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Servant of god!

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nara,

just returned from 2 weeks in chennai. one of my visits was to thirupathi, which is still overflowing with pilgrims 24x7, to fulfil a vendukOl from the boss wife.

of interest to me more, was an impromptu visit to vaishnavi shrine at thirumullaivoil. the gentleman who took us there was one of the members of the board. it was all the more a rich experience due to the temple being discussed here in this forum. i had no time to enquire about our ex member venkat who is also involved in that temple.

the gentleman who took also was a forward looking brahmin, and on exchanging preliminary views, found him much akin to mine. he felt that thanks to periyar, the concept of devadasis has been absent from tamil nadu since the dawn of dravidian reawakening since the 1920s. though i do not know the social or financial situations of those erstwhile daughters of gods currently.

this gentleman, a practising brahmin, also felt that periyar liberated the brahmins from their dependency on government jobs and the ensuing rut. even though we may be reluctant to acknowledge it, this open shunning of our practises by the dravidian reformers, sort of paved the way for us to move on to greener pastures, though i have always felt that it was just that economic prospects were brighter outside of tamil nadu till much recently.

whatever may be the causes, to the best of my knowledge devadasis are a figment of our past, both in tamil nadu and kerala. one, especailly living abroad for such a long time as me, does not realize not only how forward looking the tamil people as a rule are, compared to the rest of india. there is also a broadbased migration of people from the north to the south. in many a restaurant our waiters were hindi speaking, and so too in many of the more prominant retail outlets. hopefully when these people return to their native states for vacations, they too will carry a bit of the tamil tendency towards progressive values. :)

devdasis, like the shunning of dalits, in the context of contemperory mores, are a blight to our culture and values. these are part and parcel of hindu society, which is not fading fast enough for many.

like other existing corruptions, these too currently coexist in india, though all over chennai, there are pictorial signs of dalit assertiveness. hopefully the devdasis too will join together and fight to improve their lot.

also of interest, is the numerous revival reformed christianity churches on the model of billy graham or oral roberts. these appear more than temples en route to thirupathi from chennai. an entirely new phenomenon!! i was told that a majority of the new adherents are dalits.
 
hi kunjuppu sir,
i saw last time enroute to thirupathi from chennai....i saw a lot of JAPA VEEDU WITH CROSS IN A SMALL HUT....even i heard that

they are dalit colony.....many pentacoastal missionaries visiting their homes regularly..its new phenomina......

regards
tbs
 
Citing from the article at Why India's 'devadasi' girls face wretched life in the name of religion | World news | guardian.co.uk

"Devadasi remain common in the poorest towns and villages of provinces of the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2006, the National Legal Service Authority in Bangalore launched an awareness programme for police and judges, and said there were 250,000 "devadasi" girls who had been dedicated to Yellamma and Khandoba temples. But the remoteness of many of the villages, and the continuing rise in demand from organised traffickers who pay well for young girls to fill the brothels of India's vast cities, is thwarting efforts to combat the system.

"The social customs combined with economic pressures have pushed girls into the system. The fact that not one of them is married and most of them have children not only leaves them in a traumatised condition but renders their children stigmatised forever," said an authority spokesman."


The author is contradicting herself. 250,000 out of Indian population would make it under 0.0025 percent. when we weigh that fact, title of that article is quite biased. Secondly, the same author included the quoted portion in the article, which clearly points towards social custom and economic conditions, she blames Hindu religion with a straight face. It is nothing to do with religion anymore. 250,000 is a small number when considering the total population of sex-workers in major cities. Even the Kolkatta's 'Sona Kachi' is more populated ( about 1,000,000); Mumbai is much mmore populated. Girls are sold for a minimum Rs.50,000 ...price go in laks at the redlight areas. There is a huge financial incentive for exploting gullible people.



This article had not touched the main issue at all. It just dramatised the whole issue by blaming the religion. Such blaming attitudes will not solve such issues. Fortunately, there are people who had identified the real issues and working on those issues. Here is one.....


Sunitha Krishnan fights sex slavery | Video on TED.com

Cheers!
 
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