The last few days have brought many new experiences and brought me to some spectacular parts of India where I have never been before. It's been a great adventure! Heather and I arrived at the OM campus in Hyderabad on Saturday night and spent Sunday here. It is the main hub of OM India, with a lot of training and other activities going on, and we met some interesting people. Coming to Hyderabad felt almost like coming back to the West in comparison to North India, with its good roads, less crowds, fancy shops and bright lights! On Sunday night we took the overnight bus to Belgaum in the state of Karnataka, 4 hours from Goa. The bus journey itself was an experience as this is the time of the Diwali festival (festival of lights) and there are outdoor oil lamps, fireworks and lots of bright coloured lights everywhere. We arrived in Belgaum ahead of schedule at 5am while it was still dark, and here is Heather after we got off the bus, looking lost and abandoned somewhere in the middle of India...
In Belgaum we worked with a tremendous couple who are real movers and shakers, with compelling compassion underpinning everything that they do. The people they work among are mainly the devadasis (temple prostitutes). Devadasi means 'servant of God'. These are women who have been dedicated to the goddess Yellamma (Hindu goddess of fertility), with the purpose of 'serving' the temple and the priests. This means they can not marry a mortal, as they are dedicated/sold to the temple sometimes as young as 4 and are basically dedicated to a life of sex work in the name of religion. This role is often handed down from one generation of women to another. This age-old tradition has been illegal for the last 25 years but still exists in southern India. Wheras devadasis used to live a comfortable life as concubines they are now despised and isolated in their communitites and vulnerable to HIV and other serious health problems.
On our first day in Belgaum we did a 5 hour return trip to visit the Yellamma temple. I had wanted to visit the temple because I knew most of the women we would treat at the medical camp the next day were devadasis, I had read so much about them and wanted to understand more about their situation. I don't know what I had expected from the temple - probably something quite grand. But I merely found it a sad and dirty place. There were whole families worshipping there, and the number of temple prostitutes outside it - from young girls to old ragged women, identifiable by their white and red beads - filled me with such sadness. I still cannot get my head around all these girls and how such abuse and bondage can be accepted as an act of worship. An article from the Guardian (21.1.11) explains that this system is seen as a means for poverty stricken parents to unburden themselves of daughters. Just another expression of the disregard and contempt for girls in this society.
We held our medical camp on the premises of the permanent Good Shepherd clinic, where 80 devadasis from surrounding areas had travelled, along with some regular general patients and others who were HIV +ve but not from the devadasi community. I would so have loved hearing some of their stories... but there was a lot of work and a lot of patients to get through so we needed to keep working as hard as we could while there was still daylight. (Lack of electricity and some equipment called for some improvisation - all part of the fun!) We did vital signs, blood sugar checks, Hepatitis B vaccinations and oral medication for various sexually transmitted infections. The majority of the patients were HIV +ve and for those who didn't know their status we had HIV testing kits. We also had a doctor for the more general stuff, and Heather was able to carry out the examinations of the women as well as giving a sexual health talk at the end. These were beautiful women, many with beautiful children in tow, some of whom also had HIV. Seeing these children was the most difficult thing for me... There was a real sense of community and support among the women. None of them will ever be able to marry, and they really only have each other.
I did ask the question whether anything is being done to encourage the devadasi women to come out of their sex work. The answer is that it is an incredibly complex situation. For most of them it is the only means they have to feed themselves and their children. They live hand to mouth - what they earn today will be spent on today's food, and so it continues tomorrow and the day after. So the emphasis of the work right now is to love them, keep them as safe and healthy as possible, empower them through sexual health promotion and give them dignity and worth as daughters of God. I loved the fact that there was a directory already of the devadasiss names and their children, and that our clinic yesterday was part of a continuous commitment to them and they will be followed up regularly. There ARE plans to have a home/vocational training centre established for this community, and we were shown the land that has been purchased for this purpose. Also there are plans for a dalit school and a small hospital on the same land. This plot is situated in the most beautiful and fertile landscape, with sweetcorn and sugar beet plantations all around - it was so exciting to be able to see it and pray over it and share some of this vision.
In Belgaum we worked with a tremendous couple who are real movers and shakers, with compelling compassion underpinning everything that they do. The people they work among are mainly the devadasis (temple prostitutes). Devadasi means 'servant of God'. These are women who have been dedicated to the goddess Yellamma (Hindu goddess of fertility), with the purpose of 'serving' the temple and the priests. This means they can not marry a mortal, as they are dedicated/sold to the temple sometimes as young as 4 and are basically dedicated to a life of sex work in the name of religion. This role is often handed down from one generation of women to another. This age-old tradition has been illegal for the last 25 years but still exists in southern India. Wheras devadasis used to live a comfortable life as concubines they are now despised and isolated in their communitites and vulnerable to HIV and other serious health problems.
