SNEHA, KARNATAKA

Project Id :In 136

Devadasi is a generic term used to indicate the offering or dedication of girls to a deity. It has been practiced on various forms in different countries of South and South East Asia. Intended to serve the deity (Deva= Deity, Dasi= Servant), practice has, instead, demanded that they serve the male public  of the community. Over the years it has evolved into a complex tradition that has to be understood before it can begin to be defined.

While there is still no definition that is comprehensive and descriptive enough, it is broadly understood to refer to a girl or woman, dedicated to anu god or goddess, referred to as Devadasi, Jogathi , Jogamma. Basavi and sule. She is not expected to marry but expected to be available to participate in certain socio –religious rituals of the local communities. A Devadasi is almost always from a poor household and invariably from one of the oppressed castes such as scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes.

She can cohabit with a ‘Master’ (Maalik), or live on her own. She even engages in commercial sex work with our compromising her status as a Devadasi..

If the girl is lucky,she gets a person who would look after her well for the sex work. Most of the times, the person would be leaving her daughter a while and she has to depend upon two or three persons for a living. In some cases, these persons compel her for prostitution, so that they can also earn a living from the business.

In certain cases, they may llive with a ‘Malik’  (Master or Partner)  for many years but when he leaves them, they are not entitled to any maintenance. The Devadasi has taken up casual labor or small errands to look after her family as well as her ‘Partner’ or Master (in Kannada – Malik). Once they attain menopause, many of them take up begging in the name of  diety to lead their life. Neiter they nor their children have any claim on the properly of the master. As the partners of these women do not take care to have sage sex, most often they get infection from them, like STI s and even HIV.