Devadasis - From serving gods to serving men.

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Devadasis, listening to this word instantly grasps our minds to think of girls who serve God, but is it true. Do they actually serve God. Do they actually live a life like a servant of God? or there is a different reality behind this pure word and practice? let's find out.

Devadasi, an ancient religious practice in Indian society led a lot of young girls into serving gods. This practice was done by girls who performed classical music or dance. Any girl who became a devadasi holds a high social status. Devadasis were a part of Indian society, where young girls performed for a sacred deity called Yellamma Goddess. There were some prohibitions like Devdasi can never get married and she had to give her whole life serving the god and the temple, but this all changed. such a pure job with the purest of emotions turned into one of the darkest sides of Indian society. but when? and why did this happen? 

A lady with a specific neckpiece denotes her indulgence in the system of Devadasi. 

To understand the current situation of a devadasi, we have to go back to the Islamic and British rule in our county. Days back when our country was invaded by these Islamic rulers, ruining temples is one of the major things that was done which resulted in taking all that wealth and this continued to the British era. 

Over the centuries this system changed. These sacred performers gradually became servants of temple men and their status declined from high social class to a low standard servant. The Britishers declared this system as one of the dirtiest practices and led the demolition of devadasis.

Even after this practice is illegal thousands of girls are pushed into this darkness. This practice of the devadasi system is most prevailing in the state of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Goddess Yellamma is worshipped in these states and this is the reason why still families push their young girls into such a place without knowing the reality of the other side. There are a lot of young girls who are pushed into such darkness in our country many due to poverty and a lot due to societal rituals.

According to surveys by the government of Karnataka, it is shown that around 40 thousand active devadasis are there. A survey report by the State Women's University of Karnataka shows that in 2018, there were more than 80 thousand devadasis in total. Mostly the poorer families, dedicate their daughters to such a practice in the name of god and superstitious beliefs. This is a reason why many devadasis die due to sexual abuse. According to a report by the national information center, we also get know that these girls face a lot of verbal and social-cultural abuse like name-calling, discrimination, beating and physically destroying them. 

The government definitely recognized these issues and has been working on them. There have been specific state laws that prohibit this system. Laws like:

The Andhra Pradesh Devadasi Act,1998; Goa Children's Act 2003; The Karnataka Devadasi Act,1982 and Amendment Act,2010; Madras Devadasi Act,1947 and Maharashtra Act,2006. 

The system gradually ended and was declared illegal by the government of India, but we all know how people don't really follow the system every time. Also, there is a big gap between the government and the Devadasis, which leads to a basic problem of the people not even knowing their own rights. 

We need to understand how one of the purest things is now just a piece of lust. The one who served gods is now serving drunken men. The girls who have the highest social status are now looked down upon. This is one of the weirdest practices that are still prevailing which leads to poor little girls in the service of not god but the truck drivers and drunken men. 

This act of ruining young girls mentally, physically, and emotionally needs to stop as soon as possible. Government should work a little harder and take steps to rehabilitate the women in these areas. The people who are heads and allow these practices to prevail like temple priests and pimps should be punished for promoting such kind of practice.


 

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