The Devadasi system in the Karnataka region, which traces its origins to the close of eighth century, underwent a massive transformation through centuries. The system which flourished in Mysore province under the patronage of Wadiyars at a point of time started seeing opposition by the 19th century due to the regressive practices within it, influence of colonial morals and the onset of the anti-nautch movement. By 1908, Mysore became one of the earliest regions in Southern India to abolish the practice. 

“It did not happen in Madras till 1947. Mysore achieved it by administrative fiat as early as 1908-1909,” said historian Janaki Nair, while delivering a talk on “The Abolition of the Devadasi and her Dance” at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC). It was part of a four-part series on Mysore region’s history delivered by Nair.

The dancing girls

As per Devadasis in Karnataka by Awadh Kishore Prasad, the oldest available inscriptions show one Aridari Paleyamma dedicating “a virgin, along with eight mattars of land, 1,000 cows and a swing for the deity,” to a local temple in “Mayile” village in 800 AD. More records emerge in the years that follow, indicating the presence of devadasis or “dancing girls” in Jain, Shaivite and Vaishnavite temples across the region.

By the end of 10th century, dedicating young girls to temples to perform services such as dancing, singing, drum beating, fanning the deities, carrying sacred aaratis and participating in temple processions became an established system.  

Portions of land or significant sums of money were set apart for the women and their expenses. The inscriptions on the wall of the Rajarajesvara temple in Thanjavur records the names of the 400 devadasis of the temple and their remuneration in the form land grants. Prasad cites an epigraph which mentions a grant of money for various items including ‘looking glass of the dancing girls’ and “the grant was to continue as long as sun and moon exist.” 

Many of the Devadasis rose in prominence and enjoyed significant wealth and social standing. A matrilinear tradition, the Devadasi system allowed the adoption of girls, and inheritance was through females. The institution of Devadasis – A study in the princely state of Mysore (1610 – 1910) by B.V. Sudhamani, cited by Nair in her talks, shows that the girls belonged to various castes such as Kurubas, Bedas, Gangadikara Vokkaligas, Telugu Banajigas and Lingayats, and formed a certain class in the society having their own laws of inheritance, rules of etiquettes and even panchayats. 

“The dedicated girl went through rigorous training in nritya and geeta. They were entitled to grants of land or of money and sometimes these grants were given by upper caste women themselves,” Nair points out. 

High social stature

During the reign of Wadiyars, Devadasis resided and performed in temples in cities and towns including Mysore, Bangalore, Mulbagal, Kadoor, T. Narsipur and so on, and were supported by merchants, landlords and art connoisseurs. Krishnaraja Wadiyar III employed none other than Chinnayya Pille of the Thanjavur Quartet to train the dancers. According to findings by Sudhamani, the social stature of the dancers was such that during several weddings, apart from the groom, the devadasis (considered nitya sumangalis and hence auspicious) tied a second tali around the bride’s neck. 

“The social importance to these ladies was probably due to firstly their knowledge of fine arts, secondly their learning and catholicity due to greater exposure than the ordinary women in society. Thirdly due to the practice of polygamy in the Hindu society which was extended to include not only the wedded wife but also illegal wives and concubines. As a result, a dancing girl who was not very rigid about having contact with a single man only was not looked down upon. And lastly because of the economic status, which was particularly due to their land holdings,” writes Sudhamani.

Grants given to Devadasis reached a peak in the 12th century. Their posts were permanent and hereditary. When a devadasi of a temple breathed her last, all the usual and traditional activities of the temple like offering puja, food, Kumbarathi, etc., come to a grinding halt and all the resources of the temple both men and materials were diverted towards offering a decent burial to the Devadasi, shows Sudhamani‘s findings.

