Devadasi System
Ever heard that prostitution in parts of India is sanctioned by Hindu religion and its gods? Many educated Indians themselves may not know this. Even senior journalists in the “national press” do not know this. Such is our appalling ignorance.
Saeed Naqvi, resident editor of the Madras edition of the Indian Express, in his column (Dec. 4) was frank enough to admit his ignorance. This shocking system is called the Devadasi (meaning the maid-servant of god) by which young girls are “dedicated” to Hindu temples. Discarded by the family, they have to remain there forever as part of the temple property. Lately these Devadasi girls are being transported to Bombay to fill the hell that is “red light area”, the officially-sanctioned flesh trade centre. Caste coupled with poverty is killing millions of these unfortunate creatures in this land of non-violence. How cruel the Hindu religion could be! But not one Hindu or its myriad minions like the RSS-sponsored Vishwa Hindu Parishad has so far uttered a word of protest against Devadasi. On the other hand, lovers of Hinduism threatened those social workers who went to investigate this system.
Hindu religious leaders have been consistently denying the very existence of this system. How do you like this? Why this hush-hush drama? And who are these maid servants of god? The lowly Untouchables of India. And these girls live around temples, dance during the day and supply sex by night to the priests and other high caste Hindu custodians of the temples. This system is so widely prevalent in many parts of South India, particularly Karnataka, that the State government was finally forced to come out with a new legislation to curb this atrocious system which has grown into a menacing business.
The Times of India (Nov. 30) in a tongue-in-cheek editorial comment on the Karnataka legislation says: “It is no secret that after a brief, futile attempt to follow the precepts of the Devadasi way of life, most of the girls end up in urban red light areas. One study showed that a third of the prostitutes in Bombay’s cheapest brothels were Devadasis; almost three quarters of these were 14 and under when they took to the profession”. But the Hindu hypocrisy is such that this system of prostitution is given a religious garb and because of this it is well covered, well-protected, defended by its religious leaders. It is no wonder that every Hindu temple is decorated with vulgar, erotic sculptures of naked, voluptuous girls. Paintings depicting Hindu gods and goddesses in all sorts of beastly sexual poses. Sex perversion has received religious sanction under Hinduism in the name of Kamasutra. Nirad Chaudhuri devotes a whole chapter in his book, Hinduism, to describe how Hindu gods are lecherous beasts when it comes to sex. In the Shakuntala, Kalidasa extensively describes how god Shiva remained in continuous coitus with Parvati for a 100 days. The Hindu symbol of OM is female organ indicating worship of sex which is a specialty of Hinduism. Therefore, there is no wonder that the Devadasi system is paraded as an unique contribution to India’s “rich art and culture”.
Many may not know that some of India’s topmost singers and dancers come from Devadasi families. When a batch of girls went to investigate this system some Devadasis claimed that India’s No. 1 film singer Lata Mangeshkar belonged to this stock. So too M. S. Subbulaxmi, described as India’s nightingale, they said. If this is true, we are really sorry that these two top Brahminised leaders, who are a house-hold name in India commanding enormous wealth, have done nothing towards their unfortunate fellow women. Devadasi system resulted in the creation of a separate “prostitute caste”. What is most shocking is that the high caste Hindus do not mind enjoying these Untouchable girls setting aside the Hindu obsession with “purity and pollution”. It is only the men among Untouchables who are outcastes and cannot come anywhere near temples. It is they who can’t be touched. Girls are okay. What a beautiful rule of convenience that is Hinduism! To recruit these girls to sex trade, caught in the jaws of poverty, a religious garb is given. Just as Gandhi changed the name of Untouchables to Harijans, meaning the children of god, these Dalit girls are given the new name of Devadasis. Here lies the Hindu genius of perpetrating a heinous crime and selling it in a sugar-coated capsule.
Even Germans got fooled by this magic of Hinduism. For the first time, the people outside this dancing slave-girls system came to know of it when the Joint Women’s Programme headed by Jyotsna Chatterji and her band of dedicated girls conducted an investigation on the northern borders of Karnataka and parts of Maharashtra, braving all threats and came out with a well-documented book which incidentally happened to be the first of its kind on Devadasis. JWP invited to Bangalore Suniti Pungaliya, a Poona-based barrister who had organised the Devadasi girls. The Karnataka Dalit Action Committee offered to hold a meeting of Devadasi girls as they are mostly Untouchables. It was only then that this barbarous system received some publicity, although the State government then stoutly denied the very existence of this system. Please note that no women’s liberation-wallahs ever bothered about the Devadasis. Who bothers about Dalits?
A Dalit DV reader, Krishna Don Sardar, from 24-Paraganas district, West Bengal, wrote us a 25-page letter after seeing a play on the Devadasis staged in his village. He wrote: “Our village people did not know that such a beastly custom exists in the South in the name of Hindu religion. The drama is a clear sign of revolt against caste system and Brahminism”. Sardar was so shocked on seeing this play staged by a Calcutta troupe that he sent a detailed review of it for the benefit of DV readers. We congratulate the author of the play, Sailesh Guha Neogi, and the drama troupe, Chandra Lok, of Calcutta. We also commend the efforts of the JWP to produce a film on this. The Devadasi religious prostitution is not confined to South. Since it is part of Hinduism, it was prevalent all over India. According to Suniti Pungaliya, we have to thank the Muslim “invaders” for putting an end to this. Because idol worship is against Islam, they destroyed many temples which were not only dens of corruption, but promoting prostitution. When they destroyed such temples, along with that Devadasi also came to an end. There- fore, the credit for ending the Devadasi system in the North rightly goes to the Muslims. How we wish they had come to South also to liberate these poor Dalit creatures?
During the British (Christian) rule they made an attempt to stop this inhuman practice but Hindu leaders asked the British not to interfere in the religious affairs of the people. We can see traces of it even today in the famed Mahalaxmi temple in Bombay. The Karnataka legislature passed the Bill prohibiting the Devadasi mainly because of the pressure built by the JWP. Be that as it may, can laws end a system rooted in religion? The law provides for a three-year jail and fine too for those who abet the crime. But we have many such legislations prohibiting dowry, child marriage etc. Untouchability itself is abolished by the Constitution of India. But none of these social evils is eradicated. Therefore, we have no doubt that the Devadasi system of offering young girls to gods and through that to the Gods of Earth will continue. Since the perpetrators of this crime happen to be influential people belonging to high caste, we don’t expect any change. Social change will not come in India either through legal change, economic change or political change.
The people at the famed Yellamma temple (Karnataka), the citadel of the Devadasi system, had the cheek to say that there was no longer any Devadasi systems. If there was no Devadasi system at all why did the government come forward with an Act prohibiting the same? Why did legislators who participated in the debate on the legislation, speak about the Untouchable girls being made prey to this even now by these temples? Has not the JWP proved right finally? Since we have said we have no confidence in the newly-passed Act, it is for the Dalit youth themselves to take up the challenge with the help of the sympathetic sections among Hindus, minorities etc.
In the Karnataka-Maharashtra border a number of militant Dalit groups have come up and it is these youths who organised a conference of Devadasi girls at Poona, Sholapur, Belgaum. Nipani etc. A number of Devadasi girls themselves have revolted against the system. By organising all these people it is possible to picket such of those temples housing this flesh trade. The State government has come forward with some relief and rehabilitation schemes under this Act. Dalit youths may take advantage of that. These Devadasi girls must be rescued and rehabilitated. Those coming in the way must be properly dealt with. Will Mrs. Savita Ambedkar herself take the initiative in bombing these Devadasi dens and liberating the fallen women ?
