Unseen: Devadasi women pushed to the margins?

Bagalkot/Vijayanagara/Ballari/Koppal: Maridevi was in Class 9 when her mother, Durgamma, fell ill. Before she could come to terms with the situation, she was trapped in the Devadasi system, like her mother.  

Under pressure from elders in her village, Tuppakkanahalli in Vijayanagara district, she was dedicated to the deity within a month, becoming a Devadasi, or ‘servant of God’. 

The series of events nine years ago forced Maridevi to discontinue her education, leaving her in a situation that she has not been able to escape since.

Though banned in 1984, the regressive Devadasi practice persists despite years of intervention, with women like Maridevi compelled to remain in the system due to cultural, economic, social and familial pressures.

In this system, girls are dedicated to a deity at a young age. In Karnataka, historical records trace the origins of the tradition to the 8th century, when it was associated with temple service.

The practice, which degrades women through sexual exploitation, has been recorded in 15 districts in the state. The Devadasi re-survey, conducted following the Karnataka Devadasi (Prevention, Prohibition, Relief and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2025, came as a ray of hope.

With time, even this optimism seems to have slipped away for Maridevi and other Devadasi women born after the system was banned. The culprits: Unscientific enumeration processes, unclear guidelines and bureaucratic apathy.

At the heart of this oppressive system is hypocrisy. As per custom, a Devadasi woman cannot marry. Yet, men, often married, are allowed to start relationships with Devadasis without bearing any responsibility.

Such arrangements can remain secret for fear of marital discord in the man’s family.

For the Devadasi, it is, in effect, sexual exploitation and results in an unequal burden, including raising children as a single parent. Over the years, this arrangement has become a defining and troubling feature of the practice. 

Take the case of Maridevi. Her partner, a married man from the Nayaka community in a neighbouring village, visited on his own terms. She has two daughters with him, aged six and three, the younger of whom is visually impaired. He stopped visiting after learning of the child’s condition. Maridevi believes that her caste may also have been a factor. She belongs to the Madiga community, among the most marginalised within the Scheduled Castes. 

According to the state government, 90% of Devadasis are from the Scheduled Castes.

Maridevi, now 25, believed that the Devadasi re-survey would be of some help. But she was in for a big shock. “When I approached officials with the required documents to enrol, they threatened that I would be in jail for practising a system banned long ago,” she says.

As Maridevi was initiated into the system after the previous survey in 2008, she will be eligible for government support only if she is included in the current enumeration.

The Devadasi pension of Rs 2,000 per month that her ailing mother receives is the sole source of income for the family. With three dependents at home, Maridevi is unable to go out for work.

Without a Devadasi certificate, she has not been able to access the Bhagyalakshmi Bond for her children, a state government savings scheme for girl children, as the application requires either the certificate or the father’s name. As per the regressive practice, Devadasi children are not allowed to mention their father’s name.

With support from a civil society organisation, her application was eventually accepted by officials. But again, she was in for some disappointment. “They say I won’t be included in the list because I was born after 1984,” she says.

Sakhi, an organisation working with Devadasi women in Vijayanagara district, has details of more than 500 women who are unsure of their survey status. Of them, at least 26 are below 30 years of age.

Enumeration

The Devadasi enumeration report released in February indicates that currently there are 23,395 former Devadasis in the state. This number was at 46,660 in the previous survey. More than 18,000 Devadasis identified in the previous enumeration have died since, as per the report. Bagalkot has the highest number of former Devadasis at 4,189 and Vijayanagara has the second highest number at 3,876. 

Koppal Deputy Commissioner Dr Suresh B Itnal says that they have recommended all those aged above 42 to be included in the list. However, with regard to those below the age group, the DC says they have sought clarification from the director of the Women and Child Development Department. “We will decide as per the clarification,” he says.  

Mahesh Babu N, director of the Women and Child Development Department, says that it is up to the district survey committees to recommend the names, and the department would consider only those approved by the tahsildar and the DC. 

“We cannot include younger Devadasis. After the abolition in 1984, the state government has taken proactive measures towards their rehabilitation. Despite this, if young girls have become Devadasis, isn’t it a mockery of the system?” he says.

As two administrative stakeholders point fingers at each other and decision-making is delayed, there is a question mark on the future of young Devadasis.

It has been two months since the release of the report, which said that the administration is verifying 6,222 applications. Mahesh Babu said that verification has been completed in seven districts, with around 1,000 applications accepted. He appealed to the remaining districts to dispose of the applications as early as possible.

Enumeration enables access to government programmes and schemes.

The promise

The recent Bill proposes the rehabilitation of three generations of Devadasi families, which is a significant reform.

“This is key to eradicating the practice. The gains we hope to achieve through the Bill in terms of rights, dignity and rehabilitation will be lost if the state fails to conduct a proper survey and recognise women across age groups,” says R V Chandrashekar of the National Law School of India University, coordinator of the Bill drafting committee and a member of the state survey committee.

