by TRACY MCVEIGH
It was once considered a holy calling but a BBC film shows that becoming a devadasi is a direct path into sexual exploitation
Hanumvva talks about devadasi life in Sex, Death and Gods by Beeban Kidron.
When she was a three, the red and white beads tied around her neck by the adults in her southern Indian village were a plaything for Hanamavva.
But they marked out her future; never allowed to be married, she was now ostensibly a “servant of God”, a devadasi. Hanamavva had been dedicated to the Hindu goddess Vellamma, an ancient practice which once might have won her a future of comfort and respect, but now doomed her to a squalid life as a prostitute from the age of 13.
“I just wanted to kill myself – I planned to climb to the roof of the brothel and throw myself off but the thought of leaving my family destitute prevented me,” she said. It was five years before she could escape, with her two young sons, and try to make a new life for herself. But even then she still had to fend off the constant –sometimes violent – sexual harrassment by men in her village.
But now Hanamavva has joined a growing grassroots movement in the Indian states where the illegal practice survives. Former devadasi who brave the stigma and social pressures to leave the way of life have formed self-help groups and are fighting to stop other children being dedicated to what is no longer a holy calling to the temples but a direct path into sexual exploitation.
Guardian for more
(Thanks to Salim Amersi)