India: Devdasis Organise
This report is taken from the Indian feminist journal Manushi, No. 7 (1981). Address : CI /202 Lajpat Nagar 1, New Delhi 110024 India.
The following is a report of the conference held in Nipani - India, to discuss the problems of Devdasi Rehabilitation. The Devdasis are women who are dedicated, as very young girls to the Goddess Yellamma. They are supposed to serve at the temple of the Goddess. These women as devdasis are not permitted to wash or clean their hair or to be married. In reality these girls and women were pushed into prostitution. Traditionally only women belonging to the Dalit castes (Harijan castes) are dedicated to the Goddess. The Dalits are the lowest castes (the so-called untouchable castes) in the Indian system of caste hierarchy and are the most socially and economically oppressed sections of Indian society. Today the Dalits have begun to organize to fight their oppressive situation. The following report is an example of how the devdasis are organizing in order to challenge the existing social traditions, and to put an end to this terrible cult, which ruins the lives of hundreds of dalit girls every year.
MAHARASHTRA
Devdasis Organize
The devdasi cult of temple prostitution has for centuries been a weapon in the hands of upper caste men to exploit the lower castes. Young girls of dalit castes are dedicated to the Goddess Yellamma and then pushed into prostitution. Dalit organizations are now actively engaged in the effort to destroy this cult.
On June 15, 1980, the Mahatma PhuleSamta Pratishtan organized a Devdasi Rehabilitation Conference in Nipani. This was the second such conference. The first was held on September 20, 1975. The devdasi cult is rampant in eight districts along the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra. About 550 devdasis attended the conference. A number of social activists from Rune, Bombay and Kolhapur were present
The conference began with a women's liberation song. Women's liberation posters had also been put up in the hall. Bapusaheb Patil said : "Throughout the world, inequity exists between the rich and the poor. It is only in our country that Inequality based on low and high castes also exists. The dalit community Is a brutally oppressed community and within this community the most oppressed are the devdasis. The working class movement has never touched this question. All the leaders of the
workers' movement are upper caste men. Their so-called rogresslveness makes no dent In their caste pride. This middle class leadership is utterly Ineffective hence the need for an independent movement to eradicate casteism.
After this, the founder of the first devdasi organizatio Gorabai Salvode, who is known for her tireless efforts to root out the devdasi cult, spoke : "When I was a little girl,
I was dedicated to the Goddess. In 1967 I was 'married' to Bapu Khot, a government official. We had a daughter but he refused to give her his name, because I am a harljan. After a while, he remarried and discarded me. While we are young, men prowl around us but as we grow older, they slink away. This is the experience of all of us.
I filed a suit against Bapu Khot. Now my daughter Is studying. In Baba Adhav's hostel In Kolhapur. I will never dedicate her to the Goddess. We devdasis are dishonoured and treated as prostitutes. The first time I spoke out like this, the local goondas beat me up. I complained to the police but of course they did nothing. So sisters, never dedicate your daughters — let not their lives be ruined as ours were. After all, why does the Goddess demand only harljan girls and not brahmin or jaIn girls ? We need to think about this.
It makes no difference to us which party comes to power — not one of them Is bothered about us. We must strengthennot one of them Is bothered about us. We must strengthen our own organization. Todey, even god belongs only to the rich. He does nothing for us who are poor. If we want our rights, we will have to struggle together."
Akkatal Kamble : "People refuse to believe that a devdasi can be a good woman but married women have as though a readymade virtue. Whatever we do, we will still be called prostitutes."
Akkatai Shevale : "I was dedicated to the Goddess in my childhood. At the age of 17, I formed a relationship with Vilas Patil and had a son. He disowned paternity and his
family threatened me : "We will not let your son grow up. If he starts walking, we'll bury him in a gutter.' When I complained to the police, they said : "Well, what do you expect ? After all, you're a prostitute. What have you got to do with a decent life ?' "
Sunanda Skeike : "My parents dedicated me seven years ago and I remained in the temple, performing odd jobs. Baba Adhav brought me to Pune and now I study in the Sewa Sadan there. Last year, I finished classes six and seven and stood first in the exam. Though I have stopped doing temple work, god hasn't managed to punish me yet. Sisters, you also come out and leave this way of life, as I have. Come and study at the Sadan. Baba Adhav is with us."
Baby Manohar Shri Phanawar : "My mother was a muslim. She had a relationship with a jain. When he deserted her, she did not know how to support me. So she made me a devdasi. I've been in this profession for ten years. I'm 20 years old and have two children." She began to sob : "I was driven into this profession. I do not want it. I want a better life, but there is no way." Here she broke down and had to stop speaking. All the women in the room were weeping with her.
Dr. Argade had brought a little girl whose hair he had unmatted and cleansed. He offered to do this free of charge for any devdasi who wanted it done. The girl also spoke
and said she felt much better now and god had not punished her for unknotting her hair. Hosabai Chavan asked : "What if something happens to us after we clean our hair ? Will you take the responsibility ?" Baba Adhav answered : "We will all take the responsibility together. It is said that if a devdasi's hair is combed or washed, it starts falling and there are terrible consequences. But this is not true - it is a superstition. Don't you remember it used to be said that smallpox was a sign of the Goddess' displeasure ? But now smallpox has been eradicated. So what happens to the Goddess ?"
Nishtatai, a French woman, spoke about a voluntary centre at Pune where sewing, knitting and printing skills are taught. She welcomed any interested devdasi sisters to come and enrol themselves at the centre.
The following resolutions were passed :
1. The Devdasi Abolition Act was passed in Bombay in 1934 but not one case has been filed by the government under it. Every year hundreds of little girls are dedicated to the Goddess but our democratic government, just like the British government before it, does not move a finger, on the pretext that interference will hurt religious sentiments of certain people. We demand implementation of the 1934 Act.
2. The devdasi question is also a women's liberation question. Activists should pressurize the Maharashtra and Karnataka state governments to set up a Devdasi Rehabilitation Commission (since the Devdasi cult is predominent in these two states).
3. The government should arrest and prosecute the contractors who operate in big cities like Madras, Bombay, Delhi. These men exploit the backwardness and poverty of parents and force them to dedicate their daughters. The government should take steps to rescue such women from the dens into which they are sold.
4. A census must be taken of the devdasi community.
5. Steps for rehabilitation : daughters of devdasis have to use their mothers' names and are thus deprived of the special privileges available to dalits. The rules should be changed to rectify this; employment opportunities must be made to devdasis; special hostels must be set up for children of devdasis in Nipani, Belgaum, Kolhapur; all practices allied to dedication of girls must be banned; children of devdasis must have inheritance rights from the man with whom their mother was living when they were born; all devdasis must be given an old age pension.
We are keeping up the agitation. We meet the chief minister and the social welfare minister. We print posters condemning the practice of dedication and stick them up in the annual fairs where such dedication is done. I want to tell you that we at the Mahatma Phule foundation provide education to girls. If a minority organizes itself and stands united, it is sure to succeed. The country has become independent. When will we become independent - so that no woman should have to sell her body to stay alive ? We will ask society and its rulers to answer this question."
P.D. Hankare