Temple Prostitution In India
The Plight of The Sacred Sex Workers of India.
This article will explore the life led by the sacred sex workers of India as represented by William Darlymple in his interview article for The New Yorker, Serving The Goddess: The Dangerous Life of a Sacred Sex Worker. He visits Karnataka, A Southern State of India. The temple prostitutes Rani and Kaveri interview and show him around the places near the temple, relevant to his research.
Rani and Kaveri share their plight with him and give the true account of the treatment they receive at the hands of the neighborhood and their clients. While they seldom enjoy their work, especially when their clients are gentle and respectful towards them; they often reproach their life with contempt, “sometimes ten clients, what kind of life is that?”(Kaveri)
They visited the temple of Goddess Yellamma. Goddess Yellamma, upon critically observing their entire dialogue, is their spiritual savior, companion and guide. They share the myth of Yellamma with him. Yellamma was the wife of a powerful sage. As he had abstained from sex, she was forced to let her sexuality remain uncovered. Upon encountering a love session between two lovers, she loses her concentration which the sage comes to know of and curses her. She is shown to have been stripped of her sexuality and forced to live in a loveless existence that suppresses the sexuality of women.
While Rani is pointing out the privileges of being a sacred sex worker, The farmers across were talking about what she would or would not do in bed and whether she gives discounts. This situation is ironic as she was pointing out how people treated sacred sex workers more respectfully than normal sex workers. The women dedicated to this profession by their families are often subjected to a fragmented sense of self. Rani is surprised when a client wants her over everyone despite being “used goods”. The privileges she mentions include being invited to bless upper-caste weddings; being worshipped as sacred and being treated more respectfully than a prostitute in bed. However, after a little while, she acknowledges that there is nothing divine or devotional in bed, she is treated as a scopophilic object for gratification like any other prostitute.
She reveals that it is only recently that Devadasis have been straightforward sex workers. In the Middle Ages, Devadasis or sacred sex workers had been considered to entail divine powers and were drawn from the highest classes in the society. These women were royal descendants and highly literate. During British rule, Victorian censorship forced the banning of these practices and made this indulgence scandalous and corrupted. Now, these women come exclusively from lower classes and have a minuscule distinction from prostitution. It has become a vocation who want to earn money and improve their economic status while maintaining some degree of respect in society and association with divinity. It is a means of escape from poverty without subletting their strands of existence as an acknowledgeable social unit.
Like most socially appalled vocations, sacred sex work is also a vicious cycle that entraps generations. Rani, who herself was tricked into entering this trade, did the same to her daughters. “My daughters scolded me,” Rani Bai admitted, “just as I scolded my mother”. In an unforgiving environment, where these women are constantly isolated from society, at the same time, being the constant object of its spectacle, they confide deeply in Goddess Yellamma. Rani believes that Yellamma protects her from diseases. However, in the end, it is revealed by an NGO volunteer that Rani, like her daughters, has been riddled with (HIV)AIDS for a while and has no chance of escape. This revelation highlights the abject desolation these Devadasis are subjected to. In the name of divine union, these women are proliferated with diseases and a life of seclusion and adversity.
Note: ‘Devadasi’- ‘Deva’ means God and ‘Dasi’ means a female servant.
Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/08/04/serving-the-goddess
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