A group of women who have lived as devadasis are part of a church-initiated self-help group that Sr. Amala Rani, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes, coordinates in Bijapur. Thomas Scaria. Gadyamma, who has been living as a devadasi since childhood, does not want her daughter to follow the oppressive tradition of being a female dancer in Hindu temples. Devadasis are part of a religiously sanctioned ancient system in southern India, where girls are offered as "slaves of god or goddess" — the literal translation of devadasis — just before they reach puberty.
As a devadasi, they serve the temple in religious rituals, music, dance, and religious service. Over the years, this custom became a forced dedication to a life of prostitution and dance, especially to entertain the temple priests and the high caste elites. While temple services are unpaid, girls depend on paid sex work for their living.
The state banned the tradition under the Karnataka Devadasis Prohibition of Dedication Act in , though today it continues as a clandestine practice outside temples. The devadasi system also once prevailed in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra, where it's now abolished. Gadyamma, a devadasi temple dancer who has benefitted from a Catholic initiative to eradicate the age-old enslaving tradition in southern India Thomas Scaria.
Gadyamma and several other women from Karnataka's devadasi community are slowly getting out of the age-old tradition, thanks to Catholic nuns from six congregations who collaborate with the Jesuits. Joseph of Tarbes Sr. According to some nongovernmental organization estimates , around 80, devadasis now live in the state of Karnataka, although the last official government survey on them was in , which put the number at about 40, Despite a year-old ban on the practice, hundreds of such girls — mostly from India's lowest caste, the Dalit communities formerly known as "untouchables" — are dedicated to the goddess Yellamma at Saudatti temple, some 80 miles south of Bijapur.
While the young girls spend time in the temple as dancers and religiously sanctioned sex workers, the older ones go to brothels in cities like Mumbai, India's commercial capital. The Catholic nuns are engaged in educating the children of devadasis, the rehabilitation of HIV-infected women and children, and the socioeconomic empowerment of these women.
