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#1
06-08-2007, 08:55 PM
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How the East is affected by God
Slaves to the goddess of fertility
By Damian Grammaticas BBC News, Bagalkot, southern India Devadasis are 'sanctified prostitutes' In a village in southern India a child has just been born. A group of women gather round the cradle, wishing the baby a life full of riches, rubies and pearls. "You're lucky the child is a boy," the women tell the mother. In this society girls are valued far less. The women are all devadasis, literally slaves of the goddess. As children their parents gave them to serve Yellama - the goddess of fertility. Her cult is thousands of years old, her followers spread across southern India. At the temple to Yellama in Saundatti women dance and praise the goddess. The practice of dedicating young girls as devadasis has been outlawed for over 50 years, but still it happens. Anti-slavery campaigners estimate that there are at least 25,000 devadasis in the state of Karnataka alone. Sexual slavery "Being devadasis means we are slaves of the goddess. We have to visit this temple. We wear necklaces of pearls to show we are bound to Yellama. We give blessings and perform her rituals," says Imla, a devadasi in her 40s who is swathed in a pink and yellow sari. When girls dedicated to Yellama reach puberty they are forced to sacrifice their virginity to an older man. What follows is a life of sexual slavery, they become sanctified prostitutes. The money devadasis earn goes straight to their parents who often act as pimps for their daughters. Goddess Yellama's cult is thousands of years old "My parents didn't have any sons, so there was nobody to earn the family a living," says Imla. "Instead they turned me into a whore. I don't even remember when I started because I was so young. My parents thought at least they'd get some money from me." Once girls are dedicated the course of their lives is decided. They can never marry, never have a family life. In a town nearby we found Shoba who is just 20 and has been a devadasi prostitute for seven years. Shoba showed me her brothel, a single room she shares with her parents. She comes from a long line of devadasis. Her grandmother was one, her sister is too. Shoba remembers how, when she was 13 her parents dressed her as if for marriage. They auctioned her virginity to the highest bidder. Tough life "When the first man arrived I thought he was going to marry me," Shoba recalls, "but he slept with me and then never came back. I realised this was now my trade. Every night I was sold to whoever paid the most." Life here on the dry, harsh Deccan plateau has always been tough, especially for girls, who are often seen as a burden for poor families, expensive to marry off. Recent years have been marked by droughts and crop failures. Campaigners say there are 25,000 devadasis in Karnataka state alone The goddess of fertility is seen as a powerful force. Many believe that giving girls to Yellama will bring good fortune on a family. It also means they don't have to save for a dowry, and the daughter becomes a bread-winner. We found Shoba's mother Satyavati tending to her field of sunflowers. Sacrificing their daughter's life has enriched Shoba's parents. "Someone had to continue the tradition. It had to be my daughters," she shrugs. "Because Shoba earns so much money she has been able to build us a house, and she bought these fields. So what's the big deal?" Secret ceremonies Despite campaigns by India's national and state governments, the system of devadasis endures. The number of young girls being dedicated is declining. But now the ceremonies happen in secret, so it is impossible to know exact numbers. I asked Shoba why she doesn't just give up being a devadasi, and leave it behind? "I can't get out of the system, even if I say I'm not a devadasi any more nobody will come forward to marry me," she says. "I keep telling other people not to make their daughters devadasis, you are abused, it's a horrible life." So it's a life that Shoba will never escape from. Women already dedicated cannot be freed. The power of belief is still so strong here that she will always be a devadasi, enslaved. |
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#2
06-08-2007, 09:48 PM
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This has nothing to do with religion per se, its their own customized version of socio-religious practice being peddled off as religion, in Tibet, the Lama would bless the newly married couples by sleeping with the wife, that is his way of anointing. Social ills creep up in every form of religion and are very difficult to weed out unfortunately.
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#3
06-08-2007, 11:12 PM
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Quote:
B |
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#4
06-08-2007, 11:22 PM
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Not my religion, I follow a philosophy which one is born into, so no need to defend, just an observation.
