Indian Sacred Sex slavery

Girls led into life of 'sacred' sex slavery

Rampant HIV/Aids adds to misery of India's temple prostitutes forced to attend to Hindu high priests. Peter Foster reports from Dhanwada.

It is a tradition as old as India itself - lowly, village girls from "untouchable" families being dedicated to serve as temple prostitutes for Hindu high priests and Brahmin elders. Normally poor family sell their daughter to temple for get 3 meals a day.

Dalit girls as young as 10 forgo conventional marriage to a single man in exchange for a life of service to the local deity, performing rituals and puja (prayers) for their village.

At puberty they are "married" to the temple amid ritual and celebration before spending their "wedding night" with the priest or upper-caste elder - a prelude to a life of sexual slavery. They called those girls as holy/sacred girls which mean Indian monk's sex slavery. Because of Indian facing poverty, so the number of sacred girls had been rising about 6 million in certain city.

However in modern India the jogini (lady-saints) are facing a new and lethal difficulty in their already-troubled lives - the rise of HIV/Aids in the sub-continent.

India will shortly overtake South Africa as the country with the most HIV sufferers in the world.

In the villages of Andhra Pradesh the scale of the problem is starting to reveal itself.

Research for the Christian Aid charity has found that, despite the practice being officially outlawed in 1986, about 40 per cent of Andhra Pradesh's 42,000 joginis are HIV positive.

As victims of such backward, rural practices, the jogini tradition exemplifies the social and cultural obstacles facing those trying to prevent India's Aids problem from reaching African levels.

Story from a Indian Sacred Sex Slave

19-year-old Chinaguddi, a bashful but beautiful young woman dressed in a flowing, blue sari. She was only 12 years old when she was dedicated to Yallamma.

Her story, according to Mrs Nirmala, is typical. Chinaguddi never went to school, has a sick mother who cannot work and a father who died when she was young and so is ripe for exploitation.

"The people in the village respect me," she says falteringly. "They ask me to come and perform some puja for them because I am jogini and have been dedicated to Yallamma."

Chinaguddi does not remember fear or choice. Her dedication was an event that occurred beyond her control. "My mother has asthma and is too weak for working, so this is my life," she says simply.

Joginis live with their families and continue to serve the temple until their looks fade. Like the brothel madams of European tradition, elder joginis support and counsel the next generation.

Everyone in the village knows Chinaguddi is a jogini and, according to practice, upper-caste men will approach her mother with gifts of money and food, for permission to have a "friendship" with her.

Asked if she feels angry at her situation, Chinaguddi expresses regret but accepts that, as a dalit with multiple sexual partners and a family who rely on her, she has little choice.

"Sometimes I ask why mother did this to me. Why I cannot have a normal marriage and go and live in a husband's village," she says.

"But what can I do? Who will marry me now? I am a jogini."

Childish innocence: Pre-pubescent girls are sometimes ‘married off’ by their poor and illerate parents to ‘god’ in the garb of religion.

Tradition dies hard

Tradition, particularly in a land as old as India, dies hard. Half a century after India became the world’s largest democracy, countless women remain little more than property, forced laborers, objects of exploitation. They have few rights under the law–which is seldom enforced anyway in many parts of north India. That goes for Hindus, To become second-class citizens would be a step up.

Public View

Despite a 1988 law banning the practice in India, the Devadasi tradition is thriving across the southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Ironically, these are the IT hubs of the country, now synonymous with India’s progress in the global market.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) estimated in 2008 that currently, there are more than 450,000 Devadasis in India. An NCW survey states that the Devadasis in Karnataka account for approximately 80% of all sex workers while overall, these girls account for an estimated 15% of all sex workers in India.

The practice thrives due to a complex interplay of poverty, social acceptance and sex trade enmeshed inextricably with religious practices that have gradually institutionalised the sexual exploitation of women.

Social activist Asha Ramesh found a direct correlation in a 1993 study, between the dedication of Devadasis to the god to the parents being childless. The parents vowed to dedicate their first child to a temple if it happened to be girl, according to Ramesh’s research. If the parents had no son, then the girl child was “dedicated” and would not be able to marry as she was now deemed to be a “son” and had to earn the family’s bread and butter.

Meanwhile, other clever families with properties ensured that the familial booty remained in house by turning the girl into a “son”. Unfortunately, over the years, the system also became a means for poverty-stricken parents to unburden themselves of daughters.

Devadasi Vaishnavi*, 45, who is based in Maharashtra’s Sangli district, says she was around eight years old when she was “married off to god”. Born into a poor family, she vividly recalls her elaborate initiation ceremony as a child surrounded by relatives and strangers.

Over the years, as the practice became illegal, Vaishnavi says she was dragged into prostitution and is now an active sex worker in Sangli’s red light district. “I have been exploited physically and mentally since my childhood,” says the middle-aged woman. “Men have raped and beaten me. The local cops too, exploit me. It is a living hell for me. But what choice do I have?” she asks.

Chandni*, 38, was luckier. Or perhaps, pluckier. The Devadasi left the practice at 26 and joined a self-help group in Maharashtra. She now offers support to those who want to leave. She also educates families not to sacrifice their children at the altar for this disgusting practice. She runs awareness programmes at temples and fairs, mobilises community support and lobbies with district officials to help other Devadasis.

According to a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report in 2004, the Devadasi tradition has become synonymous with the commercial and sexual exploitation of women in India.

The report further states that after their initiation as Devadasis, these women migrate either to nearby towns or other far-off cities to practice prostitution.

According to the 1934 Devadasi Security Act, this practice was banned in India by the British. And though the ban was reinforced in the 1980s, it continues to be flouted as the laws aren’t punitive enough. Anyone found guilty of helping a girl to become a Devadasi or even attending the ceremony, can be jailed for three years or fined a paltry sum of US$44 (RM133). Parents and relatives can be fined up to a maximum of US$111 (RM336) if they are found guilty of encouraging the girl to be dedicated.

A survey by the Joint Women’s Programme, Bangalore, states that 63.6% of young girls were forced into the Devadasi system due to tradition while 38% reported that their families had a history of Devadasis. Nearly 40% of them join the flesh trade in cities.

In a way, a Devadasi is considered “public property” in the village. Most Devadasis earn under US$22 (RM66) per month and run a high risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases.

Activists acknowledge that inaccessible villages and a dramatic upward spiral in the demand from organised traffickers who pay attractive sums of money for young girls to fill the urban brothels are the biggest stumbling blocks in obliterating this pugnacious system.

Education for the Devadasi girls is difficult as they are pulled out of schools (if they are sent to one, that is) to follow the tradition. Their health is compromised as they risk the danger of contracting HIV/AIDS. A 1993 government survey indicated that more than 9% of all Devadasis in India were infected with the virus. Those that escape contracting the HIV/AIDS virus are still likely to face physical assaults on their bodies, psychological trauma, and/or social castigation.

“Even if a Devadasi discontinues her ‘career’,” sums up Chandni, “she is still vulnerable to victimisation in human trafficking. Our children aren’t spared because the government does not recognise their birth status as they do not carry their fathers’ surname. This makes it very convenient for traffickers to sell our daughters to brothels.”