Devadasi

In South India, a devadasi (Sanskrit: servant of deva (god) or devi (goddess)) is a girl "dedicated" to worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The age group of a girl to be converted as jogini is 8–16 years. The dedication takes place in a Pottukattu ceremony which is similar in some ways to marriage. Originally, in addition to taking care of the temple and performing rituals, these women learned and practiced Sadir (Bharatanatya), Odissi and other classical Indian artistic traditions and enjoyed a high social status as dance and music were essential part of temple worship.

Traditionally devadasis had a high status in society. After marrying wealthy patrons, they spent their time honing their skills instead of becoming a housewife. They had children from their husbands who were also taught their skills of music or dance. Often their patrons had another wife who served them as housewife. Some of the eminent personalities hailed from this community are Bharat Ratna M S Subbulakshmi, Padma Vibhushan Ms T Balasaraswati and Dr. Muthulaksmi Reddi.

During British rule in the Indian subcontinent, kings who were the patrons of temples and temple arts became powerless. As a result, devadasis were left without their traditional means of support and patronage. During colonial times, reformists worked towards outlawing the devadasi tradition on grounds that it supported prostitution. Colonial views on devadasis are hotly disputed by several groups and organizations in India and by western academics as the inability of the British to distinguish them from the girls who danced in the streets for the reasons other than spiritual devotion to the deity as in socio-economic deprivation and perusal of folk arts.

Recently the devadasi system has started to disappear, having been outlawed in all of India in 1988.

Devadasis are also known by various other local terms, such as jogini. Furthermore, the devadasi practice is known as basivi in Karnataka and matangi in Maharashtra. It is also known as venkatasani, nailis, muralis and theradiyan. There were Devadasis from iyer communities as they performed Bharatanatiyam. Devadasi are sometimes referred to as a caste; however, some question the accuracy of this usage. "According to the devadasis themselves there exists a devadasi 'way of life' or 'professional ethic' (vritti, murai) but not a devadasi jāti (sub-caste). Later, the office of devadasi became hereditary but it did not confer the right to work without adequate qualification" (Amrit Srinivasan, 1985). In Europe the term bayadere (from French: bayadère, ascending to Portuguese: balhadeira, literally dancer) was occasionally used.

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