But in characteristic government fashion, he says that the department has not held a single meeting to discuss the execution of the survey.

Some of the provisions in the Bill include providing inheritance rights to children born to a Devadasi woman from both parents, with a provision for paternity to be challenged through biochemical evidence.

DH interacted with more than 10 members of taluk-, district- and state-level survey committees, constituted of Devadasis, civil society organisations and government officers. According to them, there are four major lapses in the survey: one, they say that there was inadequate awareness about the survey and a short time window; two, the guidelines were not clear, with contradictory statements on age criteria; three, women below 40 were reportedly turned away in some places; and four, they say the process required multiple documents, forcing applicants to approach at least three government offices. 

With more than 90% of Devadasi women lacking formal education, navigating these procedures was difficult. 

The outcome

Many women without organisational support could not apply. In Hirekeriyaginahalli, Ballari district, 18 women submitted documents, but remain unsure if their applications have been accepted. 

In one district, around 500 Devadasi women, who were included in the previous survey, did not participate due to migration, ill health and other reasons.  

M Bhagyalakshmi, the founder of Sakhi, blames these lapses on a lack of intent.

“The government does not appear to have conducted the survey with the aim of ending the system, but rather to reduce the official figures,” she says. She points to the state budget allocation for Devadasi rehabilitation. “The government has allocated Rs 5 crore for Devadasis in the entire state this year. How can the rehabilitation process begin with this amount,” she asks. 

Padma Shri awardee and former Devadasi Sitavva Jodatti, who has been working for the empowerment of Devadasis in Belagavi, says a survey can be effective only if it is conducted in collaboration with civil society organisations and Devadasi forums.

Rehabilitation

Data shows that the rehabilitation process for Devadasi women identified in previous surveys has been a big letdown. Around 66% Devadasis have not received a house under the rehabilitation schemes. The annual income of 97.91% Devadasi women is below Rs 50,000. Only 0.43% of children for three generations are graduates. 

The need for long-term support for Devadasi families is clear in Gayathri’s case. The granddaughter of a Devadasi, she dropped out of school after Class 5 and began working as an agricultural labourer to support her family in Nagenahalli near Hosapete. 

She later fell in love with a boy from another caste and the two planned to marry. However, village elders intervened and separated them, with some insisting that she be initiated into the Devadasi system. Her family subsequently dedicated her. “I was 17 or 18 then, and I was not even given a chance to speak,” she says. Now 27, she is the mother of two children. 

She hopes the survey and the resulting support will help improve her children’s future. 

A cycle 

Kudligi MLA Dr N T Srinivas says the Devadasi system is no longer rooted in custom alone and has instead emerged from circumstance.

“We are trying to secure more funds from different departments and under various schemes for Devadasi rehabilitation, as the current allocation may not be sufficient,” he says. He adds that the technical hurdle in considering Devadasis born after 1984 also needs to be addressed.

“I wouldn’t want women in my constituency to seek help saying their body and soul have been scarred by society and family,” he says.

Beyond tradition, parents still dedicate daughters for three key reasons: if they are the only child, in the absence of a male heir, or if the girl is physically or mentally ill. 

Take the case of Ankita from Vadrahalli in Vijayanagara district. The 23-year-old’s life was upended after her brother died in an accident three years ago. With no male heir and concerns about their future, her parents, who had been seeking a groom, decided to dedicate her to the deity.

“We cannot get her married, as we need someone to look after us in our old age. She is like our son now,” says her father.

The initiation rituals were held at Huligemma Temple in Koppal district during the day, he says. “We know the practice is banned. Police were present at the temple, but no one questioned us,” he says.

Ankita resisted until her parents threatened to end their lives. Now, under the Devadasi system, she cannot marry.

These individual cases reflect wider concerns flagged by the Vimukta Devadasi Women and Children Forum, Karnataka, which has pointed to gaps in the state’s recent enumeration.

The forum states the survey is incomplete, excludes many eligible women, and lacks proper ground verification.

Chandalinga Kalalabandi, a member of the state survey committee and a representative of a Devadasi women’s forum, says it is ‘unbelievable’ that the number of Devadasi families across three generations in the state is below one lakh. “As promised, the children of deceased Devadasis, who lack any kind of support system, should also be covered in the survey,” he says, estimating that there are about three lakh Devadasi children in Karnataka.

Without a support system, Devadasi children find it difficult to continue their education or seek better livelihoods, as they are caught in a cycle of stigma and poverty.

“In 2024-25, the state government had announced housing and a special package for all Devadasi women in the state, and it has not been implemented till now,” he rues.

Even as policies promise reform and surveys claim progress, for women like Maridevi, the Devadasi system remains not a relic of the past, but a living reality sustained by gaps in intent, accountability and support.