RIGHTFULLY OURS

WHO ARE THE DEVADASIS?

Part divine, part heartbreaking, this is the story of the devadasis- unmarried women learned in art, dance and music, who were dedicated to the worship of a deity. The devadasis were the heartbeat of the temple. But here’s the plot twist: what started as a sacred legacy took a darker turn. How did these women go from being worshipped to being cast aside? What really happened behind the temple walls?

HOW DID THE TRADITION BEGIN?

A.S. Altekar, in his work, ‘The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation’, mentions that when temples came to be built, some people began to feel, in course of time, that there should be singing girls attached to shrines to play music on the occasions of the different services. When Rajaraja I built the Tanjore temple in the 10th century AD, he provided for temple service with no less than 400 dancing girls. They performed activities like classical dancing and reciting shastriya sangeet, among others. [1]

The later period of the medieval age witnessed the decline in the social and economic position of the devadāsīs. Corrupt practices emerged, with temple priests, kings, and others exploiting these women, commodifying them as performers for public amusement. This gradually turned into sexual exploitation and rendered the devadāsīs as nothing but victims of religious exploitation.

WHAT LAWS GOVERN THE LIVES OF DEVADĀSĪS?

Let’s look at some laws protecting the devadasis from exploitation. The British government passed the Bombay Devadāsīs Protection Act, 1934, declaring dedication of a woman as an illegal act, irrespective of the fact whether the dedication was made with her consent or not. [SK1] This marked the first time the law recognised the exploitative side of a tradition once seen as sacred.

Around the same time, in 1930, Muthu Lakshmi Reddy introduced the Devadāsīs Abolition Bill in the Madras Legislative Council, seeking to ban the ‘pottukattu’ ceremony (the symbolic dedication of girls), grant Devadāsīs the right to marry, and punish those who supported the practice. Though the bill faced resistance, it finally became law in 1947.

Decades later, Karnataka enacted the Karnataka Devadāsīs (Prohibition of Dedication) Act, 1982. This didn’t just ban dedications, but if the parents, guardians, or relatives were found guilty of dedicating girls, they too could face up to five years in prison and fines of up to ₹5,000. This came as a harsh penalty, being designed to break the cycle of coercion that fed women into the system itself.

Moving forward to the year 2014, hundreds of young girls, mostly from poor and/or Dalit families, were still being dedicated in secret. Acting on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Sabu Stephen, president of SL Foundation, the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka’s Chief Secretary to crack down on forced dedications at a religious event. It demanded action from the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, along with the National Commission for Women, exposing how the practice had quietly persisted despite decades of legal bans.

WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO ENFORCE LAWS AGAINST THE DEVADĀSĪ SYSTEM?

A girl born into poverty, her family struggling to make ends meet, follows the same path as her previous generations, which in most cases leads her to becoming a sex worker. But here’s the catch: laws exist to stop this practice. Yet the question still comes as to why it still happens?

For starters, there’s a lack of data. Without clear numbers, it is difficult to assess the whole problem. On top of that, many Devadāsīs don’t even know their rights. Even the police often register cases under the wrong acts, like the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA), missing the root issue altogether.

Stricken with poverty, no education, no steady income, and little hope for a better future- the cycle repeats. Mothers dedicate their daughters, not out of choice, but out of desperation; many of these women belong to the SC/ST communities.

So, the question isn’t just about laws; it’s about breaking a cycle woven from poverty, ignorance, and social stigma. Until society tackles these deeper issues, the laws will remain words on paper, and girls will continue to be sacrificed in the name of survival.

[1] ANANT SADASHIV ATLEKAR, THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN HINDU CIVILISATION 214 (Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House 1938).