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 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 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 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

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 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 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 upto maximum Rs 2000/-

·         Parents and relatives would be fined upto 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 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

Keep your hands off Khandoba woman

Your Lecher

Show me your money first

-- Arun Kolatkar in Jejuri

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’.

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.

Devadasi system perpetrators in Jejuri, Maharashtra

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, motherfuckers, 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

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

 

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