While the nation is celebrating the Amrit Kal of our independence from the British rule in 1947, it is also Amrit Kal time of the abolition of the Devadasi System in India. The Devadasi system was practised all over India, till it was abolished on 9 October, 1947 through the Madras Devadasi Act. The Madras Presidency has always been very progressive to pass laws which have led to social reform e. g it was the first to pass a law, permitting dalits to be priests, thereby ending the age old domination of the brahmins. Now the law gave Devadasis the legal right to marry, it also made illegal to dedicate girls to temples, thereby paving the pathway towards the education of young girls.
The initiation ceremony of a bhavin, kulambini or a kalavant was done through a ritual termed shens-vidhi. This was a marriage ceremony holding a hibiscus flower or another girl dressed as a groom, holding a coconut and a knife in her hand. This ceremony implied conjugal relationship with the divine and therefore not permitted to marry another man. While the British never took the bold step of passing a law to abolish this system, the Portuguese issued a diploma legislative No.425 dated 31st July 1930 banning the shens-vidhi in the territory of Estado da India. For whatever the Portuguese have been blamed for many reasons as a colonial power but this is one commendable decision that they took, which helped young girls lead a normal life.
The Portuguese may be accused of being very strict in their work of lusitanisation but in the area of legal reform, the colonial powers were very progressive, take their Civil Code, which is tom tombed as the Uniform Civil law, worth emulating by the rest of the country. Even the Hindu widows were assured of their share of their husband’s property. The practice of Sati was banned by the Portuguese Governor General Afonso de Albuquerque in 1515, much before it was banned by the British Governor-General, Lord William Bentick in1829.
This topic is a very sensitive one because this was a system where religion and tradition were used to victimize a young girl into a system that she never herself chose. If given the right education, these young girls could have aspired to be doctors, scientists or any other professionals but their minds were conditioned into believing that, ‘serving God was a righteous act of devotion’ and therefore whatever the temple priest said or did was an act of divinity.
These women were beautiful both from within and from outside. Normally in the kalavant (the word itself means a women of many talents) community the average looking girls were married off while the prettier ones were offered to God. They were talented dancers, singers, always well dressed, gentle and soft spoken and must have been excellent conversationalists, and a pleasure to be with, sometime in stark contrast to the legally wed wives at home! Formal education was not generally imparted to women except dancing girls, so they were educated not only in the arts like music, dance but also literature, poetry and learning. Some of them were the first to learn to read and write in Portuguese. They usually learnt Hindustani classical vocal or danced and played musical instruments in the temples.
The bhavins (female) and Deulis (male) were employees of the Hindu temples. Their work included cleaning the palanquin, fanning the deity, lighting lamps. And singing devotional songs, they also carried the lamps when the temple deity was taken in procession. Anant Priolkar attributes the non-adherence of Sati, as a reason why those women who would not burn themselves became public prostitutes and earned money for the upkeep and construction of temples till the last day of their lives.
In Goa and Karwar there is a caste called Devali, among whom some women do not marry but practise prostitution and work for the village temple. Another theory of the origin of this pernicious system is the fulfilment of a vow made in return for divine blessing by offering the first child to God. There were different types of devadasis, or different manners of arrival in temple service e.g. datta (given); vikrita (sold); bhritya (servant or slave); bhakti (devotee); hata (captured).
B. D. Satoskar quotes Bharatiya Sanskriti Kosha, saying that the offerings made to God are in fact accepted by the priest and yet are supposed to be received by God, so the notion was propagated that a devadasi offering her body to the priest was making an offering ultimately received by God; and gradually she slipped into being available for the pleasure of rulers, sardars and big landlords.
The Portuguese termed these dancing women as bailadeiras, locally called Kalavants or Naiquinis. Later rich men from upper castes patronised these women. Among the kalavants, especially the girl’s elders would try to arrange a relationship with some well-born, well-to-do upper caste man to whom she would become something like a morganatic wife and a kept mistress. The yajman (protector) would send part of the year at her house and consider her household and family his own. The kalavantinis or kolvonts in Goa were known for their faith fullness to one man throughout their lives. Some of them even voluntarily accepted widowhood on his death.
Dr Malbarao Sardessai, famous musicologist and master of percussion instruments criticizes those ‘men of status and power’ who long ago “put aside the actual meaning of devadasi as handmaidens of God and regarded them as servants of mortal men”. These artists were permitted to live in or near the temples and to share in the temple revenue with the temple priest, so that they could concentrate on the religious cultivation of their arts. Records show that devadasis were sometimes given grants of the temple lands for their support.
Because of the absence of the institution of marriage from the code of the community, descent was more importantly reckoned from mother to daughter. The son of a devdasi was not specifically barred from marriage. The various sub-castes of kalavant, bhavini, perani, farjand etc. have merged into a new caste known as the Gomantaka Marathas, whose members have been very influential in the social and political life of Goa.
Castes and sub-castes based on birth and privilege have no place in a progressive and educated society. Faith and religion are private beliefs but even these cannot be permitted to degrade a human being or not permit the person to the right of education. Today is the age of gender equity, when a person’s intelligence, hard work and service to the community define ‘beauty and worth’. Irrespective of the gender!
The passing of laws needs to be backed by the changing of societal attitudes and so a lion’s share of this change must go to the work done by the local social reformers like Rajaram Painginkar and others who worked relentlessly in this field and freed young girls from the shackles of an age long oppression. Today the community is educated and have distinguished themselves in many fields. They have moved on and not allow their past to haunt their future. Kudos to them!
(Prof (Dr ) Sushila Sawant Mendes is an Author and Professor in History, Govt College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Quepem)