Servants of the Goddess , livre ebook

Random House Publishers India Pvt. Ltd. - Rubin Kermorgant Catherine

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159 pages

English

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Servants of the Goddess weaves together the heartbreaking, yet paradoxically life-affirming stories of five devadasis-women, in the clutches of an ancient fertility cult, forced to serve the gods. Catherine Rubin Kermorgant sets out attempting to make a documentary film about the lives of present-day devadasis. Through her, we meet and get to know the devadasi women of Kalyana, a remote village in Karnataka. As they grow to trust Kermorgant and welcome her as an honorary sister, we hear their stories in their own words: stories of oppression, discrimination, violence and, most importantly, resilience. Kermorgant becomes a part of these stories and finds herself unwittingly enmeshed in a world of gender and caste bias which extends far beyond Kalyana-all the way to Paris, where the documentary is to be edited and produced. Servants of the Goddess is a testament to women's strength and spirit, and a remarkably astute analysis of gender and caste relations in today's rural India.

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Sociologie, société et politique

India

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Publié par	Random House Publishers India Pvt. Ltd.
Date de parution	24 février 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9788184005608
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0600€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Published by Random House India in 2014
Copyright Catherine Rubin Kermorgant 2014
Random House Publishers India Private Limited Windsor IT Park, 7th Floor, Tower-B A-1, Sector-125, Noida-201301, UP
Random House Group Limited 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 2SA United Kingdom
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author s and publisher s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
EPUB ISBN 9788184005608
for T.K., mon amour
CONTENTS
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
Notes
Acknowledgements
A Note on the Author
PART ONE
ONE
The courtesans or dancing-girls attached to each temple are called deva-dasis (servants or slaves of the gods), but the public calls them by the more vulgar name of prostitutes. And in fact they are bound by their profession to grant their favours, if such they be, to anybody demanding them in return for ready money Every temple of any importance has in its service a band of eight, twelve or more. 1
-Abb Jean-Antoine Dubois, popularly called Dodda Swamiyoru, moved to India in 1792
AS I MADE MY way across the vacant lot, the mud sucked at the soles of my sandals, threatening to pull them off. It was August 2002, monsoon season. I had arrived in Bangalore three days earlier to find that the New Victoria Hotel, an elegant Raj Era resthouse just off Bangalore s main drag, was being razed to make way for a giant neon mall. Bangalore was in the midst of its IT revolution. The city seemed to be one huge construction site, and the traffic had doubled since my last visit three years earlier.
In a new high-rise hotel, I began setting up appointments with interpreters in the hope of finding someone who spoke Kannada to accompany me to the northern districts. The educated, urban women my friends arranged for me to meet invariably became skittish when I brought up devadasis; they feared contamination, or worse. I realized I needed a social worker, not a mainstream interpreter, so I took a taxi to Bangalore University, a large, sprawling campus on the outskirts of the city.
The footpath leading to the social sciences department, a grim concrete building, was submerged in mud. The halls were empty. I called out to no one in particular and a woman wearing a white linen sari with red borders and checks appeared at the end of the hallway. May I help you? she asked in perfect English. The bindi on her brow, larger than the store-bought variety, was a perfect circle of red powder. Her hair was tied in a bun and a line of red covered her middle parting. Her only adornments were a mangalsutra, two bangles and a pair of earrings.
Where might I find Jogan Shankar? I asked. Jogan Shankar was a sociologist who wrote the only book I had been able to find about modern-day devadasis.
He s in Mysore. It s an hour from here by car. Would you like his telephone number? My name is Vani Dee, she said, leading me down the hall to her office. She seated me across from her at the desk and put on a pair of reading glasses. What is your interest in devadasis? she asked, surmising my purpose. I sensed she was a strong and exacting woman.
I read Shankar s book, I said. And I want to know more. I want to meet devadasis and make a documentary film about their traditions. The BBC is interested in financing a film, if the on-site research looks promising. I m looking for an interpreter to take into the field.
Flipping through the university directory, Vani eyed me suspiciously over the rim of her reading glasses. Where are you from? she asked.
I was born in Paris, and live there now, but I grew up in New York. Vani wrote Shankar s number on a piece of paper and pushed it towards me. What is your field? I asked.
I was trained in education, but now work on poverty alleviation in rural districts, mostly through programmes that empower women, she said. We studied each other in silence. Vani displayed none of the coy timidity that many women make a show of. She smiled only when she had good reason to, and made a point of looking me in the eye. Our rapport was immediate. I came across devadasis as a student, Vani said. We were doing a literacy campaign in the northern part of the state. Compared to other women, devadasis are very independent. They have to be.
Would you be interested in coming with me? I asked.
How many weeks are you thinking about?
Three, maybe four, depending on how it goes, I said.
My students are away on summer vacation right now Vani said cautiously. Three weeks is a long time. I ll have to think about it, and discuss it with my husband. Call me tomorrow morning.
I considered Vani as she wrote down her number. I didn t want to pressure her, but I didn t want to miss this opportunity. I had a hunch she d be perfect for the job. I ve budgeted fifty dollars a day for an interpreter, I said quietly, hoping for the best.
When I called Vani the next morning, she said she d be ready to leave in three days. Looking back, I marvel at my luck. Vani proved to be an invaluable guide. She didn t merely translate; she interpreted the culture for me. She helped me understand customs and attitudes that would have otherwise remained impenetrable.

