Although the age-old Devadasi tradition of dedicating a girl to goddess Yellamma was abolished way back in 1984 by the government, many innocent women and their children, who were caught in this outlawed ritual, have continued to suffer throughout their lives in many parts of the state, particularly in areas of north-Karnataka for the past two or three decades with no effective rehabilitation by the government.
While many of the Devadasis, who did manage to escape the tradition, live in acute poverty today, unable to raise their children, others are miserably struggling to fight the stigma still attached to them and their families.
A former Devadasi, Kavita (name changed), 55, who lives in Athani with her 20 year-old daughter has been struggling for the last decade to be accepted by mainstream society. It was her love for her daughter that made her shrug off the shackles of the Devadasi system and create a new life for herself, she says.
Aware of the uphill task ahead, she mustered all her courage to break out. As she expected, it took a while, but things changed for her after she began working as a daily wage worker and sending her daughter to school.
“I confined my life to my job and raising my daughter in an attempt to erase the stigma attached to me. People around me obviously thought my daughter would become another Devadasi, but as time passed, they accepted us and my daughter is now in college. Once she gets her BA degree she will certainly find a good job,” added Kavita, who was a Devadasi for over 20 years before she decided to break out.
“I was dedicated to goddess Yellamma when I was 15 at the Kokatnur temple by my poor parents,” she revealed. When she had her daughter and decided to give up the tradition, the struggle was more than she had anticipated.
“It is extremely difficult to raise a daughter without knowing who her father is. I was not aware of the problems I could face in my new life. My daughter has no choice but to carry my surname. But I got through the hurdles steadily to become a part of mainstream society with my daughter,'' she recounted.
If she has made a new life for herself now, it's no thanks to the government, which has neither given her the paltry pension promised to former Devadasis nor a shelter or help with raising her daughter.
While a few former Devadasis do get pension and other benefits under various government schemes for backward classes, most are fending for themselves, according to her. “Thousands of Devadasis could come into mainstream society if they got the pension and shelter promised by the government,'' she pointed out.
But unfortunately, the Devadasi tradition is still being practiced secretly in the Kokatnur Yellamma temple near Athani, she laments.
“The practice of dedicating girls to the goddess, which once took place openly at the temple, is now done in secrecy away from the temple. The Devadasi rituals are carried out at home and the black bead chain which signifies a girl’s entry into the tradition is tied around her neck. But the prayers are offered at the temple in her absence,” she revealed.
Kavita's solution is to fix CCTV cameras at the Kokatnur and Saudatti Yellamma temples to keep them under surveillance round-the-clock..
Confirming this, Mr B L Patil, chairman of Vimochana, an NGO fighting the Devadasi tradition and rehabilitating their children in Athani, says a recent survey conducted in seven districts of Karnataka had found the tradition was still practised with some modifications in the rituals performed despite the Devadasi Abolition Act of 1984.
“Just bringing in a law cannot put an end to this age-old system. The government needs to provide all the necessary facilities to rehabilitate these Devadasis to encourage more of them to give it up,'' he underlined.
The NGO, for its part, is doing its bit for these women. Over the last 20 years hundreds of children have passed out of the Vimochana School for Devadasi Children. Recently, one daughter of a Devadasi, who did her engineering degree from Belagavi, moved to Delhi for IAS coaching and several others have gone on to doing good jobs, Mr Patil reveals.
Appreciating the decision of Mysore University and Rani Chennamma University to support the education of children of Devadasis and sex workers, he hopes more universities will come forward to do the same.
Another NGO , the Karnataka Mahila Vimochana Sangh, is working to free girls from the Devadasi tradition. A few years ago it raided the houses of some 16 girls on suspicion that they were being dedicated to Goddess Yellamma at Siddapur, near Jamkhandi and found that their parents had neither sent them to schools nor got them married. “Five of these girls had died of HIV, '' recalled the sangh’s vice president, Kallavva Kagi, who believes leaders at the grassroots need to take the initiative to end the tradition.
“Also, the government must give these women loans of upto Rs 20,000 to help them make a new life for themselves,” she suggested.
The government clearly needs to pull up its socks if it has put an end to this ancient tradition that doesn't seem to be dying out yet. Besides taking a relook at its rehabilitation measures for the Devadasis it may have to also rethink its pension policy for them.
Deputy Director of Women and Child Welfare, B A Vantamuri, reveals pension is currently being given only to those Devadasis whose names are in the list prepared by the department after a survey in 1993, although many more are clearly in need of it. The women need to be over 45 to qualify for it.
