deviousways

Why are women dedicated as Devadasis? To find that out, you have to travel to Belgaum, or better still, leave the city behind and go into its talukas. You will find that poverty, illiteracy and caste politics are the true enslavers. Here, everything happens in the name of Goddess Yellamma or Renuka -- the patroness of the Devadasi community. She is everywhere. Shrines dedicated to her dot the countryside; sugar cane factories, fancy stores, bars and restaurants, all of them prosper under her name. The annual Yellamma jaathres (fairs) at the various shrines bring in much-needed revenue for these talukas and for the old Devadasis too. The best known fairs are the ones at Saundatti or Savadatti and the one held at the Kokatnur temple near Athani. It is at these fairs that 'dedication' takes place, under cover of course (because it is banned by the state government) but it happens. But why are young girls -- often babes in their mothers' arms -- married off to the goddess? Don...

There's a little school near Athani, Belgaum district (North Karnataka) which epitomises the best and the worst of the 'rest of India' -- an India we city-dwellers would not care to know for it's an India ignored by even the politicians and the cable television mafia. The best of that India lives in the Malabad Vimochana Residential School for the children of Devadasis and 'normal' children. This school is set in a couple of acres and is 20 kms from Athani town. Athani is a filthy, pig-infested place, where it is best to always insist on boiling water (rather than boiled water). But the Malabad school gives you the impression of an untouched place, for these children have literally no contact with the polluting influences of our city life. The school, which has 400-odd students, is one of the very few in India which caters to the Devadasi community and it runs solely on donations. There are a couple of computers here -- just so that the children learn how to ide...