June - 2014

Odisha Review

Tradition of Devadasi :
A Conceptual Framework
in India and Abroad
Dr. Purna Chandra Mishra

he antiquity of the devadasi tradition mystifies

its origin. But the inscriptional sources and
the temple architectures provide certain relevant
and significant information regarding this holy
tradition.
A devadasi was popularly known as
devoted temple dancer. She uses to perform her
dances with a view to entertaining the Lords or
Gods, but certainly not to the human beings. But
because the people use to witness such dances,
Devadasi became a source of entertainment for
the folk.
In the ancient times the devadasis were
divided into seven categories. They are known
as Dutta, Hruta, Bikrita, Bhrutya, Alankara
and Gopika or Rudraganika. Such categories
reveal the origin and status of the devadasis.
When a sacred man offered his daughter
to a temple as a devadasi, she is known as Dutta
devadasi. But when a lady was kidnapped and
subsequently employed in a temple, she is known
as Hruta devadasi. Sometimes when a lady
was sold to the administrator or the priest of a
temple, she is known as Bikrita devadasi. If a
lady voluntarily worked in a temple as a devadasi,
she is known as Bhrutya devadasi. Some
women who devotionally offered themselves to
serve the temple are known as Bhakta

devadasi. When a woman after attaining a

certain degree of competence, is offered to the
temple with ornaments, she is known as
Alankara devadasi. The devadasis who were
getting remunerations for offering dance and music
in the temple in a particular time became identified
as Gopika or Rudraganika. These classes
of the devadasi were receiving fixed
remunerations and some landed property for their
personal use.
The devadasi tradition was prevalent in
the Hindu Temples of Southern India. There was
a custom amongst the Korea (weaver) community
of Chigalput district of Madras that they had to
donate or offer their eldest daughter to a temple.
These girls were called Basava in Telugu and
Murali in Maharastra. Some of them were
actually led a sacred and celebrated life devoting
themselves to God. Some others became the
victims of the sexual lust of the priests and other
temple officers and sometimes even of the
influential people of the community.
The devadasi tradition was prevalent in
Karnatak, Maharastra, Madras, Kerala, Goa,
and Andhra Pradesh. In the inscriptions of
southern India some kings, queens and royal
families donated lands for the perpetuation of this
holy tradition in a particular temple. There are
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some information available regarding devadasi

traditions in the temple inscriptions of
Korangunathan,
Pipilikeswar
and
Sundereswar of Trichinapalli district. In 12t h
century, Chalukyaing Vikramaditya I established
a holy temple in the name of Chandaleswar and
collected some beautiful ladies from different
countries and employed them as temple-dancer
or devadasis.
This tradition was also prevalent in some
places in the eastern India. Now in the Garo hills
of Assam there is a tribal community who has
known as maharies. There are some similarities
between the maharies of Puri and Garo hills.
In the holy temple of Lord Jagannath at
Puri, this dancing girl tradition was prevalent too.
There is a dancing ritual in the temple of Lord
Jagannath at the time of the Lords retirement to
sleep. For this purpose special sebakas were
employed. They were known as devadasis and
their dance was known as devadasi dance or
mahari dance.
Descriptions on the rituals of dancing in
different inscriptions of India were available. In
the stone inscription of Yogimara Cave (3r d
century B.C.), Bhujabeswar Temple (975 A.D.),
Kalipadaswami Temple (1018 A.D.),
Brahmeswar Temple (1053 A.D.), Megheswar
Temple (1070 A.D.), Sovaneswar Temple
(1080 A.D.), Narendreswar Temple (1083
A.D.), Mukhalingam Temple (11th century
A.D.), Jaladiswar Temple (1144 A.D.),
Agastiswar Temple (1158 A.D.), Laxmi
Nrusingha Temple of Simanchalam (15th century
A.D.) and Sri Jagannath Temple (16th century
A.D.) there were some evidences of dancing
rituals or the devadasi traditions.
Even in the ancient Indian culture the
queens in the royal palace were adept in dance
and music. The queens of Gangaudayaditya and
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the three queens of Hiochillaballa 1st were experts

