Documentary exposes tragic reality of India’s ritualised prostitution

devadasi3 TV documentary ‘Sex, Death and the Gods’, shown 24 January on BBC Four (and due for re-broadcasting on 2 March), revealed the tragic reality of life as a devadasi in India today. Acclaimed director, Beeban Kidron, explored the background to this form of modern slavery in which young girls are dedicated to a local god only to be sold into a lifetime of ritualised prostitution. Kidron‘s documentary asked whether devadasi dedications were an economic necessity for families, and if so, whether eradicating the practice would simply inflict greater burdens on the poor.

Joseph D’souza, International President of Dalit Freedom Network, commented, “It is no good simply trying to stop the practice of devadasi. The authorities tried to do this by outlawing the ceremonies back in the 1980s, but it still goes on today. There are tens of thousands of devadasi scattered throughout rural Karnataka. To end the practice you must also address the underlying causes of poverty and social acquiescence.”

Almost all devadasi are Dalits, formerly known as untouchables, who fall outside India’s caste system. The resulting poverty and discrimination makes Dalits especially vulnerable to trafficking and slavery. The Indian government claims that there are about 40,000 devadasi and that numbers are falling. Some NGOs would put the figure at closer to 250,000.

Parents are still dedicating their daughters because they fear the financial burden of a dowry if their daughters marry. Marrying a daughter to a deity rules out marriage to a man, removing this financial problem. In addition, prostitution provides the girls with an income higher than one potentially earned from alternative employment considered suitable to their social status.

Bringing freedom and hope

Although it is not easy for devadasi to walk away – some are trapped by fear of the consequences or threats of violence – there are some who want freedom, and it is only when they find out from others who have stopped working as devadasi, and have the assurance that they can make a living, that they too take the big leap for freedom. This is where Dalit Freedom Network’s projects come in.

Dr D’souza explains, “DFN is not only campaigning against devadasi as a form of ritualised prostitution and sex trafficking but we are addressing the root causes of poverty through education and economic development projects. This enables the women to find alternative sources of income to provide a livelihood for them and their children so that they do not have to prostitute themselves. We want to see community transformation so that this and all other forms of trafficking and slavery become socially unacceptable in India.”

Currently Dalit Freedom Network UK (DFN UK) is supporting a school in Karnataka which counts the children of devadasi among its pupils. The school provides an education which improves job and income prospects so that they do not have to follow in their mother’s footsteps. [Read more here]

DFN UK also supports self-help groups providing microloans to enable women to start up in business or cottage industry. Financial independence provides the freedom that so many of the devadasi crave. [Read more here]

DFN has also responded to the major issue of HIV/AIDS among devadasi by establishing a clinic to provide education, diagnosis, treatment and counselling. Peer-educators, former devadasi themselves, play a key role in this. [Read more here]

Although the BBC Four documentary highlighted the debated roots of the tradition, the reality of modern devadasi is that they are trapped in ritualised slavery, trafficked into the sex industry as victims of systematic child abuse and forced prostitution. However, Kidron's assertion that the complexity of the economic situation means that there is no solution without addressing the issue of poverty; it is, as she says, a matter of "economics and caste, not sex and God".