devadasi

devadasi, member of a community of women who dedicate themselves to the service of the patron god of the great temples in eastern and southern India.

The order appears to date from the 9th and 10th centuries. Members of the order attended the god by fanning the central image, honouring it with lights (arati), and singing and dancing for the god, as well as for the king and his close circle, who often commanded the devadasis’ sexual favours. The sons and daughters of devadasis had equal rights of inheritance, an unusual practice among Hindus. Before the 20th century the devadasis were quite visible: they danced to musical recitations of the Sanskrit poem Gitagovinda in the temple dedicated to the god Krishna in Puri, in the northeastern state of Orissa (Odisha). About 1800 the main temple in Kanchipuram (Conjeeveram), a city in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu with a strong tradition of temple servants, had 100 devadasis. Because many devadasis engaged in temple prostitution, both the British and the upper-caste Hindus during the period of colonial rule came to hold the devadasis in low social regard. The system was outlawed in 1988. Although the number of devadasis subsequently began to decline, the institution remained strong—although less open—in the 21st century, particularly in parts of the south.