in dancing. Sabaldevi, the queen of Somadeva of
Kalachuri was also an expert in singing and
dancing. During the reign of Raj Raj 1st of Chola
four hundred dancing girls were appointed in the
temple of Tanjore. Bhattadeva, the minister of
Haribarman of East Bengal also appointed one
hundred dancing girls in the temple of Ananta
Basudev. In a Siva Temple of Deopara of East
Bengal many Devadasis were employed during
the reign of Vijaya Sen. At the time of
Chandellamadan Verman, Padmabati was
appointed as the dancer- in- chief in the
Nilakantha Temple of Kalanjar.
The rain-dance of Rajabansi of
Kuchvihar bears resemblance to the devadasi
dance. They called this dance as nude-dance.
Some women were dancing nude in front of their
holy deity in a forest.
In Kalhanas Rajatarangini there are
some descriptions about the dancing girls, who
were attached to the temples in Kashmir from
ancient time. In Kalhanas own time the dancing
women of the temples appear to have been keenly
interested in politics. In this book he gave some
information that there were some instances of
dancing girls of the temples who became consorts
of kings.
In the Meghadutam of Kalidas,
Mruchhakatika of Sudraka, Kultinimata of
Damodara Bhatta, Samayamatruka and
Srungarmanjari of Kshemendra, Ramacharita
of Sandhyakara Nandi, in Saduktikarmamruta
there were some information about the dancing
girls.
Not only in India but also in some of the
Western countries, such types of ritual dances
were in vogue. From the Ankor Borei inscription
of Cambodia or ancient Kambuja, it is found that
seven dancing girls, eleven singers and four

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Odisha Review

violinists were appointed in the temple. The time

of this inscription is 533 Sakabda i.e. 611 A.D.
In the countries like Egypt, Greece, Assyria,
Phinisia and Babylon etc. this type of dance was
also found. In Arsmenia there was a tradition or
principle that the nobles employed their unmarried
daughters for the service of Goddess Anaitis. In
Babylon not a single girl before her marriage could
be spared from this type of duty. This was a
binding obligation at the time. But the custom of
dancing after marriage was not an obligation. In
the exodus of Bible there are also some references
to such dances. There was also information
regarding devadasi tradition of Babylon. Ishtar
was the famous deity of Babylon. Devadasis were
appointed as the Ishtar. A strange custom was
prevalent in Babylon in which the matured girls
were asked to sit in the temple Ishtar, whoever
would drop a silver coin to any girl of the queue,
she used to become his property and the person
establishes his relationship with her. This practice
was not at all appreciated by many, as it laid open
the sexual escapades. They treated it a kind of
exploitation. But at the same time the historians
Herodotus recorded that the money earned
through such practice by the girls was considered
to be holy in Babylon and Cyprus. The Hebrew
Quadeshah belonged to this category.
Arthasastra of Kautilya informed that the royal
treasury accepted such money as the property of
the Kingdom.

1400 B.C. Amos Hotep Thibes III of Missore

constructed a beautiful temple and established the
deity. He had conquered many countries and
collected funds. To accredit his triumphal march
he had constructed temples, donated funds for
the rites and rituals of the temple and engaged
devadasis. There was a document known as
Great Harris Papyrus in which there was
description that Ramesis III donated 84, 486
servants and devadasis etc. and many landed
property to the temple of Amon. Some historians
are of the opinion that this was the most primitive
record of devadasi tradition of the world.

Marco Polo also described that in his time

parents were dedicating their daughters to the
Gods. They (parents) kept their daughter with
them for dancing services in the temples on
important festive occasions. This ritual was
repeated till the day of their marriage.

The tradition of dancing girl could be

located in Rome. Historical evidences of the
appointment of dancing girls or devadasis in the
temple of Juno, Venus and Jews at Rome were
also recorded.

This devadasi tradition prevailed in

Missore, the most ancient civilized country of the
world. The deity of this country was Amman. In

In the history of Greece there is some

information of devadasis. The devadasis were
appointed in the temple of Apple, the Sun God.
They were exhibiting dance in the temple and it
was enjoyed by the temple priests, kings and
powerful persons etc.
But in Carthege town situated on the
northern coast of Africa, there was a traditional
religious belief which was known as Punic. This
religion imposed the human sacrifice and child
sacrifice. Tanith was the famous deity of Carthege.
In this temple a record was available which
indicated that ladies were also purchased along
with the animals for the purpose of the temple.
Some historians interpreted it as an evidence of
dancing girl tradition. But in Phinicia in northern
coast of Africa, there were some instances about
the tradition of temple dancer or devadasis.