Devadasis have graced the halls of Indian temples for over a thousand years. Although commonly called temple prostitutes , they played a far more important role in society than this label admits. Dedicated to the service of a deity before the age of nine, girls received rigorous training in a wide variety of arts. Devadasis were, in a sense, India s professional dancers and singers. Their devotional dances, performed before the inner sanctum of the temple, served to keep the gods happy; their dance-dramas, performed at celebrations and festivals, enacted the gods legendary exploits. Devadasis were also noted for their satirical and erotic or lascivious dance rituals. Devotional dance-worship, like the sacrifices of Brahmin priests, helped the community remain in the deity s favour. While devadasis enjoyed a sacred status, marriage was forbidden. Their duties included providing sexual services to male visitors of the temple.
A young devadasi s arungetram , her d but dance performance before the deity, took place after her first menses and signalled her availability for a sexual liaison. Deflowering a devadasi was a matter of great prestige. Sexual desire was seen as a manifestation of divine presence; a devadasi s dance was believed to stimulate the cosmic energy within man. As the erotic sculptural relief on temples around India show, the joy of sexual union was seen as a paradigm for religious ecstasy. Men believed that having intercourse with a devadasi, an act of purification, would lead to celestial bliss; devadasis were taught that it was their dharma , their sacred duty, to provide sexual services to male devotees, and that by doing so they would improve their lot in the next life, or even better, be liberated from the cycle of eternal returns. But these religious and philosophical concerns veiled more material interests: fees for devadasis services provided an income to temples and to the king s treasury.
While the system, an outgrowth of the Bhakti movement, dates to the sixth century, its ideological roots stretch back, not only to the Sangam poetry of the Tamil bardic tradition, but to the 3000-year-old Vedas, ancient and sacred texts, hymns used in conjunction with rites to invoke the gods. In the Vedas, fertility, dance and prostitution are closely intertwined-conversation hymns, designed to bring the rains, entailed special ritual performances by dancers and prostitutes. The Mahavrata fertility rite calls for ritual intercourse with a prostitute; the more unrestrained the sex, the greater the influence in the realm of nature. Prostitutes, like the devadasis today, were considered auspicious and associated with the fertility of the land.
In the Vedas, Apsaras, heavenly prostitutes in the court of Indra known not only for their grace and beauty, but also for bearing their lovers to the highest heaven, 2 were used to evoke religious feelings in men. Both intercourse and religious activity lead to the ecstasy of mystical oneness, union with the divine. Ejaculation during sexual union was likened to a form of sacrifice. Woman was the ground of sacrifice , and her loins the press that produced Soma, the intoxicating ambrosia of the gods. According to the Upanishads, a body of literature that grew around the Vedas, Her vulva is the sacrificial ground; her pubic hair is the sacred grass; her labia majora are the Soma-press; and her labia minora are the fire blazing at the centre. A man who engages in sexual intercourse with this knowledge obtains as great a world as a man who performs a Soma sacrifice. 3 Sexual union is not only a metaphor for cosmic creation, but also a means to religious ecstasy: As man embraced by the woman he loves is oblivious to everything within or without, so this person is embraced by atman [the Supreme, Spiritual Self] consisting of knowledge Here a father is not a father, a mother is not a mother, worlds are not worlds, gods are not gods and Vedas are not Vedas Neither the good nor the bad follow him, for he has passed beyond all sorrows of the heart He becomes one ocean, he becomes the sole seer! This is the world of brahman This is the highest goal! This is the highest attainment! This is the highest world! This is the highest bliss! 4

While many government officials claim that the devadasi system no longer exists, in the rural villages of south India s poverty belt, it is still alive. Much has changed si