them the
major power of the state tried to establish their own dominance over the
temple. Another section which helped the growth of temples, was the pilgrims.
Through them also the temples got a good amount of wealth.
God, King and the
Devadasi
During the ancient and medieval
period, there existed a good relationship between the King and God, which is
according to the temple inscriptions and works were written during the period.
In time, the number of temples began to grow, as well as the ritual performed
in them reached it peak. So, to perform daily rituals, it became necessary
to employ many priests. The priest section was supported by the society and the
people in it, irrespective of their job or caste, such as, potters, carpenters,
musicians, weavers, and even the temple dancing girls. Soon the role of Dancing
girls started to play a vital role in the formation of socio- economic and
political set up in the state.
The temple decisively established
the agricultural medieval order, it is supported by the Bhakti literature.
There are a number of attempts to substantiate and authorize the new medieval
institution of the period through a correspondence between the God and the
king. The King is being compared with the God and in a parallel world the God
is the same of king (but heavenly being), ruling his people and protecting
everyone from every danger and maintaining peace and prosperity, in the case of
King, whom is a earthly embodiment of God, doing everything for the
preservation of peace and prosperity in his world, which is Earth. The people
and temple authority compare the ritual worship in the temple as same as that
of ritual services which were received by the king. Since, the temple and the
God were homologous with the royal court and the king respectively, the Devasthana
had to maintain the same bureaucracy as that of the Rajasthana; elaborate
temple rituals were developed, these were of two kinds, Angabhoga- the
general worship services and Rangabhoga- which were special services
performed at the Rangamandapa, either daily or on festive occasions and
constructed for this purpose.[11]
Everyone’s views shaped on these
aspects and consider the King as the embodiment of God on earth and his needs
need to be taken care from the beginning of the day till mid night. For the
services to the court a large number of women were employed just like Dancing
girls in the temple service. In fact, we often find the distinction between the
Devas and the Kings court diminishing with certain inscriptions inter
changeability of women in the temple services with those of the kings’ court;
An inscription from Sri Kalahasti temple records the orders of the king
transferring dancing girls and their descendants from his service to that of
temple.[12]A record from Mukha lingam
temple mentions that Vasama the Gudisani of Madhukisvara temple was also the
Lanjya of Doddapanayaka, an officer of the Velanaduchoda king Rajendra Chola;
an epigraph dated 1531 from Tirumala states that Muddhukuppayi, who was
originally attached to the palace of Achuta Raya, was ordered to proceed to the
temple.[13]
The Temple girl were the connection
between God and the King, who served the King which symbolises that King is the
rightful ruler and representative of God on earth, and the people believed in
it, because they consider the devadasis as the consort of the God. Through this
image they were able to cross one section to another without any difficulties
and were the object of exchange between the king and the temple. All the temple
girls were considered to be as ‘Nityasumangali’, women whom were married
to the Deity and lives in the premises of the temple. There is no chance of the
Devadasi becoming a widow and they can’t be deprived of their marital status.
Almost all the temples which existed
during the medieval period, around 500 Devadasis were depended upon the temple.
They had jobs such as carryon administrative jobs, dancing in front of the
deity, decoration of the temple, singing and reading verses from Vedas and
Puranas. Mostly the upper- class section of the society donate their children
to the temple due to their devotion only. It has been stated that nearly thirty
daughters of the Nayaka family had been donated to the temple of Mukhalingam.
General Jaya donated 300 girls in the age group of eight years to the temple
Cherbrolu; a record dated 1390 AD records that the king Achyut Raya ordered the
daughter of Ranjakam Kuppusani to serve as a dancer in the temple of Sri
Venkatesa at Tirumalai in the year 1531; Hanumasani, the daughter of Uddida
Timmayan was also sent by the King Achyut Raya to serve in the temple at Sri
Venkatesa; another record indicates the donation of a girl, Bhanaramu Akkama as
Sani/ Dancing girl to the temple at Velpuru by Ganapatidevraya, son of Kota
Bayyaladevi, he also donated lands and gardens as vritti to her.[14]
[1]
Ganesan, P. "Social Status of Devadasis
During the 7th and 8th Centuries in Tamil Nadu." Journal of East- West
Thought (2019): 37-45. English. p. 37
[2] Anne, Mrudula. Challenging the Devadasi System from
a Framework of Intersectionality. Texas, 2014. English. p. 1
[3] Wikigender;
Devadas, available at (Devadasi
| Wikigender) accessed on 18/04/2021
[4] Williams, Monier. Religious Thought and Life In
India: An account of the Religions of the Indian peroples, based on a life's
study of their literature and on personal investigations in their own country.
London: Oxford University, 1883. English. p. 451
[5] Gupta, Ishita. "Perceptions of Prostitution: The
Devadasi System in India." 30 April 2013. Academia Edu. English. 19
05 2021. P. 3
[6]
Ibid. P. 4
[7]
Ibid. p. 4- 5
[8]
Ibid. p. 5
[9] Deepa, B and D Suvarna Suni. "Devadasi System:
Forced Prostitution by Dalit Women on the name of Religion." Impact
Journals (2016): 63-70. English
[10] Panda, Rekha and S. Jeevanandam. "Devadasis, the
Temple Dancing girls in Medieval Deccan (12th to 18th Century)." History
and Archaeology (2013): 81-104. English. p. 84
[11]
Ibid, p. 86- 87
[12]
Ibid., p. 87
[13]
Ibid. p. 87
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