On our first day in Belgaum we did a 5 hour return trip to visit the Yellamma temple. I had wanted to visit the temple because I knew most of the women we would treat at the medical camp the next day were devadasis, I had read so much about them and wanted to understand more about their situation. I don't know what I had expected from the temple - probably something quite grand. But I merely found it a sad and dirty place. There were whole families worshipping there, and the number of temple prostitutes outside it - from young girls to old ragged women, identifiable by their white and red beads - filled me with such sadness. I still cannot get my head around all these girls and how such abuse and bondage can be accepted as an act of worship. An article from the Guardian (21.1.11) explains that this system is seen as a means for poverty stricken parents to unburden themselves of daughters. Just another expression of the disregard and contempt for girls in this society.
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| Ritual washing in the river before entering the temple |
We held our medical camp on the premises of the permanent Good Shepherd clinic, where 80 devadasis from surrounding areas had travelled, along with some regular general patients and others who were HIV +ve but not from the devadasi community. I would so have loved hearing some of their stories... but there was a lot of work and a lot of patients to get through so we needed to keep working as hard as we could while there was still daylight. (Lack of electricity and some equipment called for some improvisation - all part of the fun!) We did vital signs, blood sugar checks, Hepatitis B vaccinations and oral medication for various sexually transmitted infections. The majority of the patients were HIV +ve and for those who didn't know their status we had HIV testing kits. We also had a doctor for the more general stuff, and Heather was able to carry out the examinations of the women as well as giving a sexual health talk at the end. These were beautiful women, many with beautiful children in tow, some of whom also had HIV. Seeing these children was the most difficult thing for me... There was a real sense of community and support among the women. None of them will ever be able to marry, and they really only have each other.
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I did ask the question whether anything is being done to encourage the devadasi women to come out of their sex work. The answer is that it is an incredibly complex situation. For most of them it is the only means they have to feed themselves and their children. They live hand to mouth - what they earn today will be spent on today's food, and so it continues tomorrow and the day after. So the emphasis of the work right now is to love them, keep them as safe and healthy as possible, empower them through sexual health promotion and give them dignity and worth as daughters of God. I loved the fact that there was a directory already of the devadasiss names and their children, and that our clinic yesterday was part of a continuous commitment to them and they will be followed up regularly. There ARE plans to have a home/vocational training centre established for this community, and we were shown the land that has been purchased for this purpose. Also there are plans for a dalit school and a small hospital on the same land. This plot is situated in the most beautiful and fertile landscape, with sweetcorn and sugar beet plantations all around - it was so exciting to be able to see it and pray over it and share some of this vision.
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| Thangaraj sharing his vision |
Devadasi's Saga
By: Zoya Zaidi( She is not a Devadasi)
I could hear the temple bell
ringing in my ears
The day I was born
To an unwedded mother, or rather
my mother was 'married' to the temple!
But,
The Temple was not my father!
I could hear the temple bells
Ringing in my ears.
I cold hear the temple walls,
heaving sighs in the dead of night,
Sighs of satisfaction.
I could hear my mother's sobs,
Intermingled with the sighs,
sighs of dissatisfaction.
As I slept on the cold-rough stone,
My cradle in the darkest chamber,
Where light hardly ever entered,
I missed a father's loving touch,
When I asked my mother,
She said:
The temple was my father!
Then one day, through the
Half shut doors, I saw;
The priest heaving and hawing,
Full of sweat.
The pained surprise in my mother's eyes,
(On being so exposed),
Silently beseeching me
With helpless tearful eyes:
"Go away! You're still too young!"
But one day, I grew up!
I felt the "touch",
A creeping crawling, lustful touch,
The expression in the priest's eyes
Matched the touch,
As he held me in his clutch.
Nausea welled up in my throat:
It was not a father's touch,
I could feel it in my innocent bones.
Then Another, and Another.
Now, I am "My Mother".
Like her, I do not know,
the father of the baby in my womb.
Like my mother, I am going to
Tell my daughter:
"Temple is your father!"
This has gone on for centuries,
And still goes on.
This will go on forever.
I am the Devadasi of the Temple.
Temples may crumble,
But,
I will go on
Forever.
