DEVADASIS IN INDIA
HISTORY OF DEVADASIS IN INDIA.
The word devadasi means “a girl dedicated to a deity in a temple for worship and service of god”. In Indian history it was very much prominent in southern and western parts of India. The dedication of the dirl takes place in a ceremony called “pottukattu” which is similar to marriage. In this marriage the girl from a devadasi family gets married with god. And then she is sent into the temple to spend her whole life there. This tradition has started in sixth century in india. Devadasis act as the the temple care takersand perform all rituals including dance and music in the honour of deity.
These girls were thought with the classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam, odissi or kathak or any other classical dance forms
They traditionally enjoyed a high status in society in society as music and dance were integral part of worship in temples. After india was invaded by Mughals and britishers many temples in india were broken down and their dignity in society was completely degraded. Many times they were asked to do prostitution. If in case they donot agree it used to lead to rape in many cases it lead death of the victims and there after the whole meaning of the devadasis was completely changed into prostitution. Many girls from poor families were sent to become devadasis so in return the temple heads would pay them some amount of money and arrange for the livelihood for the family. The poor girls have no other way, other than doing what their parents would say.
Lack of awareness of this ill tradition in the name of religious practice.people are not completely aware of how this system is illegal and apunishable of offence.since it is considerd as a tradition, people are not willing to accept the abuse faced by a girl as a result of this system .it is still believed to bring a blessing to the family performing the devotion. Lack of legal actions is also a challenge which has been faced. People did not report cases which ultimately leads to ignorance of such issues. The devadasis themselves do not register complaints against their families and accept the social pressure.
Educating the lower and economically backward sections of the society is one of the first initiatives which must be taken into consideration for completely removing this malpractice.
THE MAIN REASONS FOR THE DEVADASI SYSTEM MOVING FORWARD IN INDIA:
The department of women and child development of women and child development must conduct regular surveys to check the prevalance of this tradition provide rehabilitation to the young girls affected.they must also promote employment promote employment opportunities for the devadasi women for a better future of their children.
Devadasis cases must be brought under the preview of IPC and the authorities must try spreading awareness of the existence this practice. Steps must be taken to educate the women . reforms must be brought into completely put an end to the malpractice.
So in this I would like to mention about ladies from the devadasis family and devadasis who made prevalent and remarkable works in the history inorder to change the fate of devadasis like Ialasaraswati, ms.subbalakshmi, Dr.Muthulakshmi reddy and Rukmini devi.
BALASARASWATHI
Balasaraswathi is refered to as the last devadasi in india. She was born in as a seventh representative of a traditional matrilineal family of temple musicians and dancers in the devadasi family in the state of tamil nadu.
Coming to her ancestral history , her ancestors were devadasis in the famous temples of tamil nadu. Her ancestor papammal, was a musician and dancer in the mid- eighteenth century in the court of thanjavur. Her grandmother , veenai dhanammal is considerd as the most influential musicians of the earlt twentieth century. Her mother, jayammal was a singer who encouraged the training of balasaraswathi.
She came out of her family devadasi tradition and faced so many struggles and started to perform her dance forms on the prestigious stages.she created a revolution in traditional music and dance for Bharatanatyam , a combination of the performance arts of music and dance.
she was awarded the padma Bhushan in 1957 and the padma Vibhushan in1977, the third and the second highest civilian honours given by the government of india . in 1981 she was awarded the Sangeetha kalasikhamani award of the the Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai.
Her grandson Aniruddha knights is running a dance school on the name of balasaraswati . Her son-in-law douglas M.Knight has written her biography. Famous Indian film maker Satyajit ray make a documentary film on her works. She died on 9 february ,1984 at the age of 64
M.S.SUBBULAKSHMI.
Subbulakshmi was born on 16th September 1916 in Madurai, Madras presidency. Her mother shanmukavadier ammal was second wife to her father subramania iyer who belonged to the royal family of tamil nadu . her mother belongs to devadasi family , she she has never got that social respect , and she have spent her childhood in a environment where the devadasis have been regarded as the lowest graded in the society. Dhe have got married to a old man at very young age and aftermath married life was also in the same way . so she have decided to move out and start to build her future.
Subbulakshmi first recording was released when she was released 10 years old. She gave her first performance at Madras Musical Presidency, when she was 13 years old. Soon after her debut performances , subbulakshmi became one of the leading Carnatic vocalists. She travelled to London, New York , Canada, the far east, and other places as india’s cultural ambassador.
Her concerts at Edinburgh International Festival of music and drama in 1963, Carnegie hall, new York , the UN general assembly on UN day in 1966, Royal Albert hall , London in 1982 were significant landmarks in her career. After the death of her husband Kalki sadasivam in 1997, she stopped all her public performances . her last performance was in 1997, before her retirement from public concerts. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna , india’s highest civilian award. She is the first musician to receive the ramon Magsaysay award in 1974. She was the first Indian who performed in United Nations Assembly in 1966. She died on 11th December 2004 at the age of 88 in Chennai, tamil nadu.