Beginning of the end

The Devadasis started seeing a decline in their social status by around the 18th century. While exploitation of women within the community became more rampant on one side, Western morals seeped into the larger conscience of the Indian society on the other side. As a result, the tendency to equate the system to prostitution became stronger. By the 19th and 20th centuries the anti-nautch agitation to abolish the practice of dedicating girls to the system gained significant momentum. The colonial rulers and the missionaries considered the women and their practice immoral. 

“In the 1890s a newly appointed Muzrai commissioner called A Srinivasacharlu comes into picture from Madras presidency where there was an active anti-nautch movement,” says Nair.  

Muzrai being the department then responsible for the care of temples etc., produced elaborate annual accounts of payments, grants and expenses. Acharlu was puzzled on receiving a bill from a dancer called Ramamani for rupees 12 to perform tafe (derived from Tawayif) services at the Bhoganandeshwara temple in Nandi Durg. While he agreed reluctantly to pay it, he had other plans for the days to come.

“He had a mission. He came from a background of having been involved in the anti-nautch movement which was raging in the Madras presidency. By 1898 he says that he would not reappoint Devadasi to positions in Muzrai temples once they deceased,” Nair says.

This caused consternation among the Devadasi community prompting them to write a petition to the Maharaja in 1905 and then to the Muzrai commissioner himself to protect the Hindu Dharma and to allow the Devadasis to perform their duties. They claimed it was enjoined by the scriptures. 

Following this, Acharlu wrote twice to the Agama Shastris, first to enquire if it was really enjoined in the Hindu scriptures that the Devadasis must perform their dance, and second, to understand whether the women were expected to be celibate.  

“The key issue was that they were engaging in certain kinds of sexual services alongside their performance of these duties of singing and dancing. This was what had disturbed the elite, especially the Brahminical elite in Madras presidency,” Nair notes.  

The Shastris responded saying strict Brahmacharya was expected from the Devadasis and exhorted the commissioner to make them follow sastraic injunctions for the “good of the country, the king and the people.”

“This was the handle he needed to proceed further. With great gusto, he proceeded to discontinue the services of women in these temples across Mysore, in Kadur, Tumkur, Kolar and so on,” Nair adds. 

The transformation

Sadir or Dasiyattam, the dance form performed by Devadasis was erotic in nature. One of the interesting outcomes of the move to abolish the tradition was the emergence of a sanitised form of it which became acceptable for women of the dominant castes to learn and perform, points out Nair who terms it a massive shift in terms of caste and content.  

“From a caste which was considered slightly dubious in terms of ritual status to a caste which is by far the highest caste in the entire system, adopting, taking on and actually performing both the dance and the song in ways that have become a new national cultural kind of asset, this process of sanitizing the sadir was something that took time and was established. The performances were no longer happening in temples, but in more secular kinds of locations,” says Nair.

She also points out how, around this time, woman as the figure of reform was receiving a lot of attention.  

In 1894, Mysore brought in the Infant Marriage regulation prohibiting the marriage of girls below 8 years and stipulating that the age gap between the girl and the husband cannot be more than 30 years. In the context of a large number of child widows in the state, one of the intentions of the legislation was to prevent widowhood, which was seen as a kind of social debt, Nair notes. 

Yet another development was Mysore, in 1933, introducing the legislation allowing Hindu women the right to property. Interestingly, when Acharlu set the ball rolling for abolishing the Devadasi tradition, he also ordered that the land grants of the Devadasis could be resumed causing a major transformation in the economic position of Devadasis. Successors of people who had donated lands and given grants to the Devadasis decided to reclaim those and court battles ensued. 

Putting multiple such developments together, Nair makes an interesting observation. 

“The kind of legislative largesse that they were giving to a particular section of women, obviously endowed women, was ironically happening at the same time when Devadasis were being divested of their property… The kinds of reform efforts that were being undertaken by the state were a mixture of things that ended up benefiting a certain kind of group rather than others and in fact having a very negative effect on other castes at this time.” 

(Janaki Nair’s four-part master classes can be accessed at BIC’s youtube channel.)