In the Inca civilization of South America,

there were some instances about the dancing girl
tradition. The king of Inca identified himself as
the son of the sun. In this state sun temple were
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Odisha Review

managed by the priests. The priests were selecting

tiny and pretty girls and took them to Cuzco, an
educational institution and educated them. When
these girls got maturity, they had to live as the
kept of the king or they had to stay at the temple
as the virgins of the Sun.
From these above information we came
to know that in India and abroad some girls were
engaged in the service of the Gods and Goddess
as dancing girls. But analyzing the history of
religious tradition it is found that some matured
girls were appointed or employed as the templedancers or devadasis for the entertainment of the
Gods. It was a sacred service. From these girls
those who were not maintaining their sacred life,
they were constrained to accept prostitution. For
this not only the devadasis were responsible, but
also the priests who were creating manipulation
in the religion were also responsible.
Consequently this tradition of converting
women particularly virgins into devadasi was
responsible for spreading prostitution in ancient
Near East (Mesopotamia, Syria, Canaan,
Analolia, Cyprus, Greece). The Goddesses
concerned were Ishtar, Astrate, Ma, Anaitis and
Aphrodite etc.
This sacred devadasi tradition was
responsible for the establishment of prostitution
as an independent service. So in the temples,
temple-dancers or devadasis, in the courts the
court dancers, and city dancers in cities were seen.
In the countries like Greece, the city dancer was
given the highest privileges. These city dancers
were known as hataera. Many intellectuals and
educated persons used to visit their houses. They
not only discussed with the dancers but also learnt
their opinions, proposals and suggestions on
various issues. Like Greece, geisha dancers in
Japan had a social reputation. These geisha
dancers were very beautiful, educated as well as
fond of dance and music. They could attract the
public by their art performances. But in the later
36

period they did not maintain their sacred life and

joined in the profession of prostitution.
The tradition of devadasi was very
famous not only in India but also in the countries
beyond India. But due to the illegal, irreligious
attitudes of some priests, nobles and powerful
persons, this sacred tradition became extremely
polluted. Because of the degeneration of the
sacred tradition, the reformers were compelled
to abolish ritualistic practice of devadasis.
References :
1.

Basham, A.L., 1959, The Wonder that was India,

New York.

2.

Brandon, S.G.F. (Ed.), 1970, A Dictionary of

Comparative Religion, London.

3.

Chatterjee, S., 1945, Devadasi, Calcutta.

4.

Gangopadhyaya, Arati, 1982, Prasanga Devadasi

(Bengali) Calcutta.

5.

Lient, H., 1949, Sexual Life in ancient Greece.

6.

Mansing, (Dr.) Mayadhar, (No date), Saga of the

Land of Lord Jagannath, Cuttack.

7.

Marglin, F.A., 1985, Wives of the God-King, Delhi.

8.

Pandit, R.S., (Tra.),

Rajatarangini, Delhi.

9.

Rajguru, S.N., 1960, Inscriptions of Orissa, Vol.III,

pt. I, Bhubaneswar.

10.

Sags, H.W.F., 1962, The Greatness that was

Babylon.

11.

Sastri, R. Sharma, 1939, South Indian Inscriptions,

Vol. IX, pt. I, Madras.

12.

Sinha, S.N. and Basu, N.K., 1933, History of

Prostitution in Ancient India, Calcutta.

13.

Sreenivasan, K., 1976, Devadasi, Madras.

14.

Story, S.C.K., 1987, Nityasumangali, Madras.

15.

Tripathy, K.B., (No date), Evolution of Oriya

Language and Script, Cuttack.

1977,

Kalhanas

Dr. Purna Chandra Mishra, 109, Chandraprabha Sahi2, Berhampur-760001, Ganjam, E-mail ID:
[email protected]