Making a general assumption vis a vis a particular religion is not a good thing, what one does is not necessarily followed or even condoned by others of the same faith, you have to really know the facts and backgrounds before putting a write up like this. The practice of Devadasis although linked to temple is limited only to the region of South India and nowhere else. Its more to do with their society there than to do with anything about the Gods, their is also a practice in South India to marry their own niece to maintain matriarchal family, also there is another practice of mauling their own body to please the so-called Gods, all these are taboos in North and will get you ostracized for sure, so it's social and nothing at all to do with the Gods.
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#5
06-08-2007, 11:31 PM
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Devadasi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Devadasi (Sanskrit: देवदासी, translation: "Servant of God") originally described a Hindu religious practice in which girls were "married" to a deity or temple but is actually a form of prostitution. In addition to taking care of the temple, they learned and practiced Bharatanatyam and other classical Indian arts traditions, and enjoyed a high social status. Devadasi should not be confused with rajadasis and other types of dancers. Devadasis are also known by various other local terms. They are sometimes referred to as a caste; however, some question the accuracy of this usage. "According to the devadasis themselves there exists a devadasi 'way of life' or 'professional ethic' (vritti, murai) but not a devadasi jāti sub-caste. Later, the office of devadasi became hereditary but it did not confer the right to work without adequate qualification" (Amrit Srinivasan, 1985). Women who belonged to the Isai Vellavar (also known as 'Isai Vellaalar') caste would often become Devadasis at the age of 3. Isai Vellalar are none other than that section of Sengunthar Mudaliars or Kaikolars who were associated with the system of Devadasis[1]. In present day, the regular Kaikolars have renamed themselves as Sengunthars and the Kaikolar Devadasis have renamed themselves as Isai Vellalar in order to evade detection and for the purpose of social upliftment in the society[1]. Following the demise of the great Hindu kingdoms the practice degenerated. Pressure from the colonial "reform" movement led to suppression of the practice. Adherents of this movement considered devadasis immoral since they engaged in sex outside of the Christian concept of marriage, and described them as prostitutes. As a result of these social changes, devadasis were left without their traditional means of support and patronage. Colonial views on Devadasis are hotly disputed by several groups and organizations in India and by western academics.[2][3][4][5] Santhaa Reddy, a representative for the National Commission for Women in India, writes that these claims of religious prostitution are little more than vestiges of colonial Eurocentric propaganda.[6] Others prefer to think of Devadasis as courtesans, like the Geisha of Japan, rather than the Eurocentric label of "prostitute"[7] In modern India the tradition has become associated with commercial sexual exploitation, as described in a recent report by the National Human Rights Commission of the Government of India.[8] According to this report, "after initiation as devadasis, women migrate either to nearby towns or other far-off cities to practise prostitution" (p200). A study from 1990 recorded that 45.9% of devadasis in one particular district were prostitutes, while most the rest relied on manual labour and agriculture for their income.[9] The practice of dedicating devadasis was declared illegal by the Government of Karnataka in 1982[10] and the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1988. However the practice is still prevalent in around 10 districts of north Karnataka and 14 districts in Andhra Pradesh.[11] While there are many differences between the devadasi system and the Jogin/Basavi system, the term devadasi has lately been used to refer to all local variants of the system. Thus Jogins are sometimes called devadasis. Contents [hide]//
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#9
06-08-2007, 11:41 PM
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And let me repeat at the cost of redundancy, its limited to South India only, by the way, one look at the Devadasis in that pic would scare away the bravest and horniest of the Gods.
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#10
06-08-2007, 11:42 PM
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Here is th line in question:
This has nothing to do with religion per se, its their own customized version of socio-religious practice being peddled off as religion, .... How can somebody, who makes indications, that actually navigate away from religion, be a 'defender of religion' or have a similar intent to express religion in derfense?
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#11
06-08-2007, 11:47 PM
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Quote:
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#13
06-08-2007, 11:52 PM
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Quote:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=1530824&postcount=10
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#14
06-08-2007, 11:53 PM
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Quote:
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#15
06-08-2007, 11:55 PM
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Quote:
Thank you
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