Dipali, I agree that the devidasi are an important element of this story, especially because they are full-time temple-associated women who dance and who are not bound by conventional sexuality (i.e. marry young and stay faithful). One problem with them is that they have been romanticized or decried by Westerners for so long, and the West has at various times had such an influence on Indians' interpretations of their own culture, that it is very hard to get a true picture. One very interesting book on the subject, dating to the mid-1970's, is Frances King's *Wives of the God-King*, a serious anthropological study of the remaining devidasi at Puri. To summarize briefly one relevant point, the devidasi were not conventional in their sexuality, but they were also not prostitutes. Because of the ritual necessity of marriage to the god-king, they could not marry, but they often did form lasting relationships, sometimes with wealthy men who became temple patrons, at other times with less exalted defacto spouses. They certainly weren't there to service male temple personnel (one story I've heard) or to turn tricks for the temple treasury (another fiction).
India is a big place and customs change. But I think the devidasi also were casually defined by us as prostitutes ultimately because of Herodotus and the 19th century mythic thinkers, and because the 19th century Western colonials were not especially open-minded about the value of other interpretations of the family, appropriate moral behavior, or the divine.
Joy in dance,
Andrea
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"I am not contradictory, I am dispersed." (Roland Barthes)
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