Joginis Face Hurdles in Filling SIR Forms

Adilabad:Joginis — victim of a system were women were dedicated as girls to worship and service of village deities — and their children are facing difficulties in filling enumeration forms under the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.

Living as single women, Joginis suffer social stigma in villages due to the banned system. Rough estimates put their number at 30,000 in Telangana. They are found in Budhavarpet and Kuranpet in Nirmal town, in Kuntala, Laxmanchanda, Mamada and Sarangapur mandals of Nirmal district, and in parts of Adilabad. Known also as Basavini, Mathangi, Shivaparvathulu and Devadasi in different regions, Joginis live in villages serving deities, but their children grow up without fathers taking responsibility.

Some Joginis list their mothers as guardians. In villages, making a girl a Jogini is called Patnalu Kattichudu. Posani, a Jogini from Bokkalaguda in Adilabad town, expressed confusion over how to fill her enumeration form, unsure whose name to furnish as husband.

Social activist Narender Nimmala said both Joginis and booth level officers (BLOs) are confused about the details to be entered. He urged district officials to educate BLOs about the Joginis’ background and help them fill forms, warning that failure to enrol them could deprive them of welfare schemes.

Some Joginis list their mother’s or grandfather’s name as guardian and “Potharaju” as husband in school applications or other documents. Telangana Potharajula Sankshema Sangham founder president Mahipal Prabhudas requested the State Election Commission to study the Jogini system and issue clear guidelines to BLOs. He noted that Joginis traditionally furnished “Potharaju” as husband and father in government records.

Prabhudas said most Joginis belong to Scheduled Castes and were exploited by upper‑caste feudal lords.

Joginis are women dedicated as girls to village deities, later considered single women for welfare schemes like pensions. Potharaju, a traditional non‑Brahmin priest, ties the knot to initiate them, acting as priest and husband. The girl is then dedicated to the deity and forced to live a harsh life. Many Joginis become pregnant after exploitation by landlords and consider Potharaju the father of their children.

The system is imposed largely on women of the Scheduled Castes and sometimes the Backward Classes communities. A government‑appointed one‑man commission led by V. Raghunath Rao studied the problems of Joginis, Mathangis, Devadasis and Basavis in undivided Andhra Pradesh. Between 1996 and 2004, 646 Jogini families were identified in 12 mandals of Adilabad district.

Large numbers of Shiva Parvathulu — men and women dedicated to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi — are found at Rajarajeswara Swamy temple in Vemulawada, Rajanna Sircilla district, living by begging. In 2013, authorities identified 646 Joginis in Adilabad, including 160 in Lokeshwaram mandal alone.