Beads of Bondage

Imagine the delight of the little girl at the gift of a necklace. The red and white beads are very beautiful. It’s a lovely party – lots of joy and celebration. But the significance of the ceremony completely passes her by, as does the significance of the beads she wears. She’s told that she is special, but as she will discover there is a stigma.

The girl has been dedicated to ‘marry’ the goddess. She will be a servant of the goddess – a devadasi, with, as some would claim, a long tradition and cultural heritage. However, the reality is that as soon as the girl reaches puberty, she will be sold for sex.

Devadasi is a form of prostitution sanctioned by religious practice – in effect, ritualised. It is sometimes known as temple prostitution, but this is misleading as most devadasi practice away from the temple. Other variants include ‘jogini’ and ‘matamma’, essentially the same as devadasi although with slight variations in practice. All these practices are outlawed, but they still go on. In Maboobnagar district in Andhra Pradesh, for example, every other day a young girl is dedicated as a jogini.

[Sold for sex]

When the girl reaches puberty she is bought by an elder in the village – a priest, rich man or landowner. In effect, she is auctioned off. She will become the concubine of that elder until he is fed up with her. In the main, girls are made drunk or drugged for that first sexual experience. Usually they will be taken to a brothel where they will be ‘broken in’ over six months. The threat or actual use of violence and the use of drink or drugs will take its toll until the girl resigns herself to a lifetime of prostitution.

The poverty and superstition that forced the parents to dedicate their child – in the case of the parents this is especially evident in the worry of having to find or borrow enough money for a dowry (a payment to the grooms parents)  ̶  also play a powerful part in keeping the girl in ritualised prostitution.

Devadasi, jogini and matamma may work for long periods in brothels – in the city or along highways, or will work in their village, often pimped by family members. They are particularly vulnerable to violence at the hands of clients and pimps alike, and to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. Often they will not ask for help – they are not aware of their legal rights, they are afraid of the police – who will often view the women as the criminal rather than the victim, and the stigma of AIDS and worries about the cost of treatment means they won’t seek free diagnosis.

[ritualised prostitution]

This is ritualised prostitution. It is nothing short of child abuse, the denial of a woman’s right to freedom, dignity and the choice of marriage, and the denial of a child’s right to a father’s name. There is a strong likelihood that daughters of devadasi will be forced to follow in their mother’s footsteps. This is typical of the lives of 250,000 women in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in southern India, despite the practice being outlawed.

[dalits]

Almost all women trapped in ritualised prostitution are Dalits. Devadasi come from three subcastes in particular  ̶  Holers, Madars and the Samnagars – and 98% of joginis from the Madiga subcaste.

DFN UK is calling for an end to exploitation of women and girls through ritualised prostitution. This is a major focus for our on-the-ground trafficking projects in India and currently for our campaign to End Dalit Trafficking. [Read more...]

Banner photo: RACHEL ROBICHAUX. Used by kind permission.