My family was always reluctant to answer questions that I had about the stories of Devadasis. Therefore, their reluctance led me to research more on them. With the help of my supervisor, I started reading the book, Given to Goddess by Lucinda Ramberg, who had researched specifically on the culture in the Ashrams (Religious shrines) of the Hindu goddess Yellamma in Karnataka.
Devadasis are daughters dedicated by families to deities such as the Goddess Yellamma. Historically, one would dedicate a child in order bring in luck and prosperity. Devadasis and other sacred figures associated with full-time service of a deity were invited to the courts of kings to perform in pre-modern times and compensated, as the kings funded Hindu temples and thus had a transactional relationship with the priests and religious workers whose job was to entertain the deities enshrined in temples. Devadasis also performed sexual acts: they were free to take lovers, with no social stigma attached to their sexuality because their sex lives were considered to be “auspicious” – meaning a realm of actions which would bring in prosperity to the kingdom. This was because they were married to a deity and will stay married forever!
Why was my family reluctant when I asked about these sacred workers? Their culture and the act of dedication of daughters to Yellamma and their sustenance, was criminalized during the colonization of India by the British.
What scholar Ramberg has done in her study of the culture of Yellamma is to “reimagine the biological state of Kinship.” The female sex workers Ramberg interviewed were dedicated at an early age. Most missed out on institutional education. But they function like their fathers, not like daughters, in their ability to control their assets. Whereas, in patriarchal marriage, the man of the house is expected to go out and work and the woman is expected to stay inside, take care of the family and please her husband.The wife is always at a deficit in a patriarchal marriage as the wealth which is earned by the husband is mostly passed onto the next generation, which leaves her with nothing.
Author: Priyana Kalita
Faculty Advisor: Elizabeth Wilson, Comparative Religion
You must be logged in to post a comment.