She also tried her hand at acting and showcased her acting skills in five debut films . her first movie got released in the year 1938 where she played the role of young girl in the film called “sevadanam” . the film was commercially and critically acclaimed and was considerd as the trendsetter at that time. In her second film ‘sakuntlai’ she played the title role. Her third film ‘savithri’ saw her potraying the character of saint narada and was appreciated for her performance.one of her most memorable films came in the year 1945 when she once again played the title role in the film ‘meera’ .
Some of her most famous works include ‘suprabhatam’, ‘bhajagivindam’, ‘kurai onrumillai’ , ‘vishnu sahasranamam ‘ , ‘hanuman chalisa’ etc. her perfect pronounciation and flawless signing wou;d bring tears to the eyes of anyone who listens to it.
DR.MUTHULAKSHMI REDDY.
Dr.muthulakshmi reddy , fought against the dedication of young girls as devadasis and Rukmini devi arundale, who crusaded against exclusitivity. She was the daughter of devadasi chandrammal, her father Narayanaswamy was the principal of maharaja’s college in padukottai , she was the first passed out girl student from this college. She was the first Indian girl student in the department of surgery at the Madras Medical College. When she was admitted in high school , parents of boy threatened to withdraw their children from school. Her father was thrown out from his family for marrying a devadasi , so she was close to her maternal relatives and have seen all the situation first hand.
After becoming a doctor, she first fought against the system of wet nursing, where women of upper caste got dalit women to breast feed their babies. She also fought to raise the marriage of girls . women’s right to property and for choice in the matter of education and career.she was nominated to the madras presidency council and was chosen as the first woman deputy president. She organised several seminars and meetings all over the madras presidency and interviewed hundred devadasis. In 1936 she started AVVAI home, in the theosophical society , yet another disciple of Annie beasant , Rukmini devi arundale, began to learn dance she had a chance to encounter and opened it all for savour.
Her name was included in the first national flag hoisted on red fort in 1947.she was the prime mover behind the legislation that abolished the devadasi system . she was the founder- president of Women Indian Associations (WIA) and became the first politicalwoman of madras corporation.
She was active in setting up of toilets for women and initiated measures to improve the medical facilities given to slum dwellers. She also founded Adyar Cancer Institute, the foundation stone was laid by by then prime minister Jawaharlal nehru in 1952 . the hospital, started functioning on 18 june 1954. Today it treats nearly 8,00,000 cancer patients a year.she received the padma Bhushan award. She passed away on 22 july 1968 at the age 81
RUKMINI DEVI
Born on 29 february 1904 , Rukmini devi was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the classical dance form Bharatanatyam. The most important revivalist of Bharatanatyam from its original form ‘sadhir’ style prevalent amongst the temple dancers, the devadasis, she also worked for the re-establishment of traditional Indian arts and crafts. After she have started performing sadhir many devadasis started to come out of the temples and getting along with the public.
She espoused the cause of Bharatanatyam which was considerd as a vulgar art. She removed the narrow mined and vulgarity opinion about sadhir . she was featured on the ‘100 people who shaped india ‘ , by India Today. She was awarded the padma Bhushan in the year 1956, and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 1967.
She was the first woman in Indian history who was nominated to the rajya sabha. She worked on prevention of cruelty to animals act and later setted up the Animal welfare Board of india, in 1962 . she was made the chairman of this board. She was the vice president of the International Vegetarian Union for 31 years from 1955 , until her death. In 1977 offered her the presidency of india , which she turned down. In 1978 he have setup the ‘kalamkari centre’ (pencraft) , whose main motive was to revitalise the ancient Indian craft of textile printing. She encouraged natural dyeing and weaving at Kalakshetra . she died on 24 th February 1986 in Chennai.
LAWS AND OFFENCES BROUGHT INTO ACTION IN ORDER TO ABOLISH DEVADASI SYSTEM IN INDIA
Kerala based NGO, S.L foundation had brought to the notice of the judiciary existence of this practice in multiple parts of the country. In 2016 the supreme court has orderd the states to implement to completely abolish the system.
The following laws have been passed to stop the devadasis tradition:
#bombay devadasi protection act, 1934.
#madras devadasi( prevention of dedication) act of 1947.
#karnataka devadasi (prohibition of dedication )act of 1982.
#andhra Pradesh devadasi(prohibition of dedication) act of 1988.
#maharashtra devadasi (abolition of dedication) act , 2006.
#Juveline justice act 2015 (JJ Act).
#to stop abandoning young girls in name of a tradition for sexual exploitation and prostitution, immoral traffic prevention act, 1956 (ITPA act) and trafficking of persons (prevention, protection, and rehabilition ) bill 2018.
Abolition or development of any social issue does not lie in acts, amemdements or making laws or protests . it is solemn responsibility to accept the truth and give our helping hand in order to abolish it to the full . this can be attained